So this might be a little late, so I apologize for the tardiness. Somehow, the blogger app in my phone couldn't post things over a 4G network so I'm posting this from the comforts of my parent's place instead.
Last Tuesday had revealed the results of the 2016 Presidential Elections, pitting Donald Trump against Hillary Clinton. I'll go on record to say that I've backed the Democrats, even before Clinton became the party's nominee (for reasons/views mentioned later).
However disappointingly, we have to look forward to a Trump presidency instead. I was/still am livid, just fuming with anger and sadness in a swirl of negativity to try and comprehend the next four years under his reign. America, you have let me down.
This is the now President-elect who was uniquely unqualified in every regard (besides showmanship), who has run his entire campaign on shunning and discriminating people of colour and of disability, was not even backed by his own party, and was endorsed by the KKK (yes, that Ku Klux Klan). A man who will unfortunately and undeserving of, will have to be in the history books for future generations to know of.
I looked up to you. Heck, the world looked up to you, even if you lamented the mantle of being a global superpower. But you spat in our faces. You showed us that deep-seated white supremacy triumphs the progressive, tolerant, inclusive society which has grown over the past decades. Racism is alive. Misogyny is alive. Bigotry is alive. And this backwards mentality shall swallow you whole, even if the world is a mere passer-by.
It hurts, to see Trump's baseless facts and anti-immigration narrative (to name a few) sway the American people to side with him. Granted Hillary wasn't the most appealing of candidates as well, with her baggage of corruption and scandals (emails, DNC dealings and whatnot) hamstringing her campaign as it neared election day.
To those who argue that I shouldn't care so much about foreign affairs, fuck you. Yeah, fuck you and fuck your ignorance. If you'd rather be sitting lofty in your own bubble without a care about the things happening outside of your community or country, then you've proven my point. Caring too much might make it hurt a lot more, but not caring at all is a crime and disservice to the other people inhabiting this Earth.
They're terrified, that this level of abuse and injustice has been justified in the form of Donald J Trump. And like it or not, his name will be written in the history books, for good (or more realistically) bad reasons. I believe the aftermaths of this election can be summarized by what Van Jones had to say.
So bring on the hurt, because if that's what it takes to make the whole world a better place, you can be sure as Hell to see me fighting for equal rights and equal opportunities. Just overnight, I've woken to posts and messages of friends getting harassed, abused, and it hurts. It's only been two days, and this shit is flooding my social circle.
I am terrified. I am furious. And there's nothing positive coming out of this so far. I pray that I'm wrong. But frankly, I don't think so.
I'll end this post with multiple songs to help with the mulling.
Bright Lights - Matchbox 20
Minority - Green Day
Power - Kanye West
*edit
I was in a rush to post this and totally forgot to add one last point: we need to have these conversations about politics and have them more often. It is important for us to normalize these kinds of discussion so that we do not fall into the trap of being stuck in our social and news bubble.
Also, a (not so) fun fact - 62% of Americans receive their sole news from Facebook. That is a startling number and given how Facebook can be a platform to disseminate false news and have them just circulate your news feed, it is a very big and bad problem.
