Faustian Bargains: How are we handling the holidays in the face of another trump term?
A little perspective for the holidays
It’s been two weeks since the election and going on social media feels like pillaging through the lost and found of a middle school. There’s some good stuff in there but most contributions seem to be by the children Bush left behind.
While we could list the objectively true reasons why trumpers have voted against their own interests, this is about the relationship aftermath and how to handle it.
It’s clear that many Americans have made some sort of Faustian bargain for the promise of lower gas prices and the response from the Left has not surprised me. Rather than continuing to bicker online, we’ve disengaged from the discourse and turned inward to focus more on taking care of one another.
Naturally, we’ve also begun to reevaluate our relationships with the Bargainers altogether.
Holiday plans with family canceled, divorces filed, and many friendships will never be the same. I am seeing boomer facebook memes unironically talking about being kind and in America, we all have the right to our own opinions. I imagine the Holiday dinner table will also hear those sentiments.
For those who don’t know where to start in responding, I offer this…
The MAGA moral high ground of wanting to be on “good terms” with people who vote differently from you is easy when your vote was not based on morality. It’s especially easy when you side with the oppressors.
The highest form of intelligence is empathy—with the lowest being uninformed opinion—so of course you can boil down your lack of empathy to a simple difference of opinion.
Freedom of speech protects citizens from governmental retaliation, it does not protect against personal fallout.
Remember, their version of reality is built around massive blindspots. We are not responsible for uncovering these blindspots for them—especially if it’s to our detriment.
Selective attention is the process by which the brain filters out distractions from our field of vision. This is why we can’t see our own nose without looking for it. It’s the brain’s attempt to help us make sense of the world.