Life isn’t fair and I’m scared:
By: OLIVER PULCHER ONLINE EDITOR:
“I’m done with politics. Life isn’t fair and I am scared.” These are the words that define a nationwide mindset of defeatism within our political arena. This is a mindset, that, when this article was proposed, I pretty comfortably shared to be completely honest. Since the 2016 election, reading anything in the news about what is going on in politics can and has been extremely draining. The polarization that has been brought into our political landscape as a result of the Trump administration is everywhere. Everyday interactions seem to be incredibly orientated around political beliefs, whether on social media or in real life. Given this, it can be fairly easy to want to slip into a state of never discussing politics and simply not caring about the political goings-on of the United States.
However, only a select privileged few can truly enjoy and take part in this mindset without personal repercussions. It is insanely easy to opt out of political conversations or to quit watching the nightly news for updates when it doesn’t affect you. It’s so much easier to sit back and watch your country burn around you when you aren’t a person of color, LGBTQIA+, a woman, or literally any other minority. This is the privilege that is so often talked about, and often when it is questioned, it’s as if the very recognition of one’s own privilege magically vanishes.
As a white, transgender, bisexual man, I have privilege. I may have intersectional qualities which give me minority status, but this does not change the fact that I am more often listened to and actually heard than my queer counterparts who are also people of color. This is why I recently reflected on and decided that I would no longer concede myself to this defeatist mindset.
Though I already had reasons why I shouldn’t ignore what was going on in this country, I could ignore them in theory because I am socially more able to do so. Whether you are white, cisgender, male, straight, or anything else in between, we as a people need to openly recognize what privilege we do have and actively use that to combat the injustices going on within our country. No more, “I’m done with politics”, posts on Facebook. It may be the easy route, but until everyone can safely be done with politics, none of us should be.
