If the 2016 presidential election proved anything, it’s that we all live in our own bubbles, whether they be racial or cultural bubbles, regional bubbles, religious bubbles or party bubbles (and I don’t mean the fun kind). It also proved that people love saying anyone not in their bubble is in a bubble. Essentially, we’ve become dogs that endlessly chase our tails until we bite ourselves in the ass (yeah, that means you dems).
This supposed “revelation” is not something new. Human nature, to a great extent, keeps people confined to their bubbles, because that is where they feel safe; it is where they feel understood; it is where they feel they are right. I, myself, am guilty of this.
What makes the United States such a special place is that we have found a way to peacefully live side-by-side with people who don’t believe the same things that we believe or live the same way we live. While we tend to “stick to our own kind”, you don’t have to look hard to find a liberal and a conservative dancing to a Grateful Dead cover band together.
At our core, I believe all of us have some bit of unbiased good in our hearts. That is what our country has been built upon. We disagree, but we accept our differences for the most part. To be fair, we don’t always live peacefully, but compared to the rest of the world, we’ve done a pretty good job. Arguably, we’ve done a better job than any other country in the world. That is, until now.
I do not think anyone would argue that the 2016 election season saw one of the most divisive campaigns this country has ever experienced. In order to not prove my own point of being stuck in my own bubble, I will admit both parties took part in making this volatile situation. Progressives and Democrats certainly made their fair share of presumptions about Trump supporters calling them racists, sexists, uneducated, etc., when really, they were reacting to the headlines Trump was making in the media about hispanics, muslims, women, etc. What they failed to do was listen to the things he was saying that didn’t make the headlines, specifically his talk of jobs, the economy and American made goods. Many Trump supporters, I assume, we’re drawn to him for the latter, and his social views were of little importance as they did not affect them personally. While many liberals argued that these people were immoral nonetheless, they never took the time to see the struggles those voters were going through. To be clear, I don’t think all Trump voters ignored his white nationalist ideas and I’m sure many supported those ideas wholeheartedly, but it is also the case that many of them did not.
The issue with Donald Trump campaign is that he chose to make those racist and divisive headlines the basis of his campaign. Whether he’ll admit to it or not, a celebrity knows more than anyone that there is no bad press. While the media can be blamed for exaggerating certain things, they cannot be blamed for covering his own words. Those words, while not supported by all of his voters, emboldened the voters that held these controversial views. It also emboldened the left to shout “racist” and “sexist”. And thus, our great divide was split wide open. Trump basically told the American people that living in peace with others that you do not agree with is not American, when in actuality, it is the very definition of American.
Now we must live with what has happened to our country. We can continue fighting like children because the loud man with the power says we should, or we can show him what the real America looks like. It looks like a thousand different colored bubbles that think differently, love differently and live differently, but, in the end, we accept that we are all created equal and granted the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. – Dennis Marrero (aka Nephew)
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