Ok, I apologize in advance, because I’m tired of political stuff showing up in all of my timelines as well.
If you don’t want to read some other opinion on the election, please click away from this page — and please do have a wonderful day with butterflies and sun/rain/whatever you prefer, maybe some of those cute animal videos. 
Anyway, take care 🙂
…
Anyway, for the rest of you folks…
Just rambling here about the Frontline video about You-Know-Who (if you say his name, the trolls will come) before the second debate…
This is a video in which people are saying You-Know-Who resolved to be president as revenge for being ridiculed (by someone — his president — that he’d been working to tear down); the video with that one person saying everyone will have to “bow down to him” as president (but lady, if that were the case, we wouldn’t be in this mess, because YKW would’ve been bowing down to our current president not trying to tear him down, so unless YKW’s going to be making the changes to some basic freedoms we are proud not to have made for a good long while, nope, that’s not how this country works); then there’s that other person saying YKW dreads being humiliated so he ridicules people, as if that’s something that seems at all acceptable for a candidate, but whatever…
Not to mention there’s that one part with that person blaming YKW’s target (our current president) as the one who, by responding to YKW’s attacks (without, what, acknowledging YKW’s supremacy??), is “starting something” — starting something? that’s the equivalent of people saying “you must have done something to anger him, for him to do this, for him to want to get back at you, you must have done something that made him want to punish you and get back his control over you” to the president. Come on now. If you’re going to blame Obama, could you at least try to make it about policy, and not about how the president is responsible for protecting the fragile ego of a guy who’s been lying and trying to stir up terror and hatred?
 
YKW worked to further poison our country’s thoughts against people who don’t fit the white, male, Chirstian-or-Christian-on-the-holidays-or-whatever-just-not-Other norm by focusing that venom on the President. And we’re supposed to feel sorry for him and blame Obama for laughing it off?

I’m tired of the victim-blaming. I’m tired of being told that expecting decency and respect from people is weakness, because in case you haven’t figured it out, it takes a lot of energy to get up and hope people won’t be shitty to each other (and Santa Claus help you if you’re going for something more than your basic not-shit-to-each-other, because that’s about as likely as a small million dollar loan) and see the horrors we inflict on each other.
It takes a lot of strength to keep saying, “WE CAN BE BETTER THAN THIS”
And we can. You know we can, because you’ve seen it. Not on a grander scale, but you see little glimmers of hope here and there.
Some days I have the strength to hold the line, to say, “NO, you are going to treat me/her/him/them/us better than that” and on those days, I am not weak.
And some days I don’t have that strength, I need to regroup, I need to take care of myself, and on those days, I am not weak.
Take care of yourselves.
Stand up for yourselves.
Choose your battles. Standing up for yourself can look like replying, but it can also look like ignoring someone. Standing up for yourself doesn’t have to mean block or cry foul on everyone who doesn’t seem at first glance to have your exact same opinion. Standing up for yourself doesn’t mean you have to give everyone a chance to help or hurt you.
Don’t ignore complexity of people and circumstances for the sake of simplicity, because it’ll make life harder (if not for you, then for someone else, and that will ripple and affect more people). There is nuance.
And there is hope.
Live long and prosper,
Anne