I may be losing my sense of humor.
I feel ya, Bert.
I used to enjoy political satire. When I worked overnights, I tuned in to Comedy Central and watched Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert among others. Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update was my favorite segment of the evening. Now though, I find little to laugh at. I am tense. I am worried. I don't think belittling jokes or calling people names is helping the situation.
I loved this one in particular.
A friend of mine posted a t-shirt yesterday about "America's Fragile Snowflakes". I posted a comment asking if she really found it funny. She did. She's bought into the PC is evil narrative. She believes that Millennials and safe spaces are ridiculous. She posted a clip from Milo Yiannopoulos' page of a stand-up about being offended and found it humorous. I got a knot in my stomach. This saddens me, so I told her so. She didn't comment back or ask me why I felt that way, so I dropped it. But it eats at me. If the snowflake is "just a joke," I don't get it. It seems to me like a way to shut down conversations. It's a way to diminish the other side's argument so you don't have to listen to what they have to say. It's a direct barb directed at people like me, and she--a person who is a self-described empath--doesn't seem to be bothered at all by this. But it's all just online, so it's no big right? Toughen up and stop being a whiny liberal. You call the conservatives bigots, racists, and misogynists, so just take a dose of your own medicine. Maybe I'm assuming too much in her particular case, but I have read those ideas on other sites and in other articles from other mouths who also use terms like snowflake to scorn the progressive ideals. It troubles me greatly to hear them from someone who I have bonded with over Dr. Who, and camping, and witchy things, and absurd British comedies.
I'm confused, too, David.
Zooming out to a larger scope, here's the thing: I call Trump those things because he has been caught on record more than once saying hateful, awful things that should disturb decent, empathetic people. Yet, he gets a pass. He says blatant misogynistic comments about sexual assault and "it's just locker room talk". He makes fun of a disabled person, lies about it, and people look the other way. He institutes a ban on Muslims--and it is a ban; let's not sugarcoat it--based on a lie about a massacre that didn't happen--don't you dare try and call it anything other than a lie--and he's heralded for it. Yes, anyone who is comfortable and accepts these things is therefore comfortable with misogyny, bigotry, and racism. I am not. Calling people who stand against his rhetoric and speak up for those whose voices are being silenced or marginalized snowflakes is not only insulting, it is simply a snide way of deepening an already deeply divided and hurting public. That hurt should make an empath weep.
Even Arnold gets it.
I read several articles this morning and among them were many opposing viewpoints. Some contained perspectives from Trump supporters and opinions of why people accept the lies and others criticized the throwing about the term fascist and Hitler when referring to Trump. I think it's important to maintain some balance and I do teach my students to consider the opposing viewpoints. I should practice what I preach, right? In one blog, it mentioned we shouldn't call our presidents Hitler when we don't agree with them because we might just miss the real thing when it comes along. OK, I get that--it's the crying wolf argument; however, I do think watching cautiously and holding Trump accountable for his disdain of checks-balances is important. He may not have walked into office with his own army like Hitler did, but he is upholding a Neo-Nazi in a key position of power. That's cause enough for concern. That is not normal and should not happen. Besides, this was a blog post, and according to Politifact, bloggers have a nasty tendency to rate "pants on fire" with their truthiness. While I can consider his points, his facts must be met with skepticism if not properly cited and vetted because to be clear: alternative facts are just lies.
Yes, Point of Order Goat, I realize that this is a blog, but I never claimed to be anything more than that. This is my personal blog. Period.
I read another article that reported on how Trump is not a fascist, but a champion of the forgotten millions. It's on The Guardian if you're interested. It mentioned how he got in the Oval because the voters didn't want an elitist. Umm....here's the thing about that. He may not be career politics nor hereditary politician like Clinton or Bush, but he is damn sure an elite. To think otherwise is just ridiculous. He's also positioned nothing but elites in his cabinet. Business elites. He's not even a successful business elite. He's declared bankruptcy and been sued for crying out loud! Fraud. Hello? Anyone remember that little tidbit? If this is "draining the swamp," it's not going to make things better for those "forgotten millions." I do not doubt that Trump knows how to play the social media game and he seems to understand how to play the public in the era of reality TV, but now he's got his tiny hands on the Presidential Seal. He can take the progress that's been made and ruin it for everyone. Anyone who thinks otherwise is fooling themselves. Believe it or not, the economy recovered and grew with Obama. With Trump, we easily could face another disaster especially now that Dodd-Frank is rolled-back.
Yup, that's kind of the way the argument goes. Up: down, right:left, in:out...
Other viewpoints criticized the Women's March as pointless and feeble and unnecessary. One person even said it was nothing more than a "mommy's-liberal-baby snowflakes that are used to having their way. It's like your spoiled kid not used to being told no." That's from a Guardian article "'I love Trump. He's doing what he said.' President's supporters keep the faith." Whelp, here's the thing about that. Not all who marched were mommys. Not all who marched were liberal. I think people who dismiss the Women's March like this didn't read the march's focus statement. In that statement, it mentioned that it was for not only women's rights, but for racial equality, labor equality, healthcare access, science acceptance, disability advocacy, and sexual identity. It was a unifying march. It was so much more than just gender equality. Furthermore, while many have said that women have equal status and can get what they want, "men aren't standing in their way" (same article) if you believe that it's ok to grab a woman by the pussy because hey! who hasn't? Then that's not equality. (Again, that's from the same article.) Additionally, the people who marched knew what was coming. The upheaval that has ensued since Trump took the helm shows that the march was needed. While a lot of progress in human rights has been made, Trump has proven how easily those rights can be erased. The global gag rule is one. The removal of Environmental Protection Agency regulations is another. The upcoming changes with union busting is another. Calling for military action against protesters and demonstrations? Jesus people! How are you not outraged by what is happening to your fellow human beings?
Pretty much me every time I read something in the news.
I have no humor about this. I crack jokes, but they are dark. They are wry and mostly sardonic. I've decided that perhaps I need to take at least one day of the week away from social media for my own sanity. 30 minutes before bed is not enough. I downloaded apps for my main news sources onto my phone, so I can get my information without the spin from my friends--either liberal or conservative or somewhere in between. I need to be informed and I need to be sure to be balanced, but I also need to make myself do other things, too. I keep reminding myself to go high as Michelle Obama said. It's difficult sometimes. Really difficult. This snowflake knows her mind though and won't trade her empathy for ridicule of her friends or strangers. I will continue to seek the high road and the common ground.
Except for Trump. He is still the Cheeto in Chief. I'm rather Zen about that choice.
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