Secession? It’s Not That Easy...

I know social media comments sections on anything remotely political are pretty much just a dumpster fire. However, one topic I’ve seen people bring up on both sides is ‘simply’ dividing ‘red’ and ‘blue’ states into separate countries.

I don’t have to tell most of you that this is a terrible idea.

I lived in Ohio and now Indiana. While I’d officially call myself an Independent or moderate, during crucial elections where third party voting serves no purpose, I’m a ‘blue’ voter. I used to live on Hamilton County, which covers the Cincinnati metropolis, which is among about 8 Ohio counties that is consistently blue. This is often a swing state in presidential elections and is never red or blue in general.

And now I live in Indiana so you likely see my new dilemma. Red county, red state, almost consistently. I do NOT want to be imprisoned under the authoritarian hell of a Red America.

This is what it comes to. A very stupid ‘solution’ that would effectively trap millions of Americans in absolute hell. I imagine the red voters trapped by their circumstances in a blue state terrifies them too.

Where you live does not determine your beliefs or ideals. While many take to social pressures and indoctrination, many also formed their own conclusions that go against popular beliefs. This country might be divided but it’s not a geological grouping you can just throw fences around and pretend that fixes the problem. After the tRump wall bullshit, liberals especially know better than that being even remotely a good solution.

What makes people’s knee jerk solutions and opinions so useless is that their research rarely ever includes consulting people who have dedicated their lives to that area of study. I see posts about the upcoming COVID-19 vaccine peppered with doubt about its efficacy and long-term consequences and that they’ll let the ‘idiots’ go first. The problem with people’s doubt and questions comes from the fact that they are unloading them without FIRST taking the time to do real research, to consult with healthcare workers (who not only risk their lives but have seen the full-blown horror of it). 

It’s become evident that, like forming uneducated opinions, there’s also an irresponsibility in asking uneducated questions too soon. We have the ability to find unbiased factual resources for the very nature of the virus, but it may be in language too difficult for many to follow. However, asking ‘is this vaccine going to kill us?’ is fear-mongering and inflammatory. Instead, we should be asking ‘if you’re a healthcare worker, can you tell us why we should get the vaccine?’

And it’s not enough to simply trust that every healthcare worker is going to be objective either, which is why polling is a mandatory part of research. Your doctor might be a biased idiot but it’s more conclusive if ‘7 out of 10’ doctors agree.

We all wondered why 9 out of 10 dentists recommend Colgate. It’s not because we have reason to believe the odd one out is right. He’s probably barking at the moon. He might’ve rightfully earned his degree and been educated but then started playing around on the dark web, not updating his education legitimately and now thinks that cavities are caused by 5G signals so he tinfoils his walls. 

But we’ve also seen that tens of millions of Americans also vote for a moron. While this wasn’t the majority of votes, it’s also possible to simply be surrounded by a majority of falsehoods. Which is why it’s so damned important to know HOW to find legitimate resources. It’s always worthwhile to even take the most batshit insane theories and find out the unreliable source that the ignorant ones are taking as fact. Just dismissing them only increases their hysteria. When face to face with the truly insane, I know from experience that the last thing you want to do is burst their bubble. You ask questions without judgement, try to look for whatever trauma in their lives made them vulnerable to the imaginative logic of that lie.

Division, segregation, that is the opposite of progress. We need to stop sorting privilege, stop drawing lines and stop insisting on labels. We shouldn’t entertain dividing this country. We should be challenging each other to tolerate and understand our differences and never entertain making things easier for bigots. This isn’t the time to be forming opinions and questions prior to research. Stop treating social media like Google (or for you paranoid nut jobs, DuckDuckGo, with its absolute shit sorting system). Use it to poll for educated answers and survey opinion, not confirm a bias.

Yes, as a liberal, I do celebrate progress, to a point. It’s not an extreme. Positive progress is very slow and met with a lot of stubborn opposition. As an atheist, it’s always especially exhausting how extremist conservatism wants to build laws, seemingly on behalf of their god. Not only am I quite aware that the Christian god touts free will, it’s also technically blasphemy to enact ‘God’s will’ through the laws of men. We are meant to bear the consequences of our own sins upon Judgement Day, according to the Bible. Subjective ‘sins’ like abortion and homosexuality (and I cringe to even entertain those are sins at all) are not detrimental to human society, which is why it makes no sense to punish for them like society does for actual human harm like rape, robbery and murder. However, religious perceptions (superstitions) overriding science is an attempt to undermine and subjugate, a move done more out of fear and hate than reason.

I’d love to discuss my passionate studies in theology that led to atheism sometime, but not now. That’s a VERY long conversation.

Which is why it’s so confusing that extreme conservatism has been pumping out the ‘fuck your feelings’ rhetoric. Authoritarianism, religion, almost every area they stand for are almost entirely built on how they feel about things, not the logic of progress, science or fact. 

I also think it’s irresponsible if I didn’t mention that I do have religious and conservative friends. I’ll tell you now that this is because there is wisdom buried in religious stories and meaningful progress is not something to be rushed. It’s responsible to admit that I don’t always agree with liberals when they spew extremist ideals either. However, I’m also aware that I do lean more left on economic issues, slightly right on social issues (only because I think a great deal of the shit people are suddenly forcing others to talk about is kind of none of anyone’s damn business).

Obviously, I jump around a lot but it’s difficult to talk about one without inevitably pulling a string from another. If I were a professional blogger, I’m sure I’d poke and prod and edit and organize, but that’s more work than a personal blog needs. I’d consider that more the responsibility of an influencer.

You got the gist. I hope. At this point, we just have to accept that we’re not responsible for how people twist our intent. I’m happy to elaborate for someone genuinely interested rather than condescending.

Stay out of the crazy rabbit holes, folks. Used to be a fun concept for the curious, the adventurous Alices of the world, but too often, it’s become tainted by the rambling of conspiracy theories and damaging biases. The concept of the Mad Hatter is superseded by the terror of the Jabberwocky. Rather than sticking solely to the classics, I’ve always been in favor of writing for the present and future. It’s never a good time to say it’s all been done and we have all we need so let’s quit. There are better things ahead.