This is dedicated to anyone who identifies as an activist, progressive, liberal, democrat. The last time I wrote something was almost a month ago. In that time I have had several conversations with people across America. I have added more friends to my Facebook feed and as a result I have diversified my range of political commentary from one that remains largely within the liberal sphere to one with incorporates the “alt-right”*. I have contacted a total of 92 complete strangers and I have no idea how many people have seen my comments.
As a result, a lot of news “stories” now show up on my feed. These posts are probably from “news” sources that many of you might not have encountered or that you may have dismissed as being so biased that the information it offers you is not worth your time; these include The Conservative Daily Post, Angry Red Patriot, and Young America’s Foundation just to name a few that I had never heard of before. Most recently, I was even startled to hear that conservatives are worried about losing their voice in the “mainstream media” with the firing of Bill O’Rielly. Are you rolling your eyes yet?
If you are….
Stop.
Part of this project is dedicated to reaching across the aisle and starting conversations with people who might think differently from me about what the government “should” represent or the role that it “should” impose on our daily lives. Facebook is an easy medium for finding these people; type “conservative” into the Search Bar and see what comes up. For those of you who are fortunate enough to already have people on your feed who represent the American political spectrum, you don’t even have to look for them. It is these individuals who have expanded my political awareness. They have pushed me to do research. They have exchanged information. They have reasons. They have blocked me. They have often started out as insulting and defensive and have responded in kind when encountered with empathetic inquiry. I have seen that “they” is not different from “we”.
Where do you get your news from? On what basis do you decide whether or not your news is really factual? How do you know?
What I have seen is that “most” of the news does not hold up to the facts that our government makes readily available to the average American online. But, seriously, who has time for that? We are a culture of fast moving, busy individuals. News no longer reports information but rather presents a skewed bias of information; the Huffington Post, the New York Times, ABC News, CNN News, Fox, The Blaze, Washington Watch, etc. If all the information that is being posted is skewed, what is the difference between liberal and conservative news?
What is the difference between a liberal and a conservative if both sides insult the other with terms like racist, un-American, fascist?
To the people who politically agree with me: Do you sometimes adopt a stance that is condescending, insulting, belittling, or combative?
I want to draw your attention to the most recent post I made of Facebook. It is not particularly positive and I did not add my hashtag of #CreatingANationUnited because I wasn’t sure if it was really in line with what I am trying to do; it continues to be a developing process. It is not simple, it is not black or white or red or blue, and it cannot be categorized neatly into a label; relationships are complicated and also a part of what I am working to build.
My plea to the marchers, and the activists, the liberals, the democrats is that when you are making your signs, and blogging, and responding to whatever on Facebook, resist the desire to belittle, insult, or patronize. There is no need to ostracize the other side with our words; “they” are just as angry and frustrated with the American government as “we” are. Now that I have said this: please enjoy the following brief conversation demonstrating my own susceptibility to the “bait”.
*I used (maybe overused) quotations throughout to ask you to question what the words mean and imply as I am constantly forced to do as I continue this project.
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I was unable to copy the exact meme so you will have to be satisfied with a description.
D.C. A black and white photo of a Hitler wearing a Nazi party uniform and delivering a speech. The words read: Now remember what we taught you my good little Democrats. If you tell a lie often enough, bold enough, people will accept it as the truth. So you now own the Network News, go forth and accuse everyone else of what yo yourselves are. Always point the finger of blame away from yourselves. Call them Fascist. Call them Nazis. Call them Haters. Never let up, or the truth will be exposed and the world you will see that it is you my little Democrats that are the real Fascist Nazis you are.
K.G: Awesome, and that is exactly what these media propaganda pigs are doing, the media is owned by Soros and the Communist, they lie, lie, lie, lie
Meg Phillips Hi D.C. Do you see the irony of this post?
D.C: I see exactly what MSNBC and CNN and the crazies on the left including many in Hollwood are preaching with their hate and their pink hats are doing.. I see what Maxine Waters and Polosi and Chuck Shummer are doing.. I’m just exposing exactly what they are doing.. That’s not irony that is the hateful Left.
Meg Phillips The irony is that the left is as hateful as the right and you are demonstrating the hatefulness of both groups on a very regular basis throughout every day. That is dramatic irony.
Creating A Nation United 