[…] Donald Trump won. And you are still upset. And do you know why? Because no one cares that you’re upset, except the other people who are upset. Hillary supporters who thought she deserved the nomination did not care how you felt about Bernie’s loss, and Trump supporters whose candidate is now in office would not possibly care less about how you feel now.
And here’s the kicker: They are right not to care.
You see, no one has the right not to be upset. No one has the right not to be offended. Just as you have the right to call Donald Trump a racist and a dictator and a rapist and a knockoff handbag left on the highway for several days and then brought to life, Trump’s supporters have every right to call Hillary a bitch and a C*** and a liar and a criminal, and they have every right to call you a pussy and a crybaby and a spineless liberal worm who wouldn’t know patriotic duty if it slapped you in the face. You cannot stop them from saying those things, and it would be ridiculous to try.
The reason no one cares how you feel is that everyone else feels just as strongly as you do. The Christians who oppose gay marriage aren’t doing so to bother you, or because they’re hateful people. They’re doing so because they feel, just as powerfully as you feel gay people should be allowed to get married, that gay marriage is a sin and it’s their religious duty to prevent it happening. This is not a contest of who feels most strongly that they’re right, because that contest will inevitably end in a tie. […]
So there are three things you can do. Things you can actually DO, that will make a real difference. The first is to fight injustice and untruth in your own life, where and when you might see it. Most of you won’t see it very often, and some of you will over-diagnose it and over-react to it, and some of you will see it and ignore it because it’s easier not to confront people who are just going to yell at you. I get that, but you have to try.
That means confronting it from both sides though. In the last few years, the left has been at least as guilty as the right of making S**t up to support their own narratives.
[Examples follow.]
The list could go on forever if I wanted it to, and I could go in both directions. The reason I haven’t is to prove a point: no one is immune to this. The left like to think that “fake news” is something that Alex Jones and Fox News (or “Faux News” if you like abysmal puns) and Breitbart propagate in order to deny that liberals are always right about things. That’s true sometimes. Sometimes it’s spin, sometimes it’s conjecture, sometimes it’s outright lies. But it happens on both sides of EVERY SINGLE ISSUE and it is your job to stop it, whether people are comparing Trump to Hitler or comparing Hillary to Hitler (seriously, enough with the Hitler S**t).
The second thing you can do is more concrete, and somehow more difficult, and that’s to admit that you probably cannot make any tangible difference yourself and give money to the people who can. Marching down the street with a sign that says “Girls Just Wanna Have FUNdamental Rights” might make you feel good, and might get you a pat on the back from your Instagram followers, but will it sway a lawmaker’s vote?
[…] What this means, in part, is admitting your own impotence, and that’s a hard thing to do. But YOU cannot save the planet. YOU cannot lobby for regulations against pollution. YOU cannot provide birth control for lower-income women. And YOU cannot hold politicians’ feet to the fire, or peer behind the curtain to uncover evidence of their misdeeds. Th[o]se people can, and you can help them.
The final thing you can do is to vote. I know how many of you are disillusioned with the very concept of voting. […] Lawmakers are not reading your Facebook posts. The electoral college doesn’t care if you think it’s clever to write “Really, America? This is the best we can do?” on your Twitter feed. They only know what you vote for.
So vote for the next President. Vote for your congresspeople in two years. Vote for your state senate, your governor, your city hall members, your sheriff. Look up their policies. Figure out who you like better of the two (or more) choices and vote for that person. DO NOT ABSTAIN FROM VOTING just because neither one is perfect. Your refusal to participate will not prevent someone from winning each and every election. Help the better one win, and hope that opens the door for someone even better next time.
Finally, admit that telling the world how you feel is not a productive use of your time. The world doesn’t care how you feel, and you probably can’t change the world all by yourself. But other people can. Help them. Tell your friends to help them. Show your friends the best-written articles—the ones with sources—to convince them that real journalism is out there and is worth paying for. Support your favorite podcasts, your favorite scientific causes, your favorite charities. And stop talking about how sad you are.
