Oh, these crazy days. Alone at home the majority of my hours, in those early days I passed much time on Facebook. In the past, my mom has complained about politics on FB and I have relatives who support Trump, so I stayed apolitical for the most part.
Thinking my mom was off FB, because she mentioned one day she didn’t know how long it had been since she was on it, I felt a little freer to express my views as we encountered a pandemic and racial tensions. A couple cousins of mine reacted forcefully with their opinions, which was fine. I started to think twice about what to post. I posted things with whom I thought everyone would naturally agree, but no such luck. Everything became politicized and then one cousin took it to far and I felt attacked by him. I private messaged, “Fu*k you” to him, and posted I was taking a leave of absence from FB.
Because I’d spent time on that platform occasionally throughout my days, I expected to really miss it. Not only did I not miss it, I felt a weight lifted off my shoulders. Granted, I did pretty much just move from FB to Twitter, after checking in to see what was happening. So many like-minded people I don’t know, a community of folks who share energy, concern, and current events.
Initially, I felt bathed in the warmth and heart of thousands who believe we’re not on the right path, who believe we can come together to battle both the pandemic and racial injustice, who want to unite in order to lift all of us but especially those struggling to feed their families or waiting for their medications to come in the mail.
As we near the election, however, people who completely disagree with me and are not ever going to change their minds now seek out posts that indicate support for Joe Biden and say terrible things. I don’t know if I’ve ever reported a concern to Twitter, maybe once. Today, I had to report three different people who referred to me as a pedophile! I think this is part of the QAnon cult; I don’t know what else to call it.
For those of you who have sense enough to avoid all the noise online, as you consider your vote for president, I have seen the ugliness Trump’s twisted idea of leadership brings. He said, “I wasn’t lying. I was leading.” He thinks leadership is just looking like a leader, confident and calm. I am voting for Joe Biden because I prefer a president who can calmly tell me the TRUTH and confidently lay out the plan for moving through a crisis.
SurvivingSara 