Heather Allen

We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. – Elie Wiesel

I’m angry and sad and frustrated— at the recent news of Brett Kavanaugh’s appointment to the US Supreme Court, at the Trump for being a horrible human, and at the world at large. And I’m also frustrated, sad, and angry at you, the person who chooses to be willfully ignorant, who decided to post yet another status update that shows you have not been paying attention to the world.

“Why is everyone so upset?”

“Can we not talk about politics?”

“More pets, less politics!”

Your attitude of aloofness is exasperating after all this time! Two years ago you weren’t paying attention when the selfish and egotistical maniac became president and you’re still stuck in some time warp where nothing in your life has changed. You choose not to care about immigrants, their children held at the border, the white nationalists who have a growing platform in our government, Russian interference in the election, police brutality, sexual assault allegations, and many of the other seriously wrong things that have come out of this administration. It’s sickening.

By choosing to act this way, you are telling everyone you’re comfortable with the way things are. That you’re life bubble is still intact. The problems of the world are someone else’s to solve.

Of course, it took me a long time to figure it out for myself—I had to leave my hometown and experience a world bigger than myself to see that by not caring I was choosing a side. A side that ignored the problems of others, that was selfish, that left me blissfully unaware of how systems are in place to keep me unaware, but keep others in positions of powerlessness. If the 2016 election has taught me anything it’s that politics will continue whether we like it or not. Governments are chosen by the people and as such it is our responsibility to counter injustice by voting in local, state, and federal elections. To raise our voice when we disagree. I didn’t want to care about politics in the bubble, but I’ve been shown the problems in our society, and it’s very hard to look the other way.

 

So what do I expect from a human living in this current shit-storm of a presidency? Compassion. Self-education. Acknowledgement of the problems in the world and your place in them. Action.

Mid-terms are November 6th. Choose a side. VOTE.

vote.org

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