I have to keep reminding myself to not waste my energy on internet trolls. Does it help if I remind you to do the same? I'm talking about those "well-meaning" souls who post videos or running commentaries on why you people just don't understand Donald Trump. You should be respecting him, trusting him. They say that the women's march was unimportant/stupid/unnecessary and filled with liberal sore losers with vulgar signs. How shameful. How nasty.
Don't waste your energy on these people, because you need your energy now more than ever. You need to fight and rage and do everything you can to make this country what it's supposed to be. If you voted for Donald Trump, you need to hold his feet to the fire. Tell him enough with the "there were 3 million fraudulent voters" bullshit and get to the making jobs. He's demoralized by the media and the people who don't believe he's a legitimate President? Are you kidding me? Methinks he doth protest too much. Did President Obama tell people he was demoralized after years of you saying he was born in Kenya?
As for the misguided women who tell you that the women's march was a bad idea, imagine a big beautiful bell curve:
I love bell curves. This is a curve made up of women's opinions on the march. The women on the right loved that march, marched in that march and talk about every single moment of it. The women on the left hated that march, make fun of the women and men who marched, and take every opportunity to tell you it was stupid. The rest of us are in the middle somewhere ... loved this or that, would have liked some more or less of XYZ, were maybe thrilled to see Indigo Girls and/or intrigued by Madonna's lack of breath support, but I digress. Those rare women who tell you the march was stupid and unnecessary are on the left side. You're never going to be able to change their opinion, and that's all it is ... an opinion. The fact is that they get to have an opinion, get to voice it and stomp their feet because of the thousands of women who came before them to fight for their right to voice that opinion. Read this lovely retort from Dina Leygerman:
Something else to bear in mind, the trolls and others who are responding to the "pussy hats" and "vulgar signs" as further proof of the shameful and nasty women who marched and support them. This is part of the foundation of slut-shaming, a further way to silence, shut down and shout over in their communication style. The new President can talk about grabbing all the pussy he wants on tape, but a marcher reclaims the word on her sign and she's vulgar. He's "being a man" and she's being a slut. Real men, decent, honorable men, do not talk about women this way. Men who talk like this are predators. You may also hear this in phrases like, "settle or calm down," "little girl" spoken to a grown woman, "get over it," "stop being so emotional." These are all attempts to shut down the conversation.
This is how the conversation will be framed over the next few weeks/months as regards to the abortion debate, reproductive rights and contraception access. It'll be all about the slutty women who want sex without repercussions and want to force us to pay for their birth control. Arm yourself with the facts and not opinion. The abortion rate in the US is at its lowest since Roe v. Wade and this is due to better access to contraception. Some will tell you that it's because abortion access is being restricted in many areas around the country, but birth rates aren't increasing. Teen pregnancy is also at a historically low rate. Public opinion has also remained relatively stable over the last two decades, so that's not why either. As with many areas, education and prevention are much better investments than medical intervention and shaming.
Don't waste your energy on the trolls and their opinions that you won't change. Frame your arguments cogently and arm yourself with facts. Do you remember Wonder Woman's bracelets? They're called the Bracelets of Submission. A symbol of the Amazon's past oppression, they were indestructible cuffs given to girls when they turned 15 and used to defend themselves against projectiles. Channel your inner Amazon and bounce those lies, those alternative-facts right back at them.
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