Politics, Misogyny, Homophobia, and Facebook Etiquette

As I write this blog post we are 26 days away from the 2016 Presidential Election. The NY Times just printed an “I wish a motherfucker would” response to Donald Trump’s lawyers insisting the paper print a retraction to its latest story on the candidate. Per the Donald’s team, the NY Times interviewing and reporting on women who say Trump touched them inappropriately is “libelous.” I have a love/hate relationship with the NYTimes, but their clapback was amazing. This election has turned into one of the most disastrous in modern history. We have a candidate who admits to tax evasion during a live TV debate and uses his celebrity status to do whatever he wants to women. “Grab em by the pussy!” For clarification purposes, if consent isn’t present, that sort of contact is considered sexual assault. Using your star power (or the way a woman dressed or danced or level of sobriety…) to justify improper behavior implies you were not seeking consent. That’s rape culture at play, folks. 

Those words are going to haunt Trump for the remainder of his life. 

He’s also racist as hell. Mexicans are rapists? He’s xenophobic. Ban all Muslims.

YET HE WAS THE #1 CONTENDER FOR THE GOP NOMINATION. I still can’t wrap my brain around any of it. Note to the GOP: You guys seriously need to reevaluate your goals if Donald Trump is what you consider to be the cream of the crop within your ilk. That’s disturbing. Especially with so many within the party now wanting to disavow Trump after his recently released remarks about women said over a hot mic during an interview with Billy Bush. It only took about 50,000 times of him saying something disgusting before people finally took notice. Amazing.

Hillary Clinton is no peach, either. I have a boatload of issues with both her and her husband, but with an election on the line, I’m SO with her. If I could go through a revolving door and vote for her ten times on November 8th, I would. I’m a black woman living in America. Between the two candidates, who likely has my best interests in mind? Hillary or Donald? Definitely not Donald. Who will best represent the majority of Americans? Definitely not Donald. Who will best represent us in international matters? Definitely not Donald.

Granted, the superpredator comments HRC has made in the past and President Clinton’s 1994 Crime Bill didn’t endear me to either of them. She didn’t directly call black youth superpredators, but the allusion was there. Clinton’s crime bill contributed heavily to the mass incarceration of African Americans. If you’re interested, check out 13th on Netflix. It explores the U.S. school-to-prison pipeline in greater detail. 

A few months ago, I wouldn’t have cared much how people voted. Even if one candidate sucked, I at least felt like the country wouldn’t implode. With Trump at the helm, implosion is imminent. The acceptance of his hate speech has blown my mind. I’ve had to purge the hell out of my Facebook account. I’m usually for people speaking their minds and supporting whatever causes they choose, but to see memes on my timeline that openly promote misogyny and racism … I had to take a step back and reassess. Why would I subject myself to such hateful rhetoric? My frame of mind is: don’t stay where you’re not welcome, and never beg for a seat at the table. If people want you, they will let it be known. If they support you, they will let it be known. I guess my patience has just worn thin, and the last couple of months has enlightened me to a lot of ways people think. Facebook is good for that. 

Spotting intolerance has become so much easier. Especially when authors make posts public, which brings me to homophobia and Facebook etiquette. A few weeks back Covergirl appointed their very first male ambassador, James Charles.  Fabulous doesn’t even begin to describe this kid. James is doing pretty damn well for a seventeen-year old. He’s amazingly talented. So where does this story go wrong? 

An author publicly posted the following commentary: “America is being transformed through acceptance of this kind of garbage” with a link to a Yahoo article featuring James. So many WTF moments here.

At the end of the day folks, use social media responsibly. Too many authors ruin their careers because they allow their intolerance to take hold and embolden them behind the “safety” of the Internet. Learn to view the world from a scope that isn’t your own. It may open your heart. I hope it at least definitely prevents you from sticking your foot in your mouth.