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Opinion: Can we talk?

Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons
May I suggest talking? Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons

I wanted to delete my Twitter account at least five, but no more than eight, times during the election cycle. Because I am a liberal, you could automatically assume my “twexit” would be caused by the alt-right movement or Donald Trump, but that is not the case.

My actual reason for almost leaving Twitter has to do with Outrage Culture, and yes — liberals.

2016 has drenched so many people on the left in pure rage that we have no other way to vent other than to tweet all-caps, 140-character manifestos about racism or whatever crazy thing is going on that week.

If Donald Trump’s election has proven anything — and it pains me to say this — yelling at people over racism/homophobia/sexism/white privilege/white feminism/misogyny/colorism/microaggressions/you get the point-isms does not actually stop them from being those bad things. And it certainly doesn’t help to be smug about it, either.

I love being angry. It is one of my true callings in life. But we, as a political party and a nation, need to channel our rage into something constructive.

May I suggest talking?

I don’t know if I will ever convince any red-hat-wearing Republican to join me at a Black Lives Matter rally, unless they are there to counter protest, which is fine by me. But I can try to convince them that systematic racism exists, and that we all have internal biases we can fight.

We don’t become a more progressive society, or a more perfect union, by anonymously yelling at each other over Twitter. We must work pragmatically, and peacefully, to achieve our goals; even if it means some face to face conversations and biting our tongues from time to time.

Send your angry tweets about this article to @JohnAloszka. We can talk about it.  

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  • U

    UrwackJan 2, 2017 at 8:46 pm

    Funny that reaction to racism almost caused you to delete your twitter and not…you know…racism.

    Reply
    • J

      John AloszkaJan 9, 2017 at 10:16 pm

      Hi! I use my twitter to promote equality, so it would be counterproductive to delete it. Especially when my timeline isn’t full of actual racism—just news about it! The most frustrating thing is to see people on your side doing things ineffectively. You can read my post on how I think to productively fight the “isms” here: https://unfspinnaker.com/opinion-never-stop-protesting/

      Thanks!

      JA

      Reply