twitter – Putting The Clothes On, Taking The Gloves Off.

“Lemmings always follow the idiot tube to be prompted how to think/act/feel,” stated a friend when I posted something about current events the other day and he saw that I got very left or right responses. That’s so crazy to me.

And then there are the ones who refuse to listen to ANYTHING they’re told, deeming it ALL a conspiracy theory…thus creating real conspiracy theories.

There’s a moderate thinking ground in between, but a lot of people have lost the ability to do exactly this…question, think independently…because we watch news that aligns with OUR views. We hang with and date people who are just like us. We don’t get any exposure to alternate thoughts and, therefore, are no longer challenged to THINK, see other points of view, discover facts, or reconsider. We lack empathy because we just don’t get it. It’s crippling society from within and most don’t understand that we’re in a cold war at the moment and have been for a while.

This is exactly the plan. I believe there are more of us in the moderate middle than the media would like us to believe, thus the heavy divide-and-conquer agenda to manipulate. ALL my friends and family are moderates (and I have a LOT of friends.) They may fall slightly to the left or right, but in general, they’re “fiscally conservative, socially liberal.” They’re of no party and see in shades of gray. *There’s no party for us.* Nothing. Even Libertarians don’t represent us, since we don’t believe a free market solves everything, don’t feel it belongs in some areas (there’s no amount of money a parent will pay to save their child’s life), or even truly exists in a time of corporate fascism. Minorities have always had the loudest voices in history. This includes the extreme left and right.

We have to realize that these are the people disassembling America from the inside. Quite bluntly, they are the problem. They’re allowing themselves to be manipulated, used, are reacting instead of responding, they spread fake news without so much as a second thought, and contribute to the anger and vile vibes out there that affect the rest of us. They drive us to take social media breaks (which costs us business, work, sales, etc), they cause the extreme exhaustion and irritability because we can’t even work on here or see friends without being subjected to endless cack, and they don’t even see the damage they’re doing or how we’re blocking their feeds (I know I am), losing respect by the minute, or trying to scramble as far away as possible for self-preservation. We are inundated with bullshit nonstop with 24-hour “news.” We don’t need that regurgitated on the fun pages where we go to socialize and escape, too.

Common sense, being rational, learning facts from reputable sources, the ability to change one’s opinion based on those facts, and seeing a bigger picture is important…always. That’s what free thinking is. Being open-minded isn’t just the patience to listen to someone with a differing opinion. Doesn’t matter if it’s politics or family, career-related or problem-solving.

How we do one thing is how we do EVERYTHING.

You could post about puppies or a lemonade stand and sooner or later, it will turn it into a political divide.

I have a theory. Ego.

As much as people claim they hate labels, they don’t. People love labels so much that if these titles were human, they’d be whisked off to Vegas and married in a little chapel by Elvis.
For the sake of this article, I’ll say “we” (but I kinda mostly mean you.) We define ourselves with a variety of tidy markers that make sense to us and others. Liberal, Conservative. Vegan, Paleo. Christian, Atheist. Straight, Gay. Actor, Builder. Mother, Father. Husband, Wife. And so on. Some people even allow their illnesses to define them.

Part of why a breakup can be devastating is because we’ve lost our identity. We’re no longer a girlfriend or boyfriend, stepmom or stepdad. We’re set adrift, left to gather ourselves. We can recover like a party animal or an athlete. Some jump right back into anything, immersing themselves in destructive behavior in order to avoid feeling lost. Others reassess and get healthy by leaving the hurt area alone to heal while working out other areas instead.

I digress. When a discussion on social media about ANYTHING turns political, it’s nothing but ego. This is a person asserting their label rather than “I” into the conversation.
And depending on the tone, it often means, “YOU are the problem. I am not. I am better than you.”

The reason we get offended and engage rather than staying silent and/or rational? Because at some deeper level, we recognize that this person has insulted us. They’ve shit on who we’ve decided we are.

There’s an enormous difference between reacting and responding. Most of us lack the ability to step back and look at the bigger picture in a neutral, removed fashion. We lash out and cling to our beliefs because they ARE us. They define us.

But they don’t have to. It’s a choice. And if my theory is correct, you have the choice to recognize this next time someone turns a casual discussion about buying patio furniture into a split sided political argument.

There are 2 types of people: Those who want to know, and those who want to believe.

Everything is an exchange of energy. Currently, we’re a fractured country and we all know we shouldn’t continue down this path. Too many would rather be RIGHT than happy, which lends itself to the anxious and hostile energy many have been experiencing.

Hurt people hurt people.

If only one person gets something out of this, the time spent writing was worthwhile.

Carry on.

-Written by April Hunter

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