1. Lazy liberalism
I don’t want to see you just post all of these simple-minded arguments and not be able to have substantive conversations about the layers behind the various scandals and, God forbid, the policy proposals of candidates.
2. Hateful Republican fearmongering
Like so many of these statements are just literally wrong. Emotionally driven and factually incorrect. Just stop. Please.
3.”The system sucks.”
Oh yeah? How involved in the process are you really? Do you do anything besides post things online, go to a rally or two, and vote on election day? Tell me about the process then, which parts would you fix and how exactly?
4. ECHO CHAMBERS
Get out of the spaces where people think like you and constantly validate you. It’s nice, and everyone should have spaces like this. But no, the general world has no responsibility to make sure you feel good. And no, the general world has no responsibility to make sure other people don’t yell at you for doing something shitty. Also, I can promise you that you will NOT. GET. SMART. ENOUGH. TO. CHANGE. ANYTHING. By just hanging out with people who agree with you. Or by being too afraid to bring things up when you’re around those you don’t really know.
5. Complaining without action
There are people dedicating their lives, making huge sacrifices, pouring everything they have into doing something within the system we have. Nope, you won’t agree with 100% of what someone does, and nope, no one can ever do 100% of the parts you do agree with. But damn, they out there trying and you just sitting around watching them with an eye roll. Do better.
6. Self-congratulatory politics
Obviously, you’re excited you support this thing because YOU SUPPORT IT. You don’t need to congratulate yourself on being so #woke and voting for #Jill. You don’t need to brag about how you stood by the party and voted for this asshole you don’t really like but, you know, party unity, amirite? I dun care. Let’s talk about why you like this candidate and what you’re going to hold them accountable for.
7. Rewriting history
No, this is not the most polarized time in American politics. Probably that would be like the Civil War. Also no, this is not the first time a woman has run for President (though it is the first time she’s gotten this far!). And nope, sorry, also not the first time scandals have scandalized the White House: see Colin Powell for e-mails, see RICHARD NIXON FOR WATERGATE, see Reagan for Iran-Contra, see Bill Clinton for sexual assault and also philandering and also lying under oath, see Al Gore for saying he invented the internet. See: The Compromise of 1877 when you’re all salty about the system. Go re-read the founding fathers’ documents, notes, letters, and journals when you think the system was perfect and that it wasn’t made messily and beautifully and imperfectly by a bunch of privileged and so smart white dudes who set up a system as best they could that has created shittiness for us now, but that is our responsibility to take ownership over because The Constitution is a SOCIAL CONTRACT BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT AND THE PEOPLE AND THE GOVERNMENT IS MADE OF THE PEOPLE AND ALSO WE ARE THE PEOPLE AND WE HAVE POWER, SO GO USE IT.
8. Talking over each other
Literally let them finish their sentence… bonus points if you let them flesh out an entire thought before jumping in.
9. Forgetting about local politics/never recognizing local politics in the first place
Y’all complain how Washington, D.C. doesn’t get anything done, and yet you’re voting in representatives who literally say what they will and will not do and who they will or will not block/oppose. Also, you ever try going up to the White House and demanding a meeting with the president? No, because that’s dumb and useless. Ever try walking into your state capitol or even your town hall and requesting a meeting with local representatives? You get a lot further, and you get to do a lot more.
10. Dumb media stories
I thought y’all were supposed to be professionals. Do better. At least try to be balanced, and if you can’t or don’t want to be, be thoughtful and self-critical of your biases just as you’re demanding your subjects are of theirs. Have some empathy while you *expose* people, because likely that story was sensationalized.
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