User:Woozle/Nextdoor
Groups
- Politics (right-leaning)
- (Durham, NC) Politics, Ethics, and Justice: my group
2021-01-11
I took a poll:
Is there any point in me staying in this group? It seems that this group is dominated by pro-Trump sentiment, which is something I utterly and deeply oppose because of the harm it does (globally, locally, and personally).
If I thought there was some way we could reach mutual understanding about this, that would be worthwhile -- but it seems we don't even agree on the fundamental tenets of how to do this. I'm not even sure y'all believe that there's value in questioning your own beliefs, while that to me is fundamental to a civilized society.
Maybe I'm going about this wrong, and I should be talking in more emotional terms? For instance: the America I grew up in was tolerant and secular. My kindergarten class had Black kids, Jewish kids, and often kids from other countries (I remember one kid from Denmark and another from Israel). People were free to believe or not believe as they wish, but no particular belief was part of our national identity; religious belief was certainly not required of anyone. And we used to be prejudiced against Black people -- and Jewish people before that, and Irish people before that, and Chinese people, and Japanese people during WW2 -- but that was all over now, we'd learned our lesson.
...and then I gradually learned that a lot of people feel differently about religion, believe that America is somehow based in Christianity (despite what the Constitution says), believe that patriotic jingoism is somehow good... and I've learned, to my great dismay, that yes there is still systemic racism and anti-Judaism and homophobia and every other possible kind of bigotry... and Trump actively supports these things (just one of his many problems), and apparently a lot of people support him either in spite of that or *because* of that.
It's not the America I was taught to believe in.
Apparently it's the America that Trumperdinck fans love, though, and consider "great".
So, is there any point to my being here, in this group? Am I just shaking the devil's hand by adding to the apparent number of Dear Leader fans here in this corner of Nextdoor, or is there some way in which me being here contributes to the ultimate good?
I'm interested in hearing from both the pro-Trumpsterfire contingent and those here who believe in compassion for all and reasoning from evidence. Please feel free to comment even if you don't vote in the poll.
Thanks.