Our nation is incredibly divided right now, and the last thing we need is someone standing up and further dividing us with statements based in fact. But you don’t seem to understand that. Whether you’re telling the truth about the legacy of white supremacy, the treatment of Palestinian people, or the dangers of climate change, everything you say is further proof that you don’t care about the country. All you care about is dividing us by saying words that are true and sentences that are also true.
Political parties aren’t even political parties anymore. They’re more like teams or even religious denominations. And here you go, spouting off about the dangers to women’s health and rights if abortion is made illegal in a way that will only entrench us in an ugly stalemate — and why? Because you had to get on your high horse and say true stuff. It’s ridiculous and quite frankly sickening, your commitment to truth.
You’re reading a book or series of articles about the fact that America as we know it would not exist without slavery. OK? And your point is? Wait, don’t answer that, because I know what your point is: to divide us into little divisions with your divisive dividing divisionating. To you history isn’t history; it’s a series of things that were done by people and is still affecting us. What’s obvious to everyone but you is that you’re stuck in an echo chamber with people who are different than you and lived in a variety of time periods.
What’s scary is that you don’t understand how your words affect other people. When you say true stuff, then other people might get the disturbing idea to research what you said, learn something, and then continue to learn things. Do you not get where that leads us? To a bunch of people researching difficult topics and admitting that, while they don’t know everything, they do know certain things, and those certain things are true. Soon enough people will be saying, “Hey, maybe true things should inform how we govern,” and that’s when you know it’s too late. We as a country are done.
I used to have friends who had different political opinions. I used to talk to family members with different political opinions. But having deep relationships with those who differ from us politically is becoming impossible precisely because people like you repeatedly insist — despite patriotic threats from people like me — on standing up and saying, “I know a thing.”
You know a thing? Great. Well, this is what I know: You are guilty of the most egregious political crime in America: speaking up. What has speaking up and speaking out ever gotten us, besides progress for those on the margins? What has learning ever led to, besides courage? People like you fail to understand that our nation’s founders were inspired by Enlightenment principles, such as chance, forgetting, and keeping quiet.
As many people died as a result of Hurricane Maria as died on 9/11, but our nation’s responses to these two disasters in terms of solidarity, support, and attempts to prevent similar disasters in the future have been complete opposites. You’ve actually said that. Is it true? Yes. And that’s why it’s so divisive: the truth quotient is extremely high. It’s not too late for you to learn from me. Try saying something less true, or at least less specific, like this: “Hurricane Maria happened, and then there were things happening. Situations occurred. People were involved. End of story.” That is a much less divisive way to say basically the same thing.
If the average global temperature rises more than two degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial baseline, there will be catastrophic effects for every continent on Earth, and there will be a massive refugee crisis that will dwarf the world’s current refugee population. You’ve said that, too. Greta Thunberg is a hero, you’ve said. OK, well you know who I think is a hero? Trodd Bulgrim. Who’s Trodd Bulgrim? Really smart guy. Brilliant, actually. Keeps really quiet. Stands by. Acts civil. Doesn’t use his freedom to set others free. Be more like Trodd!
I say all this because I love my country. And, as they say, love means never having to say I understand you.