Crossing the Political Divide

Lord, have mercy, settle down

Jul 18, 2024

No one can have an opinion anymore.

Unless it's your opinion.

Then your opinion better match exactly another person's opinion. Exactly. I like creamed potatoes. You like mashed potatoes.

My mom called them creamed potatoes so that makes me right. You’re wrong. I declare it so. We can't talk anymore.

And heaven forbid, we talk about gravy.

Is that stupid or what? Hell, yes, its stupid.

Let's take Donald Trump and Joe Biden.

I know people – common everyday Americans who are nice, kind folks – who like Trump. They don't necessarily love him, but they like the guy. I know some people who really love Trump.

The same for Joe Biden. There are people who really like Biden and some love him. A helluva lot of people want him to step aside and retire. That includes actor George Clooney who many people worshipped until he dared to go against Biden in The New York Times and wrote it's time for Joe to go. Now people who love Biden don't like Clooney.

Democrats also worshipped former President Barack Obama. But wait…now a theory exists in Democratic circles that Obama and his “surrogates” like California's Rep. Adam Schiff, who is running for a U.S. Senate seat, are attempting to push out Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

So now Obama is on some people's shitlists. The same people who loved him in 2008. Probably even loved him six months ago.

Look at Trump’s vice presidential pick U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio. A few years ago, he didn't like Trump and criticized him. Vance even compared Trump to Hitler. Now they are on the same ticket.

For that matter, Obama and Biden — together — ran the country for eight years. Look what's happening between those two now.

This crap — and it is crap — goes on and on and on. You know why? It's politics with every player playing each other and you – the voter.

Meanwhile, you are starting to hate people you once liked because that person may say, you know I agree with Trump's policy on more stuff being made in America. That's a good thing, right?

I liked that Trump shut down Canadian lumber imports. It benefitted me personally. For real.

I like that Biden picked a woman for vice president. His choice shattered another part of the glass ceiling that needs destroyed completely for Democratic and Republican women and women who don't even vote or care about politics.

You may be completely offended by that and think women belong in the kitchen cooking. Differing opinions are okay. Truly, they are.

Another person may say they like Biden's relief plan for student debt. I don't. If you took out the loan, pay it. I attended undergrad and grad school with a bit of help from my parents, working and earning scholarships. Does that make me better than you? Nope. That's just my opinion about student loans. You borrow. You pay.

Now some of y'all are going to get pissed at me. We disagree. Some of you will unsubscribe from South Arkansas Reckoning and unfriend me on Facebook. That's fine. I will survive. Once you've buried two parents and lost a boyfriend who passed away suddenly, you gain perspective.

But I do have to say: For f*** sake, can everyone settle down?

Let's grab on to a bit of common sense if any remains. Social media seems to have destroyed most people's common sense and civility.

Laughing about an assassination attempt? Come on. Some of you joking about what happened in Pennsylvania are the same people who were posting thoughts and prayers to victims of the Fordyce mass shooting less than a month ago. Did y’all ever think that maybe some of those people shot in that horrific event may have supported Trump? Does it matter? No.

In Pennsylvania, a rallygoer, who was a husband and a dad, died, and two other people were seriously injured.

Check yourself as a decent human.

People write horrible messages to me. I'm pretty certain a lot of these people would never say those words to my face. That hate is eating them alive — not me.

While all you haters blow, do not forget to run along with your hate.

Let's talk about social media

You can bitch and moan all day on social media. You can burn up your keyboard writing your opinion into the social media void that contains memes, advertisements and craft tips. By the way, you can learn a lot about a hot glue gun on Facebook and Tik Tok.

Ranting on social media probably makes you feel good for a minute – whether you are Republican or Democrat or just a bored person staring into the glow of a screen.

The world has just gotten stupid. Social media is a big contributor to that stupidity that exists on both sides of the aisles, across all demographics and in our own backyards.

You can ghost friends and family who you once loved because they voted for Biden and you voted for Trump and now y'all don't talk anymore about the weather, the Razorbacks or anything else. Stupid.

You can fume all day. You can slide right into the doom and gloom and wallow in it for hours. Stupid.

Go do something productive. Like grow sunflowers. Volunteer at a nursing home. Write a book. Clean out the litter box. Teach a kid to read. Cook a casserole for a caregiver or someone who recently lost a loved one.

Now you may be thinking, I don't like Trump or Biden. You may say I’m voting for Robert Kennedy, Jr. Your friends may laugh. So what? Know why?

Your choice. We live in America where everyone has freedom of speech under the First Amendment and the right to vote for whomever they want or not vote at all.

You may say we have choice for now. Yep, for now. All we've got is now.

Do you really want to spend the now drowning in hate?

Guess what? Your choice.