LJ Idol Season 10 - Week 0 - Introduction
I am a social liberal. This week's election results really had me sitting back and looking at why I was so upset with the results. Then someone posted on FB that the response to Trump's election proves that liberals/democrats are the more intolerant and I realized that my upset was actually fear. So I chose to respond to that person. The OP chose not to read my "copy and paste" response that I crafted specifically for him. I make no apologies for who I am. The people in the response below, I can name one (or more) names for each fear I listed. These are real people, they are my friends and chosen family. I cannot tell you more about myself than by telling you about them.
What you’re seeing is not that liberals are more “intolerant” than conservatives. What you’re seeing is that “liberals” are scared. They are scared as hell, and not sure where to turn. Most social liberals are that way because they, or someone they love, have something to lose if the religious right wins.
They are scared that they have just found the love of their life and will not be able to marry that person, because they happen to be of the same sex.
They are afraid that the child that they have just found and welcomed into their family via adoption will be taken from them, that they will be labeled as bad parents or told they can’t be parents at all no matter how good they actually are at parenting, because they are LGBTQ.
They are afraid that their child would be taken from them if they try to divorce an abusive spouse if it became known that they were LGBTQ.
Alternatively, they are afraid of being forced to stay in an abusive marriage because they’re just a woman and their claims of abuse are dismissed until their spouse finally kills them, or they kill themselves because they can no longer tolerate it.
They are scared that they won’t be able to get the Eagle award they’ve earned in Boy Scouts - or will have it stripped - because they are LGBTQ.
They are afraid that if they come out of the closet, they could be sent to a camp where people will “pray away the gay” or go through conversion therapy - which has been scientifically proven to do nothing but cause mental illness and PTSD.
They are afraid that they will not be able to see their loved one, or have a say in their medical care, or even be there for the end of their life, because they are the same sex.
They are afraid that even though they are intelligent and educated, they will be told what they can and cannot do with their bodies - usually by unintelligent, uneducated people who don’t even understand how their body works.
They are afraid that if they get breast cancer, they will die because they are poor and won’t be able to get free or reduced cost screenings so once they catch it, it will be too late.
They are afraid that if they take their differently-abled child out in public, that the child will be spit upon or mocked or even attacked.
They are afraid that their SSI disabilities will be cut and their differently-abled adult child will be left with no way to be cared for when they are gone.
They are afraid of being told to withhold care from their newborn because “they’ll just be a crip/retard/drain on society anyway”. (But not to terminate a pregnancy, even if the child will be in extreme pain all of their very short life, because abortion is against the law.)
They are afraid to take their female child (or themselves, for that matter) out in public without a male along, because some other male could just decide to grab them by the pussy or the breasts and they wouldn’t be able to do anything about it because it’s the accepted norm, and the police would just tell them to “suck it up, it’s a compliment”.
They are afraid to go out in public without a male along because they might be raped and, if they report it, they will get blamed for being in the wrong place or wearing the wrong thing.
They are afraid that their opinions will be openly mocked and dismissed because of their gender or their “time of the month”.
They are afraid that they could be hanged from a tree or dragged behind a truck just because of their skin color, or their profession.
They are afraid of losing their lives, their homes, their possessions, and deported - because someone decided that they believed in the “wrong God” or came from the “wrong country” or just had a single grandparent who immigrated here instead of being born here.
They are afraid of living in an internment camp because of their genetic makeup, or because of what God they believe in.
They are afraid of never seeing their family again because they’re here legally, but their family is on the other side of a wall.
They are afraid of being spit on, punched, or having a religious garment ripped off of them and told to hang themselves with it - simply because they follow their religious belief of modesty.
They are afraid of death threats.
They are afraid of living in fear.
They are afraid of living as second class citizens.
