Perception is reality — Lee Atwater
Since then, it’s been added to, basically as “my perception is my reality”, and in many day to day things, you can see this when you talk to others. Nowhere is this more crystal clear than in our current political climate. And it’s something the Dem Party has forgotten. And so have the DKOS users
Upfront warning, there may be much swearing as I was pretty angry when I started this rant of mine.
I started going through my old comments after reading a diary that finally just set me off, to see if I was really imagining how nothing had really changed here since the primary battles. It hasn’t changed, not one iota. And that is not a good thing. Not in the least.
Over the last 3 weeks or so, I’ve seen more division that one could almost swear that the primary battle was being replayed out on here. I’ve never seen people be so ugly and cruel to one another on a site dedicated to lifting all people up since those days. I’ve stayed pretty much with my head down anyways, because honestly, I don’t feel welcome here anymore. I’ve stated this a few times since my return, because quite frankly, it’s true.
I come here, get my news of the day, I tend to try and avoid the comments but sometimes, it’s just like that train wreck. You. Just. Can’t. Turn. Away. I use the links to the regular story from the MSM to promote on my FB, or Twitter, or wherever.
This site gets millions of hits a month (last time I checked), and I have often heard on here “well not like someone on this site is gonna change someone else’s mind”. Really? Do you feel that truly insignificant, that you post vicious and cruel attacks against entire swaths of voters, because you really believe that someone won’t read your comment against them? That they’ll take it with a grain of salt? That they’ll ignore it?
I get it, there’s a metric fuckton of fear out there right now, and in here. We’re all scared. We have a loony toon (no offense to Loony Tunes, loved them growing up) nutjob in the WH who could start a nuclear war tomorrow, just because. Who’s stripping away all of our protections. Putting people in charge to decimate our governmental departments who oversee so many things. Who is trying to cover up his many ties to Russia and right now, we think our democracy has been overthrown, and we really really want to know for sure so we can fix it. Fear makes us do things that I don’t think in normal conversation mode, we would do. We have regular people being beaten up, killed, machete’d, otherwise harmed or hurt by those who have such differing ideals than we do, that they feel violence is ok against us. And so many other things that I’m not ignoring them, it would just exhaust me to list them all and break me down into tears when I consider them all at once.
And yet… I just read a diary in which the common theme is “fuck them, they voted for him”. Wow. Then my brain says, wait. And now the swearing part: Who the fuck do you think you are, to even PRESUME you know what those people are going through? Every single one of us has our own story. Every single one of us has had our own trials and tribulations. We all have our own issues. Does that mean mine are better or worse than yours? Does that mean I should trivialize your issues because I feel mine are in more need?
Perception is reality.
It is mine. It is yours. It is his, it is hers. It is theirs. Your perception does not meet their reality. Nor does their perception meet your reality. And that is the inherent breakdown right now in the Democratic party, and on this site.
Wisconsin is my roots. I’ve not been there in a decade. But I can tell you what I know about them. They are good people. They are hard working. They are scared. Just like you. Just like me. Their perception is that NAFTA took their jobs. Doesn’t matter right or wrong on this. Don’t start bickering whether they are right or wrong, because that is not the point of this. That is their perception. It came about from the Clintons, and our current BOTUS hung it around her neck with them. Remember, this isn’t about right or wrong. It’s about their perceptions.
That doesn’t mean they want their asses kissed. They want to know that someone gives a damn about them. Just like you’re all fighting to have your voices heard over the din for yourself, well so are they. They want to know they can provide a roof over their families head. They can put food on the table. They can send their kids to college. And just maybe, maybe, if they do it all right, they can retire with some modicum of dignity. They want to know they won’t be deported. They want to know that they can afford that heart surgery. They want to know Mom or Dad can afford their medication. They want to know that their kids will have a decent paying job waiting for them. Doesn’t matter their color, their race, their sexual orientation. You, just like them, want to know someone gives a damn right now.
You’re fighting over Bernie Sanders and Barack Obama. Things that in the grand scheme mean really, absolutely zero. But while you sit there thinking “well not like someone on this site is gonna change someone else’s mind”, that is not the case. All of you, your words have meaning when you put them out there. When you tell entire swaths of voters to “fuck off” or “don’t care” it takes me back to this moment, one of my comments to someone during the primaries who essentially said exactly that to me:
Good luck winning when you’ve told us all ‘fuck off’ and ‘don’t care’ and suddenly you have Pres. Trump or Cruz.” — April 13, 2016.
And not a damn thing has changed in over a year. Words have impact and perceptions are real. Maybe you can’t see mine, or his or hers or theirs. Doesn’t mean they or we, or I, or you, don’t have them. It simply means we need to change those perceptions so we all have the reality we want. We do that by listening. By conversing. By coming up with actionable items. Not by throwing them to the wayside and screaming “fuck you” at them. We’re no better than those who would harm us physically because of our ideology, because it’s the same nugget of thinking on their side that leads them to violence, it starts with “fuck you” and “don’t care”.