Emily Crighton
Editor-in-Chief
Do you ever wish you had the option to unfriend certain people on Facebook until after the presidential election? I, like most everyone else I’ve talked to, cannot wait to be done with election season. It has been painful, exhausting, embarrassing for our country and I have cut ties with people because of it.
It’s true. I have unfriended a handful of people this election season because of the things they chose to share, and I have no regrets about it.
Some people act shocked and appalled when I tell them that. They tell me it’s dangerous to only surround myself with like-minded people and that I shouldn’t remove myself from someone because of their political leaning.
First of all, no one I have trimmed from my friends list was someone I was previously close with, they are mostly old classmates or friends of friends. I honestly don’t remember who all got the axe, and would be surprised if they have noticed. Secondly, I fully recognize those points, but feel as if in making them, they have missed my own.
I think that a lot of the times, politics bring out the worst in people and this election in particular has allowed a lot of hatred to come boiling to the surface.
Now, in my eyes neither candidate is a real winner or someone I am dying to vote for, but the mentality that Donald Trump has allowed to become commonplace and acceptable makes me sick to my stomach. It has made it impossible for me to support him, no matter my political leanings.
I’ve always said that Donald Trump is a crazy, hateful person but by himself he’s not frightening. What’s frightening is the number of people who have rallied around him, calling for surveillance in places of worship, for walls to be built around our country and mass deportations and more recently for the repeal of the 19th amendment that gave women the right to vote.
When I saw people I knew promoting and agreeing with ideas like this on my Facebook feed, I realized they were not the kind of people I wanted to associate myself with. End of story.
I do have some friends and some close family whose decision I do not agree with, but I haven’t cut them out of my life, even if I’d like to shake them from time to time. This election has been polarizing, and not everyone voting Republican agrees with the malicious things “The Donald” has said. The people I removed, on the other hand, did.
Some try to justify their vote by saying that those are just words that are distracting from other issues. I, however, take his remarks very seriously.
I am a woman who has been sexually harassed more times than I can remember, and the idea of a president of the united states who believes he is entitled to have his way with me, or anyone else, is something I would have previously thought unfathomable. Taking part in and normalizing this culture is unacceptable.
I have friends whose parents came to this country to make a better life for their family and who Donald Trump has called rapists, terrorists and murderers. There are hispanic and muslim people in my life who fear for their futures in this country.
My heart has broken as I’ve watched Donald Trump make fun of people with disabilities, and I’m reminded of all the times I’ve helped load and unload my dad’s wheelchair from his truck.
My point? If he has not yet attacked you personally, he has attacked, belittled or hurt someone you know or love. Is that what we’re looking for in the leader of our country?
At the end of the day, I am so very thankful that I live in a country where we are allowed to disagree, and disagree vocally. Voting is so important, and something we should fully take advantage of. I will certainly be casting my vote on November 8th, I urge you to do the same. Or, as Donald Trump said, “Go and register. Make sure you get out and vote November 28.”