These are all people I know and love. They, AND I, have something to lose with every election - however, this election is so very different because all of the above things are things espoused by the president-elect and/or his vice-president-elect and/or some of their supporters. We have already seen the first wave of people being treated poorly because “That’s how things are now that Trump’s president” and he hasn’t even been sworn in yet! This is why you are seeing demonstrations. This is why people are “unfriending” others who voted for Trump - because this is what they see that person as supporting with their vote.
They are not intolerant.
They are scared as hell!
What you’re seeing is not that liberals are more “intolerant” than conservatives. What you’re seeing is that “liberals” are scared. They are scared as hell, and not sure where to turn. Most social liberals are that way because they, or someone they love, have something to lose if the religious right wins.
They are scared that they have just found the love of their life and will not be able to marry that person, because they happen to be of the same sex.
They are afraid that the child that they have just found and welcomed into their family via adoption will be taken from them, that they will be labeled as bad parents or told they can’t be parents at all no matter how good they actually are at parenting, because they are LGBTQ.
They are afraid that their child would be taken from them if they try to divorce an abusive spouse if it became known that they were LGBTQ.
Alternatively, they are afraid of being forced to stay in an abusive marriage because they’re just a woman and their claims of abuse are dismissed until their spouse finally kills them, or they kill themselves because they can no longer tolerate it.
They are scared that they won’t be able to get the Eagle award they’ve earned in Boy Scouts - or will have it stripped - because they are LGBTQ.
They are afraid that if they come out of the closet, they could be sent to a camp where people will “pray away the gay” or go through conversion therapy - which has been scientifically proven to do nothing but cause mental illness and PTSD.
They are afraid that they will not be able to see their loved one, or have a say in their medical care, or even be there for the end of their life, because they are the same sex.
They are afraid that even though they are intelligent and educated, they will be told what they can and cannot do with their bodies - usually by unintelligent, uneducated people who don’t even understand how their body works.
They are afraid that if they get breast cancer, they will die because they are poor and won’t be able to get free or reduced cost screenings so once they catch it, it will be too late.
They are afraid that if they take their differently-abled child out in public, that the child will be spit upon or mocked or even attacked.
They are afraid that their SSI disabilities will be cut and their differently-abled adult child will be left with no way to be cared for when they are gone.
They are afraid of being told to withhold care from their newborn because “they’ll just be a crip/retard/drain on society anyway”. (But not to terminate a pregnancy, even if the child will be in extreme pain all of their very short life, because abortion is against the law.)
They are afraid to take their female child (or themselves, for that matter) out in public without a male along, because some other male could just decide to grab them by the pussy or the breasts and they wouldn’t be able to do anything about it because it’s the accepted norm, and the police would just tell them to “suck it up, it’s a compliment”.
They are afraid to go out in public without a male along because they might be raped and, if they report it, they will get blamed for being in the wrong place or wearing the wrong thing.
They are afraid that their opinions will be openly mocked and dismissed because of their gender or their “time of the month”.
They are afraid that they could be hanged from a tree or dragged behind a truck just because of their skin color, or their profession.
They are afraid of losing their lives, their homes, their possessions, and deported - because someone decided that they believed in the “wrong God” or came from the “wrong country” or just had a single grandparent who immigrated here instead of being born here.
They are afraid of living in an internment camp because of their genetic makeup, or because of what God they believe in.
They are afraid of never seeing their family again because they’re here legally, but their family is on the other side of a wall.
They are afraid of being spit on, punched, or having a religious garment ripped off of them and told to hang themselves with it - simply because they follow their religious belief of modesty.
They are afraid of death threats.
They are afraid of living in fear.
They are afraid of living as second class citizens.
These are all people I know and love. They, AND I, have something to lose with every election - however, this election is so very different because all of the above things are things espoused by the president-elect and/or his vice-president-elect and/or some of their supporters. We have already seen the first wave of people being treated poorly because “That’s how things are now that Trump’s president” and he hasn’t even been sworn in yet! This is why you are seeing demonstrations. This is why people are “unfriending” others who voted for Trump - because this is what they see that person as supporting with their vote.
They are not intolerant.
They are scared as hell!