The Election of 2016 has definitely taught me a lot about what my friends think about politics. Unlike many people on social media, I don’t have thousands of connections/friends. Every single one of you I know to varying degrees. Some I have known my entire life, others I have met over the last few years. Your ideologies run the gamut. Many of you consider yourself staunch conservatives, while others are from the Bernie Sanders wing of the progressive movement. Among you are Hispanics, Blacks, Anglos, Asians, etc. My connections include heterosexual couples, singles, gays, lesbians and quite frankly some of you I am not sure about, nor do I care. Through the power of Facebook we have been able to celebrate our children and professional successes, as well as mourn each other’s losses. I am grateful that all of you have seen fit to be my friend. At no time have any of you asked me how I voted, or where I stand on the political spectrum. You have all accepted and embraced me for the countless reasons that human beings befriend each other.
Knowing some of you as I do, you may take the following message as an offense (us Cubans can be feisty). But please be assured that I mean it with the highest level of respect. Over the course of the 2016 Election season we have seen an explosion of vitriol. It would be funny if it were not sad. We have chosen sides between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton as if these two people are family members. Too many times we have feuded with people we have known our entire lives over candidates we don’t even know. Having been involved in politics/policy most of my adult life I can sincerely tell you that no political ideology is worth losing or hurting a friend over. I have worked for a Governor and President, both of whom I admire very much, albeit disagree with on quite a few issues. But I would no sooner lose any one of you than I would lose my convictions over any politician or political party.
My progressive friends are quick to post articles and pictures of white supremacists or ignorant college kids berating immigrants. On the flip side, my conservative friends regularly post examples of anarchists or left-leaning extremists yelling obscenities or destroying private property. Oftentimes the posts appear in succession on my feed. On a daily basis I wonder whether people have the capacity to empathize with those that share an opposing view of the world. Let us stipulate that there are plenty of anarchists, socialists, racists, sexists, and every other type of -ists we can imagine. But that is not who you are, nor is it the majority of people in our country. There is simply no way we will move forward as a nation if we continue to focus our attention on the extremists among us. And quite frankly, no matter how many times you post an example of a nut job on the opposing side, there will be just as many who are prepared to post examples of maniacs on your side. At the end of the day we will not persuade anyone with our posts. The result is simply an echo chamber of people that agree with you. I know it is a good feeling when a lot of people like our posts or write positive comments, but if our goal is to persuade then it might be a good idea to explain how a particular policy has improved the lives of our fellow Americans.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. I would hope that I wouldn’t lose any of you because of this message. I certainly will not unfriend anyone over your posts, regardless of how vehemently I may disagree with it. Thankfully I don’t have racist or homophobic friends on Facebook, or anywhere else for that matter. What I do have is a bunch of great people that have in some way improved my life over the course of our relationship. Hope to see a lot more posts about Americans working together and helping each other, but if I don’t, I will still read them and try to understand your point of view. Happy posting!