This one isn’t as well researched or well written as it could be. This idea has been in my head for weeks but I haven’t been able to find the time to write it. So rather than a thorough discussion of this topic this will be more of an introduction to the idea.
America is currently moving in two different directions at the same time. Trump got elected even though he spoke crudely, made threats and had talked about grabbing women by the pussy. Oh yeah, and it’s not really wrong to say he wasn’t well qualified. Over the past two or three years the largest increase in violence in America has come from right wing extremist groups (although the Dept. of Homeland Security is spending very little time/resources on that because they have prioritized deporting illegal immigrants). American policy is loosening protections on the environment. We’re threatening and disrespecting other countries to show them we won’t be intimidated. We’re in what is becoming a trade war with China despite the economic pain it’s causing us.
At the same time, there are places with transgender bathrooms or places that are open to anybody using either bathroom based on how they identify. The word transgender is commonly used now. It was not that long ago that I probably hadn’t even heard the word or at least didn’t really know what it meant. And there’s the MeToo movement. That’s been well publicized and everybody knows at least something about that.
Do you remember learning about earthquakes and tectonic plates in Earth Science class? When two plates move in opposite directions and grind along each other watch out. That’s what’s happening. I wasn’t around in the 60’s so I don’t know if this is what it was like but I’m sure there were a lot of people pissed off about the civil rights movement and those people were feeling like the country was moving in the wrong direction and pushed back hard against it.
It’s sad that when one group of people gets more respect or more rights or more acknowledgment there always seems to be another group of people that feels like they’re losing something. I could feel sorry for those people who feel like something is being taken away from them if their close-minded, selfish, bigoted me first attitude wasn’t causing so much pain for everybody else.
This is the part where I don’t really have a conclusion to transition to or more information to transition to or really even know what to write next. I just find it interesting for a lot of reasons that we are moving in two truly opposite directions. It’s not just like tectonic plates. That’s a good comparison for the upheaval it’s causing but it’s also like a rubber band being pulled hard in opposite directions. Are we going to be pulled back to some place close to the middle but a little closer to one side than we used to be? Or are we just going to snap and have a fucking civil war?