Some Situations Call For an Us vs. Them Mentality
We are in one of those times now.
Some people are under the impression if you have an us vs. them mentality, you are some kind of lemming. Too rigid, too black and white. Part of a cult. You are being told what to think. Aren’t flexible or tolerant. If you can’t listen to the other side, you are the problem, and the reason cancel culture is out of hand. Surely, there is something good about other side. One side can’t be all wrong, and one all right.
This is only true if you are on the delusional side, the Republican side.
Another lazy take is that one side is as evil as the other; the left is as corrupt and feckless as the right.
No, apathy is just as bad as being on the delusional side of history.
I think it is perfectly OK, urgent even, for Democrats to have an us vs. them mentality when the other side in question is fully embracing authoritarianism as the Republican Party has since the day they back-peddled after the January 6th insurrection. One could argue since they backed Trump.
Immediately following January 6th, there was hope.
Following the attack on the Capitol, even Mitch McConnell sided with reason. He said of the insurrection, “We all were here. We saw what happened. It was a violent insurrection for the purpose of trying got prevent the peaceful transfer of power after a legitimately certified election. That was it.”
It didn’t take long for the Republican Party to justify what happened on January 6th with lame excuses and falsehoods.
Republicans have decided this is the hill they want to die on. They have made the conclusion that it wasn’t all that horrible when the place where they work, the People’s House, was threatened by a violent mob who overran Capitol police and tried to hang the Vice President and the Speaker of the House. They would have. If only they had gotten to them before security ushered Pence and Pelosi out.
Republicans have made the intentional decision to downplay January 6th with one of two excuses a) it was perfectly OK to carry weapons onto federal ground, break windows and doors of the Capitol, and bash the heads in of Capitol police officers defending our elected officials while threatening Congress to overturn a free and fair election or b) are in complete denial of what actually happened.
Some members of the party even called the Trump mob/loyalists/insurrectionists just rowdy tourists checking the place out.
Is this Putin lying again or just another day in Washington?
Republicans are the reason I’m now reading On Tyranny. Again. They are currently, and have been, using authoritarian tactics to confuse the masses.
It seems to be working.
Putin is presently spreading propaganda about the war he started and thought would be over by now.
Putin is falsely claiming Ukrainians started the war, and Moscow is simply acting to end the systematic extermination of the Donbas population while at the same time cutting off social media and news from its people. The war Putin began is not going well for him. He thought he’d have control of Kyiv in 48 hours. He wildly underestimated the people of Ukraine.
It’s scary to watch the news, bear witness to the lies Putin tells the people of Russia, and see the parallel to Republican tactics employed on the American public for the last five-plus years.
If you’re a republican, vote Republican, or repeat their talking points of misinformation, you are not OK — you are anti-democratic.
Wealthy crypto maximalists on Twitter with hundreds of thousands of followers tweet the same propaganda, the same talking points Republicans use to mislead millions of viewers on news talk shows each evening.
Propaganda that’s far easier to spread since the advent of social media platforms like Twitter, where large follower counts make you a star with a microphone, even when you don’t know much.
Republicans can’t win in a Democracy — so they are blowing it up.
Republicans can’t win in a Democracy. They know it. We know it. They can’t win if Black and Brown people have representation and can get to the poles. So, they are putting every obstacle in the way of people voting. In some Black and Brown communities, wait times to vote are hours long.
If Republicans could win on their issues nearest to their hearts, cutting taxes for the wealthy, taking away a woman’s right to choose, and stacking the Supreme Court with right-wing backward thinking hacks, they wouldn’t be so scared of Democracy. Of every vote counting.
Every day we see more members of the Republican party and their talking heads on Fox News repeat lie after lie from mask mandates to climate change.
Tucker Carlson has recently embraced Putin making a case for him invading a sovereign nation. How much more anti-democratic can one get? All the while claiming the label of the “patriotic” party. The party whose constituents stormed the very symbol of Democracy because of a lie told by the leader of that party.
We see you. History has its eyes on you.
You can’t vote for Trump or Republicans and pretend that’s OK. You can’t pretend the right is equivalent to the left. If you do, you would be wrong. The two parties aren’t playing the same game.
You can pretend.
Delude yourself for a while.
You can vote for anyone you want.
Or waste your civic duty people have fought and died for and sit it out.
But we see you.
Republicans may be able to steal the next election after chasing honest, nonpartisan poll workers and state electors from their jobs with threats and intimidation of violence, but we see you. History is recording your action, inaction, cynicism, and apathy; there will be a public record. There will be a reckoning.
Maybe not in 2024. But one day soon.
Apathy is a mental disease.
If you are sitting on the sidelines, you are just as bad.
If you aren’t for the Democrats, if you don’t vote Democrat, you are just as bad as those who vote Republican.
You can hide behind your libertarian friends who want to be buried with their crypto, pretend you are above it all, like it doesn’t affect you, but it does.
You can delude yourself into thinking that politics doesn’t reach the protected, privileged corner of your universe, but it does. White male, it does. It will affect you in some way. I promise. We are all connected. You can’t hide. You are on the wrong side of history. You are on the side of authoritarianism if you refuse to pick a side.
I refuse to be gaslit by one more person.
It’s a crucial time for Democracy.
This is a pivotal time for Democracy. We could lose it. It isn’t that old of an experiment; it is still new. There is a war in Ukraine. If you haven’t studied history or international relations, it’s a big deal. Our NATO allies are shaken. Putin invaded a democratic country. He is ideologically opposed to Ukraine’s democratic ways. He has never viewed Ukraine as the independent nation it is, as the rest of the world sees them, (except for China. China considers Russia an ally) he yearns for the former Soviet Union, it’s in his DNA.
We are seeing an attack on Democracy in every part of the world.
We have a two-party system in the United States. (Yes, more than two is needed).
One side is against voting rights, a woman’s right to choose, and equal rights for women, minorities, and trans people. Republicans have made it harder for people of color to vote. There is one side in denial of the January 6th attack — the attack on our presidential election. The attack was an effort to overturn the votes of 81 million Americans. One side is putting partisan electors in place to rig the next election.
And then there is the other side. Which side are you on?
I’m well aware the other side thinks they are the side that is “right” and “moral.” But they are the delusional side; they’re the side electing Q-Anon conspiracy theorists and bullying random teens over the right to wear a mask.
Jessica is a writer, an online entrepreneur, and a recovering perfectionist. She lives in Los Angeles with her extrovert daughter, two dogs, and two cats.
