That was an unexpected plot twist… but here we are.
If you supported Trump, please be gracious in victory, and try to understand that the fear your opposition is left with is the same fear you felt at the prospect of a Hillary Clinton presidency – it’s the same fear we kooky, tin-foil libertarians feel every time a president declares war on another group of human beings.
The role of human beings isn’t to gloat over one another, but to reassure one another – to instill one another with confidence that, in spite of whatever obstacles we face, we can transcend our differences and work together toward what we ALL want: real life Star Trek. We all slept on our rural brothers and sisters, and they woke up and gave America an old fashioned country ass whoopin’, and literally half the country is left with a black eye. Lessons learned. Don’t kick each other while we’re down. Let’s pick each other up, dust each other off, and start figuring out how we can work together for everyone’s benefit in this new paradigm.
We’re all on this crazy ride together, and no matter who’ sitting in the driver seat, nobody really has their hands on the wheel. We’re all flying by the seats of our respective pants, and we’re all scared, in one way or another. As a straight, white, middle-class American male, I have the luxury of fearing very little. Please recognize that some of us, however, have a more legitimate reason to be scared, and whether you think it’s warranted or justified or not, respect that it’s still being felt, the same way YOUR fear felt to you, and that experience, however subjective, is still very real and very powerful. Be compassionate.
To my friends in the LGBTQ community, my female friends, my friends from marginalized cultures, ethnicities, and religions – I love you all, and as hateful and vitriolic as the rhetoric can be during such stressful elections, I truly hope that most of what we heard and saw was just that – talk. I hope that the divisiveness and judgement from BOTH sides can cease now in the quiet aftermath, and we can all remember that we have a single, unspoken common goal: to enjoy life as much as we can, for as long as we can.
As a straight-up anti-government, conspiracy theorist, Roganite, stoner-libertarian, personal freedom and the preservation of human life are my two deepest causes, and I know a great many libertarians that feel like I do. I am descended from rural rednecks, and the ones I know can be some of the most loving, nourishing, and open minded people. Closed-mindedness has nothing to do with the color of your skin, your geographic location, your gender or sexuality, or the book you choose to worship, and everything to do with the choices you make in interacting with others and recognizing that, as Joe Rogan himself put it, everyone you see around you is just you, living another kind of life.
Let’s scale back the hate, turn the volume on love WAY, WAY up, and figure out how we can persevere and navigate these strange new waters with tact, grace, and humanity. Don’t give up on your causes. Double down! Dust off Bernie and get him ready to run in four years! Instill your friends with the confidence to run for office, especially if they represent a marginalized group.
The government is just people. Immigrants are just people. White folks, black folks, brown folks, gay folks, straight folks, and everyone in between. We’re all just people. None of us really knows what the hell is going on, so let’s unite under the common experience of being people, and let’s try to take that into consideration with every action we take and every decision we make moving forward. If there’s one thing we, as humans, excel at, it’s adapting, learning, and growing stronger.
I love all you crazy, beautiful humans.