Comments last night and this morning on Facebook: There was a post about the Republican woman running for state treasurer in West Virginia, and people were supporting her in the comments. I should have kept my mouth shut, but I said "I never vote for Republicans."
Responder1: "Isn't time (sic) for change?"
Me:"Yes. Let's vote out the Republicans in West Virginia. I'm in a same-gender marriage. I can't afford to have haters trying to overturn that. And no, I don't vote for Democrats who would overturn my marriage, either."
Responder 2: "Barry's gonna vote for Hitlery (sic) who wants to flood America with hundreds of muslims (sic). Barry, you know they'll want to throw you from the roof of a tall building to splat on the concrete below. You Libs are crazy! You should let some refugees move in with you . Maybe you can change them."
Responder 2 (again):"Republicans won't let 'em do that to ya, Barry. We'll keep the animals away!"
Me; "You are full of crap,[name]. That minister in Iowa they all visited wants us all killed. The Republicans have never been any kind of friend to gays. None of us are that stupid."
Me (again): "And calling people 'animals' who are fleeing for their lives is not something I, as a religious person, can abide. It further proves how debased conversations by Republicans are. Have a nice day."
No comment from the candidate whose page this was on.
Someone else suggested I read the Bible, because I can't be gay and religious. I said "It doesn't say that," and suggested he read about helping the poor, healing the sick, and welcoming the stranger.
Then there were comments, possibly deleted, about how the church bombing in Mississippi and the graffiti that said "Vote Trump" could not have been done by Trump supporters.
Respondent 1: "the clintons have instigated violence before, plus who tf writes vote trump lmao seems like a dumb move that the clinton campaign and the Democracy Partners and Americans United for Changes SuperPACs would do" (exactly like that)
There are lots of folks out there who do write grammatically and sound like they know what they're saying. One was astonished when I called him an anti-Semite. Why? Because he said Hillary Clinton voted for war in Iraq because "Israel told her to." I asked for (but didn't get) proof that his statement was valid.
I wrote most of that in my OLLI writing group Thursday, before the election. After the Jewish holidays, six weeks of OLLI classes, and the election, I planned to be away four days on my own. Joe and I are spending time with our families in Memphis, metro D.C. and New York between now and the end of the year. I needed time to be on my own.
As everyone knows, the election did not go as most of us hoped. We woke up on the anniversary of Kristallnacht, to find someone who had used Fascist-type rhetoric, consorted with blatant racists, and lied repeatedly, elected President because a minority of the population doesn't like Hillary.
I've read all the calls to prayer, heard him say he wants to President for everyone and we should all come together, and nice words from Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton. I don't think so.
I don''t actually know what to do. I'm too old and weak to be out demonstrating, and I don't think it will do any good. I'm not anxious to leave the country, not yet. And Joe likes his job in West Virginia, where Mr. Trump won a majority in every county, although a smaller majority in Monongalia County, where we live, than in any other in the state. Small comfort.
Most of the places I have visited on my monthly visits voted for him. I've seen many depressed places. Now they've blown up the country. I'm tempted to just walk away and tell them to deal with the mess they've created. Or maybe restrict where I visit in the future, like my parents, who only visited New York and South Florida, because they didn't know where else Jews would be welcomed.
Locally, we got two more Democrats in the state legislature, the two least progressive of the four non-incumbents who could have won. The two of us who were the most progressive got knocked off in the primary.
There's a lot of talk about understanding the frustrations of working-class white men. Same old story. What about the frustration of same-gender couples? Of women who feel like it's open season on them? Of people with family on two sides of the border? Of Muslims and Sikhs who came here for the freedoms others take for granted?
My young friend talk about waiting for old people to die off so they can take over. Thanks, guys. We are not all heinous troglodytes, and we will be gone soon enough. Young people overwhelmingly voted against Trump-except in West Virginia. And I spoke at the gym I go to to one of the sweet young girls who works there. She didn't register to vote.
I'm not sure what to do. I'm just venting here, like everyone else has been doing. He was right about the system being rigged: only it was rigged in his favor, what with gerrymandering in many states, most notably North Carolina, voter ID laws in many places, and the way the electoral college is set up to favor small states that can be easily swayed with money, like West Virginia.
I've heard pundits and sociologists say we all have different ways of interacting. In New Yorker magazine, there was an article about how you have to be friendly to your neighbors, even if they put a sign for him on their lawn. No.
In California, people say "Hi!" to you and smile when they pass you on the street. It doesn't mean much, except to acknowledge your presence and that you belong. The locals in West Virginia always say they are friendly people, but I find, just walking around, that people will turn away from you or ignore you when they pass by. Maybe I need to look at more people as being my enemy, because in effect, that is what they are. "No, we don't hate you. Our religion tells us two men shouldn't marry." My answer to that is "If you voted for that guy, you have lost the right to start a sentence with "The Bible says...". Charity, acts of lovingkindness, welcoming the stranger? Aren't those in the Bible, or were you absent from Sunday school that day?"
Enough ranting for now. There will be consequences. And not just "unfollowing" people on Facebook. I did that a long time ago. I'm siding with the people I've lately learned about: the ones who use words like "intersectionality" and "microagression." The people who decide on their own what race and gender they are. I'm a queer, non-white religious minority, and if it comes to taking sides, that is who I am with.
I have two days to explore Camden County, New Jersey. Then I'll be back to real life in West Virginia.
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