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In reply to the discussion: Rural living. [View all]BRToldschool
(8 posts)I mostly lurk. Because I am experiencing a similar reaction, to the vilification of our rural brothers and sisters. I am not rural, but I have plenty of family who are rural. I also have plenty of family who are on opposite sides of the the national divide, regarding Trump and Clinton. Most of the Clinton voters were not thrilled with her, but saw her as the only sensible option. Ironically, most of the Trump voters felt the same. Because they had various problems with Hillary. Most of them still know how to keep the peace around a holiday dinner table, too.
I am not sure we, as a country, know how to do this anymore.
And the thing that bothers me, is that we put a lot of stock in the concepts of compassion and empathy, yet we get behind the kinds of hyperbolic and vindictive statements being hurled at non-urbanites.
I was mortified when Hillary called people deplorable. It didn't matter whether or not this is an accurate assessment. It doesn't matter if Trump is horrible. She was evicting millions of Americans from the conversation, based purely on the assumption that urban Democrats are an ascendant, permanent demographic and political majority. Which we aren't. We only hold a majority so long as we speak to 3 out of 5 Americans. And even then, we have to look at the remaining 2 out of 5, and say, "We know you think our policy is wrong, but we value you as brothers and sisters regardless; maybe there will come a day when we can agree."
That is how you convince people that you have their interests at heart; by not taking away their humanity, even if they're not supporting you or your party the way you wish they would.
I don't know anyone (Democrat, Republican, or otherwise) who ever changed her mind, because she got called a name.
Hillary should have won this election, no question. But how much of the responsibility are we (the rank and file) willing to acknowledge?
I feel like we (the people who pride ourselves on reaching out and embracing everyone who is different) have gotten too comfortable defining who gets to be a good person, or not. Often using alarmingly arbitrary, non-nuanced criteria.
To be blunt, we don't persuade anymore. We just call names, and get angry when we don't have our way.
And I am sorry to say this, as my first post on this amazing forum.