Friday night, Bill Maher, in his closing monologue, said that no matter what political developments occur, every one of us is going to have to live with the fact that there are millions of people out there who think the exact opposite of what we do about everything meaningful.
He used Thanksgiving dinner as an illustration. Every year, crazy Uncle Buford shows up, and every year, we all have to listen to him bloviate about how them (whoever) is ruinin' this country and how Trump is the bestest bigliest President ever. And we all roll our eyes and try to choke down our turkey. We wonder to ourselves if we might just call in sick next year rather than coming to the family gathering. For as we all know, Uncle Buford will be back.
Maher said that we should reconcile ourselves to the fact that there will always be more than enough knuckle-dragging mouth-breathers to fill up several stadiums' worth of hate rallies, and we shouldn't fantasize that we can educate them, make them better people, or get rid of them. Therefore, we should make peace with the fact that they'll always be there, and always have been. Trump didn't invent torchlight parades or lynchings. Stupid hate is as old as human civilization.
I have to deal with Trumpers in my business and social life on a daily basis and I try to shake off the realization that I'm dealing with evil, stupid doofi (the plural of doofus). I also try not to think about the fact that they want everyone who isn't white to sicken and die, or that their political philosophy is that billionaires should run everything. I just interact with them as much as I must, and then go my merry way...until next time.
I suppose, though, that this is why we're all so polarized. I talk to a Trumper, I feel like I need to take a shower (and maybe get sandblasted) afterward. Therefore, I would prefer to live in a place where the likelihood of having to talk to a Trumper is low. And I'm sure that Trumpers would prefer to live in a place where them gol-durn snowflake LIBURRULS aren't always talkin' 'bout that socialist nonsense like health care. That's why, say, Oregon and Tennessee are two very different places.
So while I agree with Maher, I think we all can make whatever adjustments are possible. For me, it will be not living among stupid, evil Trumpers. They don't like me, and I don't like them. Therefore, why not reduce the potential for conflict? Yeah, I'll have to interact with those lice to some extent no matter what. But I think I'd be happiest if I didn't have to do so very often.
