You know how we all know of Donald Trump for how impossibly outrageous and offensive he is?
Like there is all this media circulating on how nuts he is, and how perplexed we all are that he's gotten this far?
How does that happen? Because Ive never actually met a real Trump supporter, online or IRL (could be because I deleted 2/4ths of my friends after Caitlyn Jenner)
Yet we are all posting about how we wish we didn't have to talk about Trump.
Its as if we all stopped talking about how much we dislike trump, or the last outrageous thing he did, his name in no way would be trending, and Americans would be just as ill informed as they are on the other republican Candidates.
The thing is, our facebooks are our platforms.
We get to post all the best of us. Our straight A's, our work out routines, and best of all, our beliefs.
So we post about how sour this country is going (regardless of your political ideology).
Most recently, there has been a social current of islamphobia or xenophobia.
And my facebook friends are just sick of it!
My friends know some of the nicest, most caring Muslims you've ever met.
And if reading a sentance is too time consuming, they offer instead a meme.
While I can see how you may be getting this idea, this piece is in fact not a critique on facebook slactivism, or how annoying that darn generation Y is with their internet gizmos!
This is instead a critique on the bestest country in the world, the United States of America.
While it is incredibly important to use privilege positively, and standing with Muslims in this harsh time is vital; I'm more concerned with how we are here than how much you dont hate Muslims.
Because you don't have to tell me I shouldn't be afraid of Muslims. I know that. That's why we are facebook friends, Cuz we're similar!
That's why I like all your stuff without reading it.
Today NBC released this poll , many outlets paraphrasing it as "Majority of people oppose Trumps Muslim Ban"
Y'all. Just 7% above half of the United states (in this 1,000 person study with 495 respondents) are woke, by those numbers.
Don't even get me started on the research methods, or the terminology that 57% is gleefully portrayed as majority or that 495 people can speak for a country, or that we know nothing of their social identities.
What I'd rather see on my news feed is how we can live in modern day united states that is so far surpassed every other country (Im being sarcastic) with incredible everything (math, sex ed, gun control) and our inhabitants don't have the critical thinking skills to realize prejudice.
There it is folks. Prejudice, or hate, or oppression, or racism (any ism, truly.)
The problem is not Donald Trump.
The problem is that we still live in a society where outliers can stand for a whole, and individuals are then held responsible. A society where hate crimes can be easily justified because of manufactured fear.
A public schooling system that clearly isn't teaching critical thinking, because we all hate nazi's, but its really hard to trust a Muslim.
So what can we do besides posting the latest buzfeed on the latest social identity Donald Trump chose to slander (aka perpetuate the oppression of).
Be active in knowledge production around you. Take opportunities to self educate (or academically educate if its a GWS course) on the historical miseducation those of us who attended public school underwent. Thanksgiving was not a fun day!
Critically think about why "they" are the bad guys and "we" are the good guys.
Give validity to the experiences of people. Do not negate someones experience claiming they are playing the race card, or that they saw it the wrong way. What makes how you saw it "the right way"?
Use your new, awesome knowledge to make decisions about leadership!
Stay informed and self educated on local and federal elections, and vote wisely! Do you wish Maricopa Community Colleges still had funding? Me too! That's why I didn't vote for Doug Doucey!
Outrageous things happen, like defunding (or shootings) of planned parenthoods and we all look up and think "HOW DID THIS HAPPEN!"
Well, where were you when your representatives got voted in?
Probably on facebook.
Become educated on Candidates in the various levels of elections AND join their campaign in some way, or if that's unrealistic, talk to your social circles about a candidate you approve of , or if that's unrealistic VOTE. That is if you are legally able , which excludes undocumented inhabitants as well as felons (GO USA #1 in da wrld 4 incarcerations!!!) and until the 1970's various men and women of color!
But voting doesn't make a difference! Can I just complain on facebook instead? Or just make jokes on facebook instead?
Actually, voting impacts a great array of things here in the USofA. Like what kind of knowledge production educates humans! Like if Texas has to call slaves slaves or workers! Or if kids in the Mesa public school district learn that roads they drive were dividing factors for who had to be forced into a Japanese internment camp and who didn't! Voting can do lots of things! And so can advocating for less white supremacist patriarchal knowledge production!
As a nation, our critical thinking can start today! Think about the difference your next facebook post is making.
