Obviously, the abominable displays of white supremacy and atmosphere of hate which occurred recently in Charlottesville aren’t isolated, freak incidents, but instead, a platform which has lamentably gained voice recently thanks to a permissive and, frankly, apparently sympathetic president.

When I first heard about it, I can’t say that I was shocked. America is currently in a state that I could not describe as having some unified norm, from which any deviation would be termed shocking. In other words, I see no vision of America as some idyllic “melting pot," I see no “great” America, I see no rosy vision of a nuclear family with a home and a picket fence summoned from decades ago. If these stereotypes of the “American dream” were still relevant, then perhaps it would be shocking to hear of so-called protests against removing Confederate statues where actual Nazi flags were proudly flown.

Admittedly, not every “protester” was carrying a Nazi flag, but still associating with someone who makes you guilty by association. And admittedly, the protest was supposedly about protesting the removal of the statue of Robert E. Lee, but it appears to not really have been about that.

But, even though my gut reaction is to regard the protestors as awful, terrible creatures (and maybe some — looking at you, David Duke — are), I don’t think that responding in kind (i.e. raucous, potentially violent protests) will necessarily solve anything, either. It is important to show that there are many who think that people with more melanin in their skin (that’s literally what it comes down to) shouldn’t be treated any different from those with less, but the idea of doing so is to change the minds of those who don’t already think so whether they take an oppositional stance or a neutral one. No one who is not already on your “side” is going to be convinced by impassioned demonstrations.

Then again, it is hard to think, when considering someone whose views are polar opposites of mine, that rational discourse would help, and I know that sounds incredibly arrogant, but I don’t think I am alone in this view. Why else do people get so livid when encountering others whose beliefs differ radically from their own? Actually, I think it is more complicated than thinking that the other person is irrational. I think emotions have a lot more to do with unreasonable behavior, rather than some disbelief in the possibility of conversing with another person and gaining some insight (i.e. coming to the conclusion that they must be stupid for not thinking in the same manner that you do).

I suppose it is easy for me to sit here and write this, and say that we just need to talk it out (this is an oversimplification, but still). It may be naïve of me to think that hatred can be dissipated through words, but I really think that it is ultimately the only way. I think it may be much harder than resorting to force and letting emotions take over, but I think that force and the domination of one set of ideas over another can only provide a solution that is temporary at best because there will be constant competition for dominance — and besides, how would one know what is “right," and if one set of ideas is necessarily obviously better than the others? It may only seem right to your perspective. Which is why it is important to be able to communicate with one another so that at least some attempt can be made at understanding other perspectives and experiences.

Yes, those in power may use force and their power and violence to stay in power and to oppress others, but if one uses those methods in resistance, it seems to me that the only thing that can come from that is the same exact system, maintained by the exact same methods.

I hope my thoughts make sense and that they encourage at least one person to think about these issues. We can’t ignore them and hope for them to go away, to be solved on their own. It is not acceptable to say, if questioned about politics, that politics is boring or annoying or infuriating, and to leave it at that. Technically, we have a choice, but if the choice you make is to willfully not think about politics because it is a huge complicated mess, then you’re giving up a certain amount of freedom to those who are thinking about it, and those who are may not necessarily have your best interests in hand or those of anyone else other than themselves.