subgenius wrote:So, the data currently available supports the assertion that no one on this thread is under "horrifying circumstances" because of Trump.
You know. I actually thought about this topic again last night as kids were coming by to trick or treat. We had scary music. Candy. Spooky lights. A fog machine. It all came together nicely at our tiny home in our part of the city. We were happy.
I think the real question to ask and that few would be willing to answer is, "
What have you done that has made your life better?"
There’s no way to convince a Republican or Democrat or Mormon or Ex-Mormon (to keep this topical to the board) they're wrong about the bad things they think of other people, or they're wrong to feel angry or victimized by others because you can ALWAYS find reasons to feel hatred, anger, and fear towards others, and a lot of times those reasons are perfectly reasonable. I see a lot of that now. I saw a lot of that during Obama. Bush. Clinton. Bush I. And Reagan.
It's an endless cycle.
In a weird sort of way it’s perfectly reasonable for, say, Ajax to be angry that Black folks because of his personal experience.
No doubt those Black folks have perfectly reasonable reasons to be angry at White men, too. Human history is an
unending cycle of violence, both perceived and imagined, and
if you look for it you can find the guilt in anyone that'll justify your anger. Anyone telling anyone else they're wrong to be angry will be torn a new one, because all of us, everyone, experiences incredible hardships throughout our lives. No one gets through life unscathed. That's the human condition.
I think the right answer to
topical hate is that it’s pointless. Finding something to be angry about is trivially easy but also useless. You see this so much in any comments section of virtually any news org, blog, or social media account. It may be reasonable and based on some truths to feel angry; and everyone has a right to be angry, but it doesn’t get anyone anywhere even when it’s valid.
The only thing you can do is focus on what makes your life, your family’s life, your community, better. And directing rage on a scapegoat doesn’t, whether or not it's President or a sports figure, a religious leader, or whatever. It doesn’t make it better,
it makes things worse, and that’s that.
Ajax isn't wrong to feel angry at Black people, KG isn't wrong to feel angry at Republicans, BLM types aren't wrong to be pissed at White folks, Schreech isn't wrong to hate the haters, Bach isn't wrong to feel anger toward the moderators, Rosebud isn't wrong to be angry with Open Stories Foundation, and I'm not wrong to be insanely angry with Bud Adams who moved
my Houston Oilers to Tennessee; because you can never really prove to an angry person that their own anger was only making their own life worse, and that if they could only see themselves from the outside in would a light go on.
Letting go of anger, which
is forgiveness, for yourself, is
not about realizing nothing all that bad happened to you or nobody is really guilty of wronging you, it’s about realizing that hanging on to anger is only hurting
you, not making your own life better. Anger has its place as a self-defense motivator, but once it’s served it’s purpose and you aren’t in immediate danger anymore, you have to learn to let it go and put it away and focus positive energy on solving problems
in front of you in your own life, regardless of what happened to you in the past.
If you are wise and brave enough to do recognize the corrosiveness of hate, then you can escape the gravity of this feeling, and work on making your individual experience the best one it can be, free from the burden of anger. Most people aren’t introspective enough, or if they are, brave enough to hit the eject button on hate, and they remain stuck in an endlessly pessimistic note or tone or vibe. That doesn’t mean anger ‘wins’ if you choose to exist in anger. It’s just that anger makes losers of us all*.
So, no. Trump isn't going to make me feel anything I don't wish to feel. Neither is some Democrat. I'm in control of my internal processes, and I refuse to cede responsibility for that to anyone else because that just doesn't work.
- Doc
* Who hasn't lost their cool on this board, or in life, or at work, or with a friend or family member? Ultimately, the individual in his or her own existential reality, is the one that loses because you can't force the other person to feel your sense of hate, powerlessness, or ire. You're the one left feeling that, and that's the rub.