The United States, especially Massachusetts, has been through a wave of both shock and uneasiness within the last week. Many feel as though the presidential election went in a direction no one saw coming. As a current student at Brandeis University, I have seen the tone of the student body go from hopeful to gloomy overnight. Haley Hashemi’ 19 expressed that, “I was in disbelief at first. When I talked to my dad, I realized that there is clearly a disconnect between our campus and the rest of the world. I saw that there is a cry for help from middle class in the Midwest as a reaction to neglect. I am still very upset over the results, as I was hopeful to see the first woman president.” Essentially, we were all deceived by the democratic bubble we live in here on campus and in the state of Massachusetts.
Another issue with this election was the tone and aggression of our peers. There was significant amount of “unfriending” and “I won’t associate with anyone that votes for Trump.” Guess what, you do. There are people that are close to you who voted for Trump, but you will never know as you have bullied them into silence. There is a sense of fear amount young Trump supporters that they would immediately be labeled as racist, sexist, homophobic, or misogynistic. It is understandable to disagree with people, but by silencing others we were blindsided.
This may not be true for the Massachusetts area or Brandeis campus specifically, as we were far from affecting the results being the democratic state we are. The fact of the matter is that we would have been more aware of people’s reasoning for voting for him if we were willing to listen. There was no productive conversation between difference of opinion, which may have led to a Trump supporter realize that Hilary could have been the better option. Instead, many decided that guilt-tripping someone into seeing their way would work. All that did was cause the person to keep their thoughts to themselves. As Americans, we have to respect every one’s right to have a voice and vote for whomever they want. A young supporter, who wanted to remain anonymous expressed, “I fear of being seen as evil and against minorities which I am not. I am proud of the diversity in our country. I just wish that certain people would not group me with other people and assume that my views are the same as the extremists.”
We may not agree with others or find their ideas to be immoral, but it is our job as a democracy to try and all work together. Nothing good ever comes from hate. We may never understand where the rest of the country was coming from, but we have to try our best to be proactive towards creating a better country. When you see or meet a trump supporter, try and push all the anger to the side and listen. Have an educated conversation that leads to neither party feeling attacked or labeled.
We must come together in unity because in the end, we all want to live in the best country possible. If that means working with “racist, homophobic, or sexist” people, so be it. We will never all agree or be happy, but if we talk about it in a civilized manor we could get close. Let us all agree to disagree.
