Skip to main content

You are different from me, so let's not be friends!

This election season, which pretty much started 3 years ago, has been particularly contentious. I can't believe we have another almost 7 months until the general election and then another almost 3 more months until the inauguration. Lord, help us.

But what bothers me even more than the bitterness, hate, and name-calling is when people say things like this on Facebook:
"If you support _____, unfriend me right now." 

If you have just met me or read my blog for the first time, the best way I can describe myself is a liberal Republican. Facebook reminded me a few days ago that my hubby had called me a "bleeding heart liberal" 2 years ago. Not surprisingly, my liberal friends were pleased and said things like "what a compliment" and "thank him." In fact, only one conservative friend made a comment, which was "If the shoe fits..."

As I have said several times here, my (somewhat confusing and conflicted) political leanings often put me on my own island. Alone. By myself. Some of my liberal and conservative friends are truly bothered by me because I am not what they are (I am pretty much like no one!) In fact, a few friends in those camps have unfriended me, most likely for those reasons.

But here is the thing: my politics don't define me as a person. 

I am an honest, ethical, hard-working, fast-talking, loyal, procrastinating, caring, sensitive, church-going, faith-wavering, open-minded, sports-loving (Steelers, Pens, Penn State, Pitt, Pirates), worrying, second-chance-giving, cluttered, pro-life, information-seeking person. 

I am 99 percent sure I am not going to vote for Trump. I won't say 100 percent because almost everyone I have supported is no longer in the running, and, for various reasons, I will not vote for Hillary if she is the last Democrat standing. But more likely, I will just write someone in come November. Wasted vote? Maybe. But (I hope) it feels better to vote my conscience. 

I can see merits of every candidate. I mean that (but some more than most). Even Donald, whom I do not care for in the least. I get why people support him, Bernie, Hillary, Cruz, and Kasich. Some reasons seem a little misguided and frightening, but some reasons are logical.

If people want to defriend (or stop being friends with someone IRL) because of their politics more so than how they are as a person, I cannot get behind that. Sure, if someone is a Donald supporter and is spewing hate, then don't be friends with them. But if you like Sally, are you willing to give up your 20-year friendship with her just because she is conservative and won't vote for a Democrat? Or just because Mikey thinks Bernie is the second coming of Jesus, are you going to ditch him just because you despised the Affordable Care Ac?

I want to understand the rationale, but I don't. Maybe someone can help a sister out.

Until then, I will do the exact opposite of my post title.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What a year 2021 has been (Day 7)

I have almost no words for what happened yesterday at the Capitol. Protesting is one thing (though I truly think it is and has been time to move on). But to storm the Capitol? A friend on Facebook said, quite simply, " Almost 20 years ago a group of people on an airplane sacrificed themselves to protect the Capitol. How far we have fallen!" Indeed. And, yes, it IS storming the Capitol. I have seen numerous videos of people knocking down barricades/fences, pushing police officers, and breaking windows and climbing through them. That is beyond protesting. And even if a protestor did not do those things, if they followed those seditionists past those barricades and into the building, they are just as guilty. I did not support the violent protests this summer that resulted in damages to businesses and public property (I was in full support of the actual protests). But I also acknowledged as a white person, I cannot truly put myself in the position of a black person who is angry a...
Post a Comment
Read more

Why do they stand up there and say that when they are just lying?

That extra-long title is courtesy of my nine-year-old and was something she uttered during "Say Yes to the Dress" on Friday evening. I watch very little reality TV, but I make an exception for this show because I like to look at the dresses. And sometimes, the stories are heart-warming. Typically at the end of the show, a snippet of a wedding is aired. In this particular show, a woman who was confined to a wheelchair was exchanging vows with her fiance. After the two of them finished, J made her comment. I asked her what she meant as I must have been on the computer while the TV was on, and she explained that because so many people just get divorced, why do they even say "as long as we both shall live"? That is tough one, kid. I tried with what I thought was a sound explanation: Most of the people who get married truly believe they will be together the rest of their lives, but sometimes it just doesn't work out. But if you don't think that you will be ...
10 comments
Read more

Disenfranchised Republican

When I went to vote this a.m., I handed my ID to the guy, since my last name can be tricky. He looked for several minutes in the box with the cards. Then he asked if I was in the right place (there is another area in this room, for people in a different neighborhood, I presume). And I told him that this is where I have always voted. He then reviewed the bound paper list, found my name, but could not figure out why it was there, yet not in the box with the cards. Then he realized what was going on and rather exclaimed, "Oh, you are a Republican!" One of the ladies sitting next to him said, "Oh, one of those." I said I assumed they had not seen too many of "my kind" that morning, and she said I was the third. Then, being the open person I am, I eagerly said I was coming to rock the vote and vote for Ron Paul. One of the women commented that she liked some of the things he had stood for, perhaps to try to make me feel as if I was not voting for a terrible per...
9 comments
Read more