Protesting, Sawant’s message does more harm than good
Nov 11, 2016, 6:44 AM | Updated: 9:00 am
City Council member Kshama Sawant has made a political career of trying to categorize people and tell them they are victims. (AP)
(AP)
I’ve been watching the protests in Seattle and beyond. I’ve also been reading that calls to suicide hotlines have skyrocketed in the last 36 hours.
People are so despondent over Donald Trump’s impending presidency that they are thinking about killing themselves. I’ve heard commentators around the country who have been making fun of that, including Rudy Giuliani – calling them a bunch of spoiled crybabies.
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Most of this generation are not spoiled crybabies, though there are some. But I don’t think the name-calling is productive because right now people need to understand how destructive it is to stay on this path. Leading people down that path are Seattle Mayor Ed Murray and city councilmember Kshama Sawant. Those two have made political careers of trying to categorize people and tell them they are victims. What they say is your life is miserable now, you have no control over it. That you have to scream about the way people in Wisconsin voted for president. It’s very sad to watch.
I’m telling you guys, that is such a damaging message. I loathe this message. I grew up with that message and had it pounded away at me. That message was: You’re a victim, you have no chance to get out of poverty. All the time, I heard that.
Despite what happened Tuesday night in the election, you still have an enormous amount of control and sovereignty over your life.
I talked to my own daughters about this – one of whom was very anti-Trump. She and I had a long talk. I told her that she still has all the control over her life. To not assign any of your happiness or lack of happiness over something you have no control over.
I had people emailing me about Trump’s election, saying they felt the same way when their mom died, their dad died. I’ll tell you what, if my daughters ever compare my death to some election then a lot of my life will have been lived in vain.
But it gets worse.
There’s a meme that 9/11 was the worst day and that 11/9 was the second worst. Can you imagine what that’s like for people who lost sons and daughters in the World Trade Center? Can you imagine what it’s like to see a meme comparing a presidential vote to terrorists wiping out your family?
This is what is being fostered by the Sawant’s and Murray’s of the world. They want to have that level of grief and assignation of your life to events of which they have no control. Because the more helpless the people marching in downtown Seattle feel, the more control the government has over your life.
For the people protesting in downtown, you can disregard this or take it for anything you want. But, I’m telling you, I am absolutely positive that you are doing a million times more damage to yourself with your cries of victimization and helplessness than President Trump will ever do to you.
People wore black Wednesday. That’s fine. If you want to compare all this to the death of somebody you love, go ahead. But, 1. That means you’ve never loved deeply and truly. And, 2. You’re turning over your life to people who could not care less about you.
It’s your choice.
