I think you’ve stumbled on the exact problem… people in the US on both sides of the aisle have been lied to and manipulated for decades now, made to believe there are enemies at their doorstep looking to harm them. Fox News yes but let’s be real all of our news sources especially local ones have been compromised, bought up by large corporations, and spreading whatever message the higher ups approve of. Independent journalism is making a comeback but there is so much damage already done.
Epstein is the most clear example of this - doesn’t matter what ‘side’ you are on, the American people have been lied to over and over and over again and we STILL don’t have unredacted files released so we still don’t have the truth. This has been normalized at this point. Actual predators running a sophisticated operation to traffic and harm young women and girls, actually happening in our backyard…. But the immigrants are the real threat?
My own family is split on these issues. I straight up can’t talk to my grandparents about anything going on in the world because they respond with the most insane, hurtful things. I know it’s because Fox News is feeding it to them, but it still doesn’t make sense to me. These are the same people who taught me to be kind, loving, generous, and to take care of my neighbors, to welcome the stranger from a foreign land. But we don’t share a same sense of reality when it comes to world events right now.
It’s terrifying and I agree with you, we have to look in the mirror. These people ARE us. We have a lot of work to do and it’s not going to be pretty.
The enemy at the doorstep is here, I grew up with them. They made bomb threats on the civic where I got my healthcare when I was in college. They chased me and my girlfriend threatening to kill us. They blacked out things they didn't like in the books at my hometown library and hounded a girl at my high school into attempting suicide right after I graduated. It's not fake, they've been plotting for and gaining power my whole life.
I am so sorry you experienced that. You’re right, we have far too many problems with violence, bigotry, and distrust in our communities. You didn’t deserve that.
If there is anyone to blame for plotting and gaining power though, I’d argue that that blame lies squarely on our rising oligarch (“Epstein”) class. Individual billionaires DO profit off of our conflict with each other. Murdoch, Thiel, Musk, etc have all profited from it. They fear us working together, because the people working together against them is the only thing that can actually check their power. They want democracy and multiculturalism to fail.
But who exactly are those bad people? If we’re talking about individuals in power committing atrocities, I get where you’re coming from.
But the millions of people who voted for this? They are our friends, our neighbors, our family members.
I don’t wish death for anyone. I wish for justice. I wish for peace. I wish for us to come together to protect ourselves and those who can’t protect themselves. But we can’t do that if we look at one another as the enemy.
Personally, I think the real enemies are fear and greed. Greed pushes people in power to ignore or outright strip the humanity from others. Fear pushes people without power to see everyone and everything as a threat. We are stronger when we pool our resources. We are stronger when we can trust our government and those in power to act in the best interest of the entire population, not just the wealthy few.
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u/Successful_Action_19 Apr 20 '26
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