@The:
Wasn't expecting a reply from such an old post, but I do have some things to say 4 months after said post.
I am all for people going out and protesting peacefully and non-violently. Heck, there was the Women's March and the March of Science which from what I gathered had a lot of people with no violence what so ever. Even for those I disagree with if they want to voice their concerns to get people talking then that is fine by me. Civil discussions are necessary and having a healthy debate is always a good thing. The problem is that despite protests, once it's all said and done everything falls on deaf ears.
Keeping on with the protests stuff, people seem content with ignoring the good and actual plights, and instead go to the same point to discount all of that. They will point to the inauguration vandals, and despite it being a select number of people who did the wrong thing, others decide the actions of a select few undermine the voices of hundreds of thousands to millions. Like you pointed out, it's very much the us versus them mentality, and with that you don't want to give the other side any type of credibility. A number of issues are much more complex than many want to admit, and are quick to simplify issues into something bite sized, and anything outside that small understanding has to be wrong. All this adds to people taking what they want to try to verify their claims without trying to truly understand the actual issues. One example I can think of is something I saw on Facebook recently, where there was a image with text, implying that certain groups claiming to be discriminated against are acting like children. Then a comment adds that they cannot fathom how groups such as LGBT people can believe they have a harsh and unfair life when they live in the USA. That right there shows a lack of understanding of how certain groups have harder times getting certain things other people get easily.
That's the fragmentation aspect that's honestly mind boggling to me. The lack of empathy about trying to understand the position other's are in.
Yes, people can get annoying sometimes with certain attitudes, but who exactly am I to tell them their strugle for a better position in life is worthless, petulant or "bratty".
BLM is a perfect example. Yes, they get over the line a lot of times, but the problem is specific, exists, and should be taken care of. Solely talking about the destruction that sometimes occurs and ignoring the reason the march is there isn't solving the problem.
Despite being over 4 months into this presidency, I am still not sure what to make of the entire thing. Part of it comes from the fact that everyday there is something new to hear from the administration each day, or bar that something else big happened in the world. So much is going on it can be hard to stay focused on one subject. Though when I think about it, that is probably an excuse when there's a much bigger reason, and that's how only in the past year have I really started paying attention to US politics, and world news in general. As such, I am still very much ignorant on a plethora of topics, so it's up to me to actually become educated on such matters, and most of the time I only dig in a little bit. That goes to another reason why I don't generally post in the Politics and News thread, as my limited knowledge would just have my posts come across as ignorant. However, I am learning things every day, and while I may not be as well versed as some posters I am at least trying to better myself day by day.
I'm trying to look at it as an opportunity. Of course this is a lot easier from across the pond.
One of the things I've always complained about the EU is that we're always reliant on someone else on a huge group of topics, always waiting for someone else to take the lead.
I think Trump's election, Brexit, as well as the failed Turkey "coup" and Russia's interference on everything that moves served as a wake up call to a lot of people around here, and I believe we'll take a step further.
The Paris Agreement might have been the pinacle of that. US had already screwed us with Kyoto, but with Paris people were just confident that they would keep their words and take the lead. Trump's announcement showed that the US right now is simply unreliable,and hopefully this is a feeling that will keep in our minds once he's gone.
Out of curiosity, what do you do?
Not sure how you say it in english.
Junior Lawyer? Intern Lawyer? Baby Bloodsucking Vampire?