This post has been an interesting experience for me. I have received hateful Twitter messages from those who disagree with my opinion. I have been praised for writing it. I have been accused of being a pretentious douche-bag, full of white privilege, who talks down to his audience and is unwilling to listen to anyone else's opinions or views.
To be honest, I've never considered myself the smartest guy in any room, and I'm way too sensitive to be writing posts like this. I don't know anything about politics. I wrote this because it's what was on my mind, and I was tired of hearing the boisterous ramblings of the elderly men in McDonald's restaurants across the nation, shouting at the top of their lungs how mind boggling it is that so many people support Democrats and Socialists and the Muslim in the White House. (is that what people mean by me sounding pretentious? The choice of the word boisterous?)
And those men talk about Trump, because who isn't talking about him right now? And they say, well I like Trump because he doesn't care what anyone thinks, and he says what's on his mind because he has his own money and no one controls what he says. But they never really address what he says, because they really don't care, as long as he is not a Socialist or Hillary Clinton.
So one morning, I grabbed my iPhone, and I wrote from a place of honesty. I wrote down my thoughts and feelings about the things Trump says and the way he makes me feel. I wasn't trying to use big words that I didn't understand so I could seem smarter. I actually thought of the whole thing as a way to just vent my frustrations, as if I was writing in a diary. I enjoy writing, but I don't go around claiming to be a writer. And as for being full of white privilege, I fully understand and accept that I, like every other person in this world who is born with white skin, benefit from white privilege. Having white privilege isn't something you choose to do, it's just a fact of life. (again, not trying to sound like a douche, or like I'm talking down to my audience, or like I know it all)
At the time of me writing this sentence, this post has 118,000 likes on Facebook. That isn't a normal experience for me. I'm not some internet sensation. I'm not a brilliant writer or a political expert. I'm a 41-year-old college student who is about to finish his bachelor's degree in Communications. I'm just an average white guy who doesn't think that things like racism and sexism and bigotry and hate speech and the telling of lies is something that is okay for people that are running for office to do.
I guess it's naive to think that our politicians should be honest and trustworthy or care about the people that they represent. I guess I just got tired of listening to the stuff that Trump is saying, and I felt compelled to say my peace. I truly am sorry if it came across as what @crudedude69 of Twitter said sounded like "a spoiled, whiney, pretentious douche full of white privilege when you talk down to your audience" That tweet really opened my eyes and made me think about it. I didn't mean to talk down to my audience. It's more like I was trying to convey the fact that I am struggling to understand why so many people are so enamored with Donald Trump.
I honestly felt that I used very plain talk about my feelings. I didn't think anyone would read it. I thought I might get nine or ten likes and a few comments. I write on Newsvine because someday I'd like to try my hand at Journalism. I do it for practice, for school assignments, for fun. I'm nobody. I don't pretend to think that I'm ever going to win awards for my great writing. I am full of self-doubt, I'm overly sensitive and I have low self-esteem. I struggle with social anxiety because i have a lazy eye and because I find it hard to trust anyone. Writing this wasn't anything more than me communicating my feelings with no filter. Just like Donald Trump does.
I learned a lot from this experience. I learned some facts that I didn't know before about the history of politics. I learned that we are still a very polarized nation, and that no matter how much I wish I could, I'm not changing anyone's mind about where they stand. I'm not sure how to convey the way I feel about Trump without sounding just as rude and hateful as he does. I don't hate the people who support Trump, I just don't understand them.
I also learned that I use a lot of run-on sentences, have poor diction and sometimes I misuse punctuation. Like my life, my writing is a work in progress, but at least I'm trying. I'm glad for the experience and I'm happy that this post resonated with as many people as it did. Thanks to everyone for the comments and debate. Except @crudedude69. I don't like what you said about me one bit, so you can go to bed satisfied tonight that you succeeded in getting under my skin.