On Politics
I would not normally write about politics, but right now I feel compelled to write something.
It is the morning of the 9th of November, and the world has awoken to the news that Donald Trump has been elected president of the USA. For many people, this is one of their worst nightmares come true.
This seems like a fitting end to a seemingly terrible year in public decision-making, coming only a few months after the Brexit vote that engendered a similar immediate aftermath of anger and fear along with post-hoc rationalization and explanation.
This blog post is my immediate reaction to this election outcome, and also the reaction I wish I had had on the morning after Brexit.
I am not going to tell you not to be depressed. Indeed there is something inherently sad and depressing about the supposed leading light of democracy and progress electing a man who has consistently demonstrated a lack of basic decency and respect for other human beings.
I am not going to tell you not be afraid. Much of the rhetoric Trump used on the campaign trail was downright frightening, and there are many communities that have a genuine reason to be terrified at the moment.
I am not going to tell you not to be angry. It is a perfectly natural reaction to losing control, to seeing your country moving in a direction that goes against everything you believe in, even more so when it seems that your fellow citizens have been duped by lies.
No, what I ask of you is to not give in to these feelings of fear, anger and despair. Now, more than ever, is the time to look toward the future. Ask yourself, what can you do to help bring your community together, to create a better, fairer, more inclusive world?
It is not enough to simply write-off the ‘other’ side as bigots, racists or idiots. Whether or not this is true, we don’t need labels, we need solutions.
Look at your Facebook feed. Is it full of anger, fear and despair? What about your sources of news? Are they too full of alarming articles about the future?
This means that you don’t have a balanced view of the community in which you live, but don’t worry, almost none of us do. Facebook isn’t our friend. Its job isn’t to make us into better, more informed citizens, but to keep us coming back for more. All that we ever see is more of the same, reinforcing our existing beliefs, keeping us inside our cocoons.
Empower yourself with information. Educate yourself. Seek out other points of view.
Actively challenge your internal model of the world. Make a genuine attempt to understand people with whom you disagree. They, like you, have hopes, dreams and fears; they too believe that their viewpoint is right. Probably their fears are very different from yours; the solutions that appeal to them will be very different too.
Be nice to other people. Don’t be complacent. Recognize the humanity in others, even those with whom you have nothing in common.
None of this is to dismiss or excuse the Trump campaign, and its message of hatred, discrimination and division. Many horrific and hateful things have been said and proposed, and I too am genuinely concerned for the future.
However I am also fed up with feeling powerless, and I don’t believe that the way forward is to deepen the divisions between us. The only way we can overcome this will be by finding common ground, and uniting the basic decency of the many against the hate and discrimination of the few.
Update (11/11): Upon re-reading this, I worry that in some parts it may come across as being too apologetic or playing down the seriousness of the situation.
Although only time will tell if the consequences turn out to be as bad as people's worst fears, there is no doubt that there are many, many people who will suffer a great deal due to policy changes that will be enacted in the coming months.
And I am not advocating giving up or merely accepting the state of affairs. It is absolutely imperative that people continue to fight for what they believe in.
However, to reiterate, I do believe that in order to change things for the better, it is imperative to reclaim the center, and to find a space in liberal politics for all parts of society. The first step towards this can only be through understanding.