Everyone has already done a great job at stating the obvious reasons this comment is mind boggling to all of us. But I appreciate the person who asked you to consider why you come to this site so often, assuming you must feel a camaraderie with us. And knowing that most of us have wildly different perspectives than you. Interestingly, I surely don’t have that feeling when I encounter lifestyle/women-centric content from conservative writers. Consider the exclusionary attitude of people who agree with the politically and the stark contrast to the accepting and inclusive content here (and I’m not referring to posts/ comments concerning politics. Just the variety of diverse voices represented). You simply don’t see that in conservative media.
I live in the Deep South and witness this in real life on a daily basis. I teach art at a school that is predominantly Hispanic. During a recent unit on art as social social commentary, a student made a digital collage of photos of ICE protests and screen printed the words “deportation won’t diminish us”. My coworker who handles the large format printing is a die hard republican who has Fox News running in his office at all times. He and I are buddies but he knows not to engage with me on politics. Well, when he brought me her collage that he’d printed, he says to me “Hey, you really believe this?!” In front of my class full of kids living in active fear that they or their families might be snatched from the streets (even my documented and American-born kids live with this fear). I immediately told him to shut it down and get out of my room, and literally had to push him out as he tried to interrogate my kids about whether they thought illegal immigrants should be able to be here when they haven’t had health screenings. The fear and anger on my kids faces when they realized they can’t even feel at ease at school was something I’ll never forget.
I implore you to start spending time with people outside of your regular social circle. Make yourself proximate to those who feel unsafe in these times. LEAD WITH EMPATHY. Ask yourself, and really consider if yours and your neighbors lives have improved since Trump came back to office.
And in case you’re a Trump supporter who also considers yourself a Christian, please make one connection to what you see unfolding around us in what we’re taught by Jesus and the apostles. The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, and self-control. Don’t miss the scripture preceding that one sums up the acts of sinful nature “…hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions..” Tell me which of these your president embodies.
And don’t forget what we read about what love means in 1 Corinthians “love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude. It is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, it always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”
