This came across my Google news feed on Sunday night: In 16 minutes, Dave Chappelle beautifully, incisively summed up all of 2020 — and sometimes it hurt.
“”I would implore everybody who’s celebrating today to remember, it’s good to be a humble winner.
“Remember when I was here four years ago, remember how bad that felt? Remember that half the country right now still feels that way,” Chappelle said…”
About that…
The reason why we were so upset four years ago wasn’t because of a lost election. It was because we knew things were going to be awful. We knew, through Trump’s rhetoric, that he was going to do awful things to a lot of people; he made it very clear. And his fan base absolutely lapped it up. He hated all the same people, so they were more than happy to vote for him.
Were they gracious winners? No. No, they were not.
To put it another way: most people are reacting to Trump’s loss like the Rebels reacted when the Death Star was destroyed. Guys like Chapelle are basically saying, “But the Empire wasn’t all bad! Those guys had families! Try and have some sympathy! I mean, sure, they tried to kill you but they are very good people on both sides!”
Think about that. Really think about it. That’s what these people are saying.
Now, that doesn’t mean that some people can’t change. They can. In the aforementioned Star Wars, Darth Vader redeemed himself and earned his place among the Jedi. In IDW’s recently concluded Transformers series, Megatron became an Autobot, due in no small part to Bumblebee. And yes, people in reality can and do change. But it requires hard work and a lot of introspection.
The problem is, a lot of Trump supporters don’t want to change. They can’t see the fact that they’ve hurt other people.
Admitting that you had awful ideas hurts. You’re admitting that you were wrong. You might even be admitting that you were abusive. No one likes that.
We all like to think we’re good people. Quite a few are. But there are some that aren’t good. And no, it’s not the ones who are celebrating President Elect Joe Biden’s win.
Just like you, it’s hard for me to feel bad for people that choose to behave as you say, like asshats. Yeah, I have to remember there may be a minority of Trumpers/Conservatives who might actually be decent people. Too bad the rest of them eclipse that minority.
~daiAtlas
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