I live in Los Angeles, California and I attend a very conservative university in Dallas, TX. So as you can imagine, I am finding a variety of very strong and opposing perspectives on my newsfeed and in my conversations with friends from both areas.
And though I am happy to say I have a number of friends on both sides who handled the election outcome with grace and class, I am shocked at the amount of inflammatory and offensive posts I see coming primarily from my friends who supported Clinton. I do not want to make this a blanket statement that all Clinton supporters have been behaving ungraciously, or that all Trump supporters are not, but I would like to address a few of the issues recurring on my newsfeed regarding the election of President Trump:
"IF YOU VOTED FOR TRUMP TODAY, make sure to explain to your lgbt+, female, black, latino/a, Muslim friends why they don't matter to you." I have seen this reposted on my newsfeed more times than I can count, and so I would absolutely like to respond to it. Just because Trump supports the traditional family and not the lgbt+ agenda, does not mean that these people do not matter to either Trump or his supporters, it simply means he is not supporting this progressive (and highly debated) agenda. Just because someone voted for a male candidate instead of a female candidate does not mean that women do not matter. And even though Trump has admittedly disrespected women, that does not mean that his supporters are guilty of this. Just because the KKK tried to endorse Trump (and Trump refused the endorsement by the way) is not evidence that either he or the majority of his supporters are racists. He is also not a racist because he supports anti-immigration laws, and it is notable that more latinos voted for Trump than for Romney. Finally, just because he acknowledged that al-Qaeda is largely a result of radical Islam does not mean that he's "islamophobic." In short, one must learn to recognize that support of a law does not necessitate hate for the individuals that are affected by it, and that someone who supported a particular candidate may not necessarily support everything that candidate stands for.
"I am genuinely concerned for my safety." I'm sorry, but this is just ridiculous hyperbole that has no basis in facts, but is instead the "fear mongering rhetoric" that the Trump campaign and its supporters were so often accused of.
"This election was won with a campaign of hate." No, Trump won this election because he appealed to a huge demographic of voters who have been perpetually ignored or victimized by the liberal media and like-minded individuals, because they do not support the progressive agenda or have the same values of the "open minded" liberals. Again, one must learn to recognize that support of a law does not necessitate hate for the individuals that are affected by it. Also, I genuinely believe that many supported Trump because they considered Clinton to be an equally offensive candidate. Of course this is a surprise, because the liberal media portrayed things quite differently.
"I will never accept Trump as the President of the United States." The amount of hypocrisy in this statement (which I have seen quite frequently in some form or another) is astounding. With all the preemptive criticism of Trump and how he "doesn't support democracy" and predictions of how he would not lose gracefully, I do not see how Clinton supporters can have this frame of mind. In Trump's victory speech, he reached out particularly to those voters who did not vote for him and asked for their help and encouraged unity in our truly divided nation. Hillary Clinton in her concession speech asked her supporters to do the same thing. And I believe she did an excellent job of encouraging her supporters to continue to fight for their beliefs by working through our political system.
Moving forward, we must remember that whether we are Democrats, Republicans, or Independents, we are all Americans. I am sorry to chastise my friends who support Clinton (certainly this article does not apply to all of you), because I honestly believe that your intentions are good and you fight passionately for what you believe is right. However people on all sides must recognize when the line of respectful debate and slander has been crossed, and work together to heal our divided nation. I encourage dialogue between family, friends, coworkers, and all others who hold opposing view points, because it is important during this time of extreme tension. I recommend we look to talk to individuals in a meaningful way about our disagreements (either in person, over the phone, or through FaceTime or Skype) rather than through comments sections or instant messages. And please, pray for our country.
