Context Matters...

Okay, now that I've established that I am all for trigger warnings except in my own fiction, that I am a fan of Woke, PC, Liberal, Progressive, Consequences Culture let me make a post that makes it sound like I'm not.

I hate that liberals eat their own while Republicans hold their noses right up until they decide they actually like the smell.

You saw it with Trump. He molded the party into his own because Republicans will walk in step. Their whole belief is that any R is better than a D. Any. R. Even really horrific, morally bankrupt Rs. It's insane.

I don't want that for liberals. 

Except...

Look, it's a two party system right now. I'd rather it weren't. I'd like to get ranked choice voting in place so we had a better chance of getting a different batch of candidates in office. I'd love to see more progressive YOUNGER politicians get a shot at making a real difference. All of these things would be my ideal. 

But right now, what we have is a basic two party system and our options are often voting for the lesser of two evils. SO VOTE FOR LESS EVIL.

It makes me crazy to see people who have the same basic beliefs and same basic frame work tear each apart so badly that the clearly worst choice ends up in office. 

There are more people who identify as at least somewhat liberal than there are conservatives in our country. 

Every. single. poll. shows that people are in favor of more gun regulations and fewer health care bans. Every. single. poll. shows that people want to actually help those in need instead of criminalize being poor. (which is what a lot of the Republican "plans" to end houselessness are, just criminalizing it)

So how about we all try to be a little less...well self-important? Is that the word I'm looking for?

You know, the woke Olympics. The I'm more concerned than you are about the environment. I am more aware of issues than you. The instead of just saying "hey, did you know that you can take your batteries to Lowe's or Home Depot and they will recycle them so they don't end up in landfills" you say "YOU HATE THE ENVIRONMENT YOU MONSTER!" and of course your suggestion to go to Home Depot is met with "YOU CAN'T SHOP AT HOME DEPOT THEY CONTRIBUTE TO TRUMP!"

Lizzo had a lyric in a song recently that was met with "hey, did you know that's actually a hurtful word?" to which she responded, "no! I didn't!" and then changed the whole song with a new lyric. Which is a great story right? It's exactly how this sort of thing should be handled. But that first "hey, did you know?" message was then met with a ton of people piling on with not as helpful of responses. Instead of assuming that she didn't know, they assumed she did as was just being awful. Even though she had already addressed the issue, apologized and changed the song. 

That's the shit that drives me crazy.

People get to make mistakes. People get to learn from those mistakes. People get to change without being judged by their past mistakes. 

Who I am today was formed by who I was 30 years ago but who I was 30 years ago is not who I am today. And if you bring up something I did 30 years ago as a reason why I'm awful today that's a problem. 

And those are the times where you see cancel culture veer away from consequences culture into no context culture. You have to look at the time period, the normal acceptable language and attitudes of that time AND if the person you are looking at has changed and shifted beliefs.

The Republican party is the party that fought on the right side of history in the Civil War after all. Things change.

When someone on the left is more concerned with other people not being left enough or refusing to vote or work toward change because "both parties are just same" we lose. There, at times, might not be as much difference as I'd like between individuals or organizations, and I am pretty ticked off that Dems used Roe v. Wade as a fundraising tool and a get out the vote tool instead of codifying it into law (which to be perfectly fair, I'm not sure when they could have done it, maybe the very beginning of Obama's term?). But there is a huge difference between the parties. Especially now. (Caveat: I'm pretty sure Manchin is a republican in all by title and I'm not sure why he calls himself a democrat)

So stop fighting with each other over word choices and who has the most recent correct language and if the US is more racist than it ever has been or is less racist but still too racist. Stop taking your marbles and going home when things don't go exactly the way you think they should go.

When given the opportunity always go for less evil. 

AND STOP FUCKING THINKING THAT A LITTLE LESS WOKE IS EVIL!

Honestly...

It's fucking exhausting.