When did the line between loyal supporter and blind follower become so blurred? Why does the American media demand we see everything in black and white as they write their stories in various shades of grey? This election season has pushed the limits of what it means for the country to be polarized.
November 8th is rapidly approaching; Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are both deeply embroiled in their own scandals that may ultimately end up tipping the scale one way or the other. However, depending on who you ask, it’s much ado about nothing vs the literal end of life as we know it.
Trump is currently being accused by no less than 12 women of varying degrees of sexual assault- and the list of potential victims is growing by the day. His comments to Billy Bush have been well documented(ad nausem)for weeks, and a plethora of people continue to denounce him and distance themselves from what they see as a rapist. Trump supporters on the other hand, only see a horde of liberal hypocrites being outraged at Trump for things they support in other people i.e; Michele Obama’s call out of Trump for his rhetoric on women, at the same time promoting Beyonce as a role model for little girls, when her shows and music are often sexually charged.
The critics might have a point, but does that erase or excuse all Trump has said or the example he will surely set? Is there a limit to the speech of a man known for “Telling it like it is” ?
Clinton is under daily attack by Wikileaks- private emails from her campaign are being released in the thousands almost daily. These emails are said to show a clay candidate that is molded on the fly depending on where the polls tell her to go, is beholden to big donors, and thinks its mandatory to hide what you really think from the public- for the public good of course. Go ahead and bring these up to a Clinton supporter and you’ll get an earful about Julian Assange’s agenda, his pending charges, and Russia’s attempts to influence our election.
Can we afford to gloss over the content of these emails because we may not approve of the source? How much journalism in the modern history of the world would have to be stricken from the record if that were common practice?
All the while the media pushes the drug we have all become addicted to: there is only one right opinion and all others are an affront to intellectuals and freedom itself. Conflict between political ideologies is great for ratings and clicks, but its shit for keeping a country from tearing itself apart. We have to accept that there are things out there that we may disagree with, that challenge our world view- but when we decide not to absorb and analyze new information from different perspectives, and stay in our respective bubbles with everyone else who thinks our way, how can we then come out and have a REAL and productive discussion about the issues? What’s the point of discussion when absolutely nothing the other side says could ever change your mind?
Candidates that are supposed to be for the people NEED feedback from the people, its ridiculous to not hold them up to higher standards than the rest of us or give them free passes when they screw up just because you see the other candidate as worse.
We need to continue to question everything, no matter how entrenched we are in our beliefs we HAVE to allow for the possibility that we may be wrong- this is the future of the country we all love at stake, not just who gets to be right. The longer we stay in our corners, foaming at the mouth being worked up into truly believing its us vs them, the more brutal the inevitable fight will be.
The second presidential debate is tonight, and you don’t have to be clairvoyant to know that the unofficial theme will be “Deflections and Scandals”.
America’s stalwart journalistic messiah himself, Anderson Cooper, will be “moderating”(I use that term loosely if previous debates are any indication) along with Martha Raddatz and they will be tasked with staying neutral as they steer the debate; but if they actually cared about America they would ditch the neutral angle and actually try some journalism for once in their lives because, as it turns out, some things are objectively positive and some just aren’t.
Surely Trump will be asked to respond to his comments from 2005 that include “pussy grabbing”. These comments have been brushed aside by many as just normal man talk from behind closed doors, and I would say that it’s completely naive and ignorant to dismiss that argument and believe that a good portion of men do not talk like that with their buddies, whether they actually believe what they say or not- BUT that’s not the point. Right or wrong, our President will be representing America and it is justifiable to protest when one running for that position is on record saying such degrading and misogynistic things.
Less sure is whether Clinton will be asked about the recently leaked speech transcripts(you know the ones that she refused to disclose and that were one of the focal points of the democratic primary?) and they show many of the corrupt things that Bernie (Primary Bernie of course, not #nevertrump Bernie who is MIA on this issue now) said would be in them ARE in fact in them: She wants Wall Street to regulate themselves, She thinks its mandatory to hide what she really thinks about issues from the public, and in a speech to Goldman Sachs in 2013 she assured them that she knew it wasn’t REALLY their fault the economy crashed with a nick wink and a nod.
Trump’s comments will morph into just another example of how being PC has ruined this country and how he will continue to work towards making America great again(and checking to see if his mike is on next time)
Clinton will pivot to how her comments only show her deep understanding of the political process and puts her experience with working in washington front and center that should lead every American to shout #Imwithher from the most convenient rooftop(and remember to request all future private speeches not be transcribed)
Cooper and Raddatz will poke and prod at the candidates on these issues, they will let them lie and deflect to each other and to America…turning this “debate” into nothing more than an interactive campaign ad.
America couldn’t get more politically polarized…that was true about a day ago, at least I thought it was.
Hillary Clinton said that some Trump supporters fit into what she called a “Basket of Deplorables” and the left instantly rejoiced- FINALLY Clinton was telling it like it is and giving Trump and his supporters a taste of the “Non-PC” medicine that they claim the country needs so badly. Of course in doing so, they missed the point by about a mile- the point about double standards.
Clinton supporters fill every comment section and forum with calls to eliminate the foul double standards that plague her campaign. Trump is allowed to do whatever the hell he wants but Hillary will be criticized and her feet held to the fire at the drop of a hat. In general, they have a point- but that point starts to dull when these supports jump on the bandwagon of their very own double standard.
If it’s not ok for Trump to come up with nasty nicknames for liberals, to generalize whole groups of people, to push incredibly divisive rhetoric to his followers then WHY is it ok when Hillary does it?
“Well it’s ok because what she is saying is true!” Congratulations, you sound exactly like a Trump supporter now. When Trump talks about “crooked Hillary” and “PC culture” his followers cheer because they think that’s true, and for Hillary supporters to scoff at that but cheer when their own candidate does literally the exact same thing- that’s just pure blind loyalty and the inability to see anyone else’s perspective but yours. Are we trying to have a debate about where this country needs to be headed or are we just trying to steamroll those who don’t agree with us?
Dividing this country even further helps no one, we can’t make any progress when our leaders push rhetoric that keep us from being a country of one, and instead keep us a country of 50/50.
With the first debate between Trump and Clinton only a month away, Hillary is continuing to double down on the most worthless campaign strategy since “Let’s pick Sarah Palin for vp”. I am referring to, of course, her campaign’s CONSTANT barrage of insults and attacks against Trump.
Now this is the point at which you may be thinking “I’m pretty sure that this is how every campaign has been run, ever” and that’s true but you would be forgetting one thing: The complete and utter polarization of American politics.
The divide has never been worse in this country, Democrats and Republicans 100% HATE each other. Open up a comment section of any article even mentioning Hillary or Trump and you will see thousands of people full-on preaching the gospel of how completely terrible the other candidate is. People who are pro one or the other are dedicated to the cause, they will excuse any scandal as a conspiracy and any gaff as an overblown witch hunt. Starting the conversation with one of these people with insults aimed at their candidate is a lesson in futility.
Hillary needs to stick to the issues, it may sound boring but she’s basically hitting her head against the wall trying to win over Trump supporters; any that are going to abandon that ship will do so because Trump continues to be TOO Trump for some. She has a whole chunk of the electorate that is waiting on the sidelines weighing their options after basically being stood up on prom night by Bernie Sanders, they are ripe for the picking and a simple shift back to the left instead of a pivot to the center will secure her the Presidency.
The Clinton campaign needs to delete any mention of Trump from her upcoming speeches, and fill the holes with progressive causes- and watch any hope of a Trump resurgence disappear into the rear view mirror.
Independently Angry 