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.
Bernie Sanders called for a revolution, then his calls began to fade out somewhere around his endorsement of Clinton- or perhaps it was just starting to fall on deaf ears; Trumps call for a revolution may not be for the same reasons or addressed to the same people- but they’ve added fuel to the same fire.
Bernie’s and Trump’s supporters have very little in common, but the little that they do is pretty big. Both sides of the aisle(seemingly FAR sides) are sick and tired of the standard political tropes that describe the typical politician: answers that don’t answer anything and invisible leashes that lead back to even more invisible donors.
His supporters railed behind a cry that said the standard politics as usual doesn’t represent them, and his unpolished speech and demeanor made him seem a man of the people- far outside the establishment….now which candidate am I referring to?
Both candidates policies resonate and represent VERY different sides of the country, and the argument isn’t for me to make whether one or both are wrong- what matters is the core of both campaigns(whether sincere or not) is that the system has failed half this country and when half the country isn’t being represented, is a call for revolution so surprising?
Trump continues to say he won’t support the results of the election if they are against him, this message riles up his supporters and his belief that the system is rigged- and it is, but not in the way he’s suggesting. Voter fraud is virtually nonexistent, but ELECTION fraud isn’t- look no further than the DNCs treatment of Bernie to see that.
Half the country look to Sanders and to Trump and they see people standing up to the system and then they see a consolidated effort to tear them down. How can half the country trust the media or their representatives when, right or wrong, they have spent the last year seeing them do their damndest to keep the powerful in power no matter how misleading or wrong they might be?
At the end of the day I don’t see the progressive left who felt the bern and the far right who only wanted to make America great again EVER work together or EVER have much in common besides wanting to change the system to favor the people, but revolutions have been based on less.
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.
Independently Angry 