How do you navigate the intense political discourse thickening/ darkening the atmosphere like a billion hungry bats out for blood?
The two sides are so unbelievably polarized that they've literally taken to the streets. Buildings are being burned down in the name of politics. People are being attacked (killed even) in the name of politics. The "system" is so critically broken that it needs to be quite literally burned down and in the meantime the great USofA is tearing itself apart??? While the peaceful masses hold onto their seats in hopes of the world calming the crap down we're very, dreadfully aware that's it only about to get worse.
How? How do you get through a single day without dread? How do you look at your small children and have hope for a better, brighter future? How do you connect to the internet without nausea? There is a very real, very strong possibility that the toxic spewing on social media (a dimension that people spend multiple hours a day residing in) has triggered the unrest that's now oozing through the streets.
I'm not on instagram. I'm not on twitter. I have never "watched?" a ticktoc, been on skype, or zoomed... facebook and blogger are my only glimpse into the social connect and I generally don't have enough time to stop by blogger. But facebook... oh...
I love the local home school field trip group that we utilize regularly on facebook. I love watching my friend's children, essentially my friend's lives progress on the other side of the world or half way across this enormous country. I love seeing silly photos of people's dogs or cats. And truly funny memes, non-political funny memes. Yes please!
I have actually "unfollowed" some of my, no MANY of my closest friends because I can't handle the toxic political spewing that comes from their posts like 10 to 20 times daily! I can't. But then I find myself, once a month maybe, stopping by their facebook page to see if they've posted about their real life. Politics is important. I have my own VERY strong political views. It affects real life. BUT my world, people I literally interact with on a weekly basis, my place of employment, my home, and yard, and friends are REAL life. Politics is an extension of that, like news about my hometown, my state, my country. Like news about the lake or the oceans. Weather events worldwide, etc; Real life, by my definition is something that I can touch. So, I stop on by these close friend's pages to check on them, people I care so deeply about who live quite far away and I can only find three snippets about them amidst 30 political posts that make my stomach turn. I "like" the three bits I find among the thirty three and I leave sick to my stomach, feeling gross inside for a few hours, and wondering how we've become so unbelievably polarized.
I have my own very strong views. You have your very strong views. We possibly don't agree on a single thing politically but when did we stop agreeing that both view points matter? Both view points are important? The person on the other side of your opinion 99% of the time isn't a bad guy. He or she just has a different world view. That's not a reason to attack someone. Intense differing view points are actually a reason to have a really polite, mature conversation. But it seems we've gotten to a place where that can't happen, or at least can very VERY rarely happen. And those of us who choose to post 10 or 20 times daily about their intense political viewpoints (remember, I do have my own too) aren't encouraging mature conversation they're really just insulting people who disagree with them. <big deep sad sigh>
I don't know what to do. Is keeping up with people I care about via the interwebs worth it? How do you navigate the intense political discourse thickening/ darkening the atmosphere like a billion hungry bats out for blood? How?
This is such a hard time right now. Disclaimer, I have my own very, very strong views, as much of this personally impacts my family. I've been living in a time I never thought possible, with people saying & doing things/judging/making assumptions about people I love based on the color of their skin (e.g. a neighbor recently called my husband & another middle eastern man a terrorist.) We've lived in this neighborhood for seven years and never seen this much hate/discord, coming from multiple fronts. It's staggering.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, that wasn't the question you asked. What I've done recently:
-I'm off of Facebook almost entirely. Check maybe weekly, as my dad sometimes posts cute things about my kids.
-Read one trusted new source. Click in, get my news, click out.
-No twitter or other social media
-Meditate, almost daily
-Journal, daily. Particularly, I also journal three things I'm grateful for every day
-I made a commitment (to myself) with 100 days to go until the election, to do something kind every day. To put some kindness back into the world, instead of complaining about the current situation. This has been really fun, & I've enjoyed it so much.
-I cut people off when they want to talk politics. Not because I don't passionately care (oh, I do, see above, but there are deeply entrenched positions, and no winning is coming out of debating.) I need to control my own anxiety & can't handle additional discussions right now.
-I try to remember that social media has amplified things that have always existed. I just didn't know/recognize has significant they were. It's given a voice & a presence to things that were in the background.
-I also try to remember that people aren't their politics. They are people, with good sides & bad sides, and everything in between, and there is common ground, even if it really appears at times that there's not.