This country knowingly elected an unapologetic, aggressive, hateful sexist and racist to our highest office. And I don't know how that happened unless the people in this country think those characteristics are not only acceptable but to be rewarded. It cannot be because people actually liked his policies, because he did not have detailed policy statements to speak of. I can probably count the number of grammatically complete sentences he used on one hand, so it cannot be because anyone voted for who they thought was the most intelligent candidate. He had no experience for the job he was applying for and his opponent possessed a resume any candidate would have dreamed of having...so it could not have been that voters thought he was qualified for the job. I have heard some people say that people voted for him because they wanted a change...someone from the outside to shake things up. To that I say that his voters are as ignorant about the inner workings of our country's political system and relationships as he is. The discontent with our government is largely systemic...and one man will not change a system that is fueled by corporate dollars. Real change might come when we start dismantling the havoc that rulings like Citizens United have wrought. I think some of the wealthy who voted for him did so for selfish reasons. So, at the end of the day, I am left faced with the fact that this election demonstrates the people in this country at the least, do not care about sexism, racism, ignorance and greed, and at the worst, revel in and revere these things.
As a woman, it was a slap in the face to me that we elected a man who so clearly views women solely as beings for male sexual gratification and when they're not doing that, taking care of children and doing housework. I knew women were not equal in this country before he was a candidate...the slap in the face came from the toleration and defense of his demeaning, aggressive statements about and to women. Women are not equal and it has now been legitimized on an international stage to shame, denigrate and dismiss women.
When that video came out, I was sure it would be the long awaited for nail in his coffin. Oh, there were the obligatory expressions of outrage, quite often couched in patronizing paternalistic rhetoric. The outrage lasted about a weekend, if that. And then, I heard people defending his "locker room" talk. Everybody talks like that, was the message I heard from people defending him. NEWS FLASH: IT DOES NOT MATTER IF IT HAPPENS IN A LOCKER ROOM, AMONG ONLY MEN, IN A SOUNDPROOF ROOM. WHEN IT COMES TO SEXISM, LOCATION DOES NOT MATTER. CONTENT DOES. That this behavior is tolerated and defended is abhorrent to me. It makes me sick. It makes me angry. And we just solidified this platform at the national and international level. That is a big fuck you to women everywhere, whether said women are too stupid and brainwashed to know it or not.
One of my friends told me a story that happened where she works. The day after the election, one of her coworkers had to leave work to pick his child up from school. Her coworker is from Ethiopia and his wife is from Iowa. The day after the election, this gentleman, who became a citizen before they were married (this should be irrelevant as to how we treat people but I guess this is the world we've allowed to be created), had to leave work to pick up their son from school because some boys from his class were upsetting him so badly with their relentless taunts stating that now that Trump was elected, he would be sent out of the country. I'm not judging them on the merits of their statements...they are children and obviously this boy and his whole family are US citizens and would not be deported. My point is that this is the racist culture and environment we've allowed not only to flourish, but as I believe this incident clearly demonstrates, we have allowed to metastasize. This is the result of electing a leader who espouses these hateful, racist positions. Children clearly see this as acceptable behavior because it has played out before them by adults in positions of leadership and prestige.
I received a blog post from someone that stated that we should not worry about our leaders behaviors because it is the responsibility of the family and local community to instill morals in our children. The argument was that if you parent morals, it doesn't matter what our leaders do. I agree it is the family, first and foremost, who impart morals and appropriate behaviors to our children. However, it is ludicrous and naive to think that children are unaware of people in positions of power, how they act and how that behavior is rewarded. And that is in the best case, where a family is actually taking the time to engender loving belief systems. Go ahead and stick your head in the sand, if you think our leaders do not impact the culture of the society our children grow up in. Stick your head in the sand (or somewhere else) if you think kids do not internalize messages about behaviors that are acceptable and rewarded from outside the family, particularly from clips they see running constantly on TV and the internet. Meanwhile, we're living in a country where violence is glorified in our professions, pastimes and government and we now have a leader who has specifically given direction as to where to direct that violence, hate and fear. (PS...why would a country elect a leader that we have to teach our children to be opposite of?)
I've heard the phrase that a country elects the government they deserve. I guess we'll see what happens when a country elects an ignorant, narcissistic, sexist, racist as its highest leader, with the privilege of appointing like minded folk to "advise" him and administer major arms of our government. Welcome to the idiocracy.
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