JAMES LILLIN
Staff Writer
There are countless ways that I’ve hurt the movements I love most. There are times when I don’t have the energy to be respectful to people on my social media who have views that I find disagreeable, and have let conversations devolve into “8-Mile”-esque insult duels to the rhetorical death.
I have shared Tomi Lahren videos with lengthy rebuttals, not stopping to wonder if 90 percent of her views and shares are from progressives like me foaming at the mouth in a rage-seizure, blind to the megaphone that we are handing our enemies.
I have shared platitudes like “love is love” or “love trumps hate,” too often placing the focus of my activism on the tolerance of my side rather than on combating the untethered hatred of the other. These sayings are a great way to pat ourselves on the back, but ultimately say nothing. If anything, they serve as a condescending sneer to people who have legitimate disagreements with us, or who grew up operating on a different worldview, and only widen the rift of empathy and understanding in our culture.
Love-based activism doesn’t work when we’re not making any actual points, suggestions or arguments, and it robs our opposition of their humanity.
The most moving Facebook post I saw during the 2016 election was from a single mother of two I had worked with over the summer. She wrote that she had been struggling for a decade to raise her beautiful children, and that she voted for Barack Obama hoping to see a change in her life. She wrote that she hadn’t seen that change in the slightest, and that her state in life seemed worse than when Obama took office.
She was disgusted by the things Donald Trump was saying, but only had so much time to get news in between work and caring for her children, so she was just as worried when she heard the FBI was reopening their case against Hillary Clinton. She was placing her vote for Trump despite his racial rhetoric, despite his bragging about assault, because she needed to see some type of change for her children, and so she cast her vote for the “change candidate.”
I’ve been torn down on social media for arguing that not all Trump supporters are hateful, racist or sexist by virtue of their vote, and this is a position I still hold today. Working with this woman was one of the great joys of my life, and I have similar love for plenty of Trump-supporting friends and family members.
If you have unfriended every conservative friend you have on Facebook for posting a single article mirroring their beliefs when your own Facebook is overflowing with memes about how Trump is a Cheeto-dusted hate Zamboni and his wife is a mail-order bride, please reconsider doing so in the future. It’s fine to create a giant echo-chamber for your own beliefs, but don’t fool yourself into thinking that your sharing and retweeting is doing any good.
There are many things you can do this summer to make a real, tangible impact, and here are a few:
Join the Indivisible movement at indivisibleguide.com, created by real congressional staffers who are taking the lessons and tactics learned from the Tea Party to use against the current administration. Even reading their page will give you valuable information.
If you haven’t voted when you were able, or do not know the name of either your Senator or your Congressperson, then even gleefully sharing news about Trump’s falling approval ratings is almost criminally hypocritical. Remedy this, save their numbers in your phone, and the next time you read about some dreadful news from the White House or your area, pick up the phone for a minute-long call to their aides before hitting “Share” on Facebook.
Download the Countable App, which will inform you of all current votes your representatives are making, as well as giving you suggestions about constructive ways to express your opinion.
Sign up for ResistBot, a free text-based service that will allow you to turn your texts into messages that are actually faxed to your representative’s office.
Donate to Planned Parenthood, the ACLU or a local candidate gearing up for a race. It doesn’t have to be much, but even a little counts.
Keep friends in your sphere you who disagree with, and who can challenge your beliefs as much as you can challenge theirs.
Nobody can be expected to be an activist 100 percent of the time. Have fun, share some memes, and roast some unpopular politicians over a bonfire at your 4th of July party. But when it comes down to it, resolve to do at least one action of substance a week. As young citizens we have a lot of power we can use this summer, but it won’t mean anything unless we actually do it.