Hi all
Just let me first say that I'm a fan of Facebook; I love my friends on there. I love their diversity, their enthusiasm, their political and environmental passions, their empathy for others and the world around them and the wealth of information that they give me.
However, there are times when it all becomes too much and like everything else I've noticed it comes in waves. Firstly my news feed was plastered with refugee crisis, then it was Brexit, then it was Dakota and now it's Trump (with smatterings of the rest still thrown in). I find this all a bit overwhelming and sometimes, and I mean very occasionally, I also find it a bit contradictory.
During Brexit I had about half and half (bit like the country) with views on leaving and views on staying; this, of course, led to several debates, many interesting articles and one huge fallout and loss of a 'friend'; although to be honest if someone isn't willing to see both sides of the coin and accuses me of being stupid just because I don't agree with them, I don't actually see it as a huge loss. But I'm digressing from a point! One argument for leaving that popped up on various occasions was that we (the country) didn't want someone else being involved in our politics; we didn't want people sticking their noses in and telling us how we should behave. But now some of those people, not all, just some, are saying that we should be rallying to get Trump out, doing all we can to stop his 'nonsense'. Hang on a minute; you can't say on one hand that you don't want Brussels having a say in our politics but then have the nerve to suggest that we can have a say in America's.
I would like to point out that I think we have entered very dangerous times and that I'm also very aware that whatever a country does in it's political system can and often does have a global effect especially decisions made by the 'superpowers'. I can't stand Trump! I think he's a self obsessed, power crazy, womanising bigot but the USA voted and he got in. I don't think they had a particularly brilliant alternative, but there you are; he's in and we are going to have to accept that and face the consequences of that decision just as Labour voters have to accept Conservatives winning and vice versa.
Of course we will still continue to campaign, we will still fight to preserve human rights and we will continue to stand up to fascist dictators, we will petition, we will march, we will raise whatever banners we feel are necessary to get people to take notice and that is because the majority of the world's people are caring, humanitarian and generally bloody good people! BUT, and I put this in capitols because I think it's a huge but, we cannot be all pious on one hand and then point fingers on the other. We have to accept that some things in this life, although possibly horrific, are none of our business.
I think what I'm trying to say is I'm getting the impression that some people are pointing fingers at American citizens and blaming them for the world that could be ahead just as some people pointed fingers and accused half the nation of being imbeciles over Brexit. No-one personally knows the people who voted one way or the other (of course we know those that are in our close vicinity), but we do not truly know the reasons why they voted the way they did. They may have felt it was the lesser of two evils; it may have been, as a lot of people who voted Brexit are now saying, that they were misinformed. We do not know their personal circumstances so we cannot point blame!
I'm just grateful to those people that voted! Much better to vote and be wrong, in mine or other people's opinion, than to not vote at all. Those that don't use their vote are the ones that I'm more likely to point fingers at. To not vote, in my opinion, is to not care; about others or yourself or family. To not vote allows those dictators to rise up; let's face it if you can't be bothered to get of your arse and tick a bit of paper why would you be arsed if someone starts telling you how to live your life! Democracy is, in my opinion, a bloody brilliant thing; it means that the people have a say. Of course we're going to get it wrong occasionally, we're not infallible; we make mistakes, we wouldn't be human if we didn't. We should, theoretically learn from those mistakes and we did for quite a number of years after the last World War but you have to remember that the young don't have those memories, they are removed from that horror, they are blissfully living in a state where that does not exist to them personally and so they cannot comprehend that something that horrific could happen again.
My mother would often say that the world needs a good war occasionally! I don't agree with her on it by the way although I can see why she said it. Her argument was that 1) it helps to keep the population down as we have no predators apart from ourselves and 2) it's a great reminder to appreciate what is 'real' in life. In other words when faced with the horrors that come with war you start to appreciate what really matters; family, friends, food, safety, the lack of fear and the support and love from your fellow man. Maybe we in the west do need one. Maybe then we will stop obsessing over celebrity, selfies, size, shape, money, merchandise and all the other shallow things that we seem, in general, to be obsessed with. Maybe then we will start caring about each other and maybe then when we are next allowed to vote (if we haven't been taken over by a fascist dictator) we will do our research and all get off our arses and make the right decisions about who we want in charge.
Rant over.
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