Before I begin, I know. Twitter (called some other name I can’t seem to recall for whatever reason) is now being run by someone with a keen interest on spreading misinformation and rightwing rhetoric. Yadda yadda yadda. This is not the point of the diary however.
A couple years ago on Twitter, around this time or a month later, people, Dem voters were chuckling, perhaps even cackling at human suffering. Celebrating the death of the poor. Perhaps some even cheering for the frozen onslaught of a snowstorm to claim their lives. I didn’t check too deeply but what I saw is still etched in my brain. Why did they do this?
Because us Texas Democrats weren’t strong enough to elect Beto.
”You could have Beto, Beto would have solved it. But you get what you vote for”. That’s a basic summary. Texas is pretty red, big shock. So what does that mean? To some it means we deserve death. All of us. How else do I take something like that? How else? How else I ask you???
Here’s the thing. Weather doesn’t only target Republicans. Weather doesn’t only target bad people. When it wants to, weather claims everyone. The children, the babies, the elderly, pets, animals. The defenseless. The purest of hearts. Weather gobbles lives indistriminately. So when someone cheers for a group of people to go through horrid conditions, they cheer for everyone to.
But you know what else? Republicans don’t deserve to die a horrid chilling death. I don’t give a damn what anyone might say. Sometimes people don’t deserve what they vote for. As I’ve said, good policy is universal. Like the weather, it doesn’t discriminate. Gerrymandering, anti-voter policy, lack of polling places. These are reasons that some or many states stay red. But even discounting that, the populace of an entire state doesn’t deserve death.
It’s not just Twitter. Everywhere there are Democrats, there are those cheering for the suffering of Texas. Like some sort of divine retribution, us Dem voters couldn’t get it done in red states so this is our punishment. That doesn’t sit right with me. The Democratic party, they have to be the ones to get good policy out. They have to be the ones we elect. Not third parties, most certainly not Republicans. The only good Republican politician is one flipping burgers.
However. When I see posts cheering for the freezing of Texas and its most vulnerable, cheering for the hurricanes and tornadoes to clobber Florida, cheering for the sea and for it to eradicate it and its people. When I see posts even a fraction of what I describe, why should I feel united with those in blue states?
I didn’t check Texas on Twitter last year, and I won’t this year. Because I just know, just KNOW there will be those calling for our end. With friends like that, yeah?
My point is this. For those I may be addressing. Just show more empathy. At the very least for your allies in red states, those trying to make a difference. Other Kos users live in Texas or Florida or other supposed “dead-end” states. ‘Far as I’m concerned they’re targetted too.
I think I’ve written very similar, equally incoherent, disjointed diaries already but I’m sure the message hasn’t gotten through yet. It’s basically a majority my replies at this rate perhaps. Defending our right to live, defending our right to exist our respective states. Because I don’t care what anyone says. I don’t care what anyone thinks. We’re here to stay.
Winning states, winning counties, turning them blue. That’s our goal no matter how impossible it seems for some of them. That’s the goal of this site. You argue that hope is lost for a state and you go against that. Especially when you point your fingers at someone else’s state. ESPECIALLY when you do so from a nice, secure blue state.
But back to my main point. The Republicans crave the blood and suffering of the poor. Directly or indirectly, no matter the motive, don’t do as the Republicans do. When people chuckle at Texas, when people chuckle at Florida and all “lost cause” states, they chuckle right alongside them at the same target.