Dear Red America

I chose this header image to symbolize the feeling of overwhelm, of being overrun by a red tide, that many of us are feeling in the wake of the 2024 election. ... Note, however, that although presumably it is an accurate map of how each US county voted in the 2024 election, it over-represents the weight of "redness" in the US (as many electoral maps do) because of "blue" counties generally having much, much higher populations than "red" counties. DT did not win the popular vote this time, either, although he came a lot closer.

About

Dear Red America is currently a group on Nextdoor; I may expand it into other venues.

The Post

A watershed election has occurred, and Republicans now dominate the field (to say the least). A lot of folks are very happy about this, while a lot of us are somewhere between "not looking forward to" and "terrified of" the next four years.

So, there are a lot of strong feels in play here! Some negative, some positive. I think we can talk honestly about those feelings, be straightforward about them, without having to bash each other over the head with accusations or gloating. I'm not here to take away anyone's joy *or* deny anyone's fears.

We do need to talk about why we're having such different reactions, though. We need to dig into the facts -- and how we *decide* what is fact and what is fiction, because that has clearly been the source of the overwhelming majority of disagreements between Left and Right.

My hope is that the differences between *us*, as voters, are far less than the differences between the political parties we'd prefer to represent us and the pundits and news-outlets we choose to listen to -- and that what *appears* to separate us is largely the product of media spin and echo-chamber silos, rather than simply emerging from mutually incompatible views of the future we want.

...and yes, a lot of the more mainstream news outlets (often inaccurately described as "left-leaning") distort and mislead too -- especially the ones owned by billionaires -- although they tend to take a more delicate approach than right-wing media. Both "sides" of the media talk about the problems we face in terms that keep us from addressing the real, underlying issues -- by starting proxy-wars over talking-point issues and bumper-sticker politics.

On a more personal note, I'm sorry it's taken me so long to write this intro post after setting up the group; I had a migraine for most of the weekend, and the work that had piled up to be done stayed piled up and I only started to cut through it in the last couple of days and get my head to a place where I could figure out what I wanted to say here. I hope it makes sense.

Anyway, having written that, hopefully some of the other ideas I wanted to discuss will start allowing themselves to be processed into words as well.

ad astra per aspera,

Woozle

Posts

• 2024-11-22 19:07 (crosspost) latest Toilets of Terror bill
• 2024-11-20 2 (crosspost) «Now that the race is settled and the political tribalism can go into hibernation for a bit (hopefully), what would you actually like to see the federal government do in the next four years?» (includes 3rd-party video)
• 2024-11-20 1 (crosspost) discussion of news item in which trans women were beaten up while onlookers cheered
• 2024-11-17 (crosspost) discussion of news item in which Trump voters were experiencing buyer's regret
• 2024-11-16 (crosspost) discussion of VoteCast poll revealing that younger Trump voters seem to want what Harris voters want, so why did they vote for Trump (who is basically in direct opposition on those issues)?
• 2024-11-15 (crosspost) discussion of Durham's former trolley system, and asking if this is the "Great" to which Trump is going to return us
• 2024-11-14 (crosspost) article about EV myths, for discussion at Thanksgiving
• 2024-11-13 (crosspost) «Here's something we should talk about: Are we all agreed that "your body, my choice" is a horrible thing to think, much less say? Or do some folks on the Right see it as reasonable/acceptable?» (that's the entire post)
  • The only comment received so far as of 2024-11-22, on this entire series, is one woman objecting that this subject is inappropriate for "here".
• 2024-11-12 (crosspost) post introducing Dear Red America
• 2024-11-09 (crosspost) Heinlein quote about religion becoming legislation