In hindsight, it was the most predictable thing in the world, yet it still somehow caught me by surprise.
No, I don’t support the guy. I don’t even live in the U.S., and I wouldn’t have voted for him if I did. But I do think the average person who identifies as "on the left," particularly here on Lemmy, doesn’t realize how incredibly toxic the atmosphere becomes for true independents. We’re stuck enduring a firehose of insanity and hatred from both sides.
In my view, one of the main reasons we got Trump in the first place was the identity politics and wokeism on the left. For a while, I thought the pendulum was swinging back toward reason and balance, but now it feels like we’re back where we started. Honestly, I can’t even blame people for voting for him - it’s just a shame that the silent majority has to suffer because of the vocal minority.
Why is it that political discussions seem incapable of being conducted dispassionately? I can’t shake the feeling that this polarization is driving more people to the right, only worsening the issue. Hell, I’m probably going to be labeled a right-winger just for making this post. And then people wonder why the right is gaining popularity. Where else can centrists even go anymore when the left eats its own?
This is similar to how I feel about the situation as a whole. Seeing so many 'fuck it' votes from people who are tired of the fighting and not being heard from either side. It's infuriating but not surprising.
Now I see across several communities is the blame game attacking groups without considering the why in all this.
Whenever I point out the hateful rhetoric, the advocacy for violence or murder, the attacks on anyone trying to make sense of things in a calm and measured way, or the lies spread about the other side (yes, the left does this too), people are quick to respond with whataboutism - pointing out how the right does it too, and supposedly much worse.
Sure, maybe they do. But I don’t spend time in right-wing spaces where I have to deal with it. I’m here on Lemmy, which I’ve been told is supposed to be far better than other social media platforms. I don’t give a damn what it’s like in my neighbor’s house - I don’t live there. I care about what it’s like at home, and right now, it fucking blows.