I’ve been silent for a while and I guess I couldn’t find the words to talk about how the US Presidential Elections had affected me. I don’t live in their country, and I don’t have a vote. But I do recall November 8th, being swamped with homework that absolutely had to be done, and then pausing for a solid hour just watching the results trickle in.
And I know you all don’t read my blog for political commentary, which is why I wasn’t planning to say anything at first, but I realised everything we do is political. Not saying anything had as heavy a meaning as putting something out there. So to be able to at least shape what meaning gets out, I’m writing this.
A lot of my friends are left-learning, but I come from a very conservative community, so when I say this, I’m trying to understand how both sides thought about who they were voting for. And it’s this: Not all the people who voted for Trump are the racist, sexist, violent bigots who are the loudest. I’d say the reason the polls deviated the way they did from the results, were because a lot of people were too afraid to say they didn’t believe in Hilary Clinton and felt Trump was their only alternative.
There are a lot of conservatives who felt they had no other option because they didn’t support Clinton’s policies but wanted a change from the current system. It’s a shame that they felt they had to choose Trump despite the things he’d said and done, and not because of them.
And understand not everyone who voted for Clinton did it simply because they were supporting a woman over a man. That’s not how it works. She had a platform, and though she represented the status quo, it was the safe option. So when liberals are upset and scared because of the strong acts of hate against them after the elections, it’s not because they’re exaggerating. That fear is real.
And now a lot of people will say that the acts of violence against POCs and the fears of all immigrants being deported aren’t things Trump gave out as policies, not things that he’ll do as a president. To which I say, okay, probably not. But these feelings of anger and blame were legitimised through his campaign. That’s what scary. Because the people on the fringe who previously would not have felt they could do these things, now feel they can.
It’s not the policies, but the culture of hatred and division. That’s what’s scary.
And this division is what caused things to happen. Because the two sides couldn’t engage each other, because the left and the right began to typecast and label and shut down each other. And that’s probably what pushed people in the middle to the more extreme ends. It’s scary identifying as a conservative in the age when the word has been synonymous with bigotry, religious fanaticism, and being totally against giving people rights.
I would hope that Americans don’t end up further dividing because of this. My heart goes out to the women, LGBTQIs, POCs, and immigrants who now feel they don’t belong in their own country. To them I say the people who in majority voted for the candidate who stood for you are still there. The people who voted for her opponent despite their candidate’s flaws, likely as disgusted by what he’s done as you are, are still there.
I quoted Sartre before and said, “Hell is other people,” and I truly believe that. But I believe in the contrary as well. America to me and to a lot of people still represents a country of opportunity, where by and large change happens for the better. I hope that all of you drown out those who hate, refuse to stand for it, and keep moving forward.
Because feeling that animosity right now sucks. It shows that those feelings against everyone outside the “us” were always there but repressed. It’s a cultural shift that’s needed. I won’t lecture, because I don’t have the right, but I am one with all of you in the hope that you continue feeling safe and like you matter in your own country.