General Politics Thread

[Empty Glass]

Originally Posted by Eltu

Policies are one thing, and these things can be debated and logically discussed, but a much darker side of the last events in my eyes, is the values that are being more and more common lately. One one hand, over the last years there's been an increase in more over-the-top, sometimes hypocritical liberal views - which I admit are occasionally destructive - but as a response to this, there has emerged a shocking amount of the very opposite. In the name of opposing "political correctness", people have seemingly forgotten actual respect and human decency.

The video Eternal Enigma posted is a good example of this - he's making some point which, while I don't agree with, are still worth of discussion, but he is also showing a huge lack of respect in how he's communicating. It's not really matter of 'cursing' etc, that's always been pretty benign - but a good example is where he brings up the professor who allowed his students to skip an exam due to being upset about the Trump win, and then proceeded to spend a few minutes ranting about how they were all a bunch of "****ing crybabies". Is this really necessary? Does opposing political correctness mean it's okay to actively and knowingly insult people for the sake of self-gratification or provocation? People have a right to be upset, to be concerned, to be emotionally affected by something. Yes, people can take this too far, but never should it be a reason to intentionally cause grief, harm or sadness to other human beings. The level of disrespectful views, language and reasoning that has blossomed in the wake of Trump's campaign (among other things - in many ways Trump is not the cause but rather a manifestation of this) is hugely saddening to me. A simple visit to alt-right media sites or Reddit's The_Donald subreddit shows insulting language, respectless comments and just a lack of compassion that's fairly stunning.

And I'm not criticizing the views here - it's perfectly fine to be fed up with political correctness, or liberal viewpoints, or anything else of that matter! But the hateful ways these counter-viewpoints are expressed are so unnecessary and destructive.

I don't want to generalize too much of course, and hardly everyone who's supporting Donald Trump is a hateful person, far from it. But Trump himself does still personify this mentality to its very core, where opposing viewpoints are met with provocation, insults, and a general lack of respect. I can gladly discuss Trump's policies and ideas of how to run a country, but I strongly feel a president should be a decent human being, and I strongly feel Trump is not. This in itself does not invalidate his ideas, but it does make me saddened to see him win the election. Perhaps the most important quality of a president is being able to govern well, but I really wish there would also be room for human compassion.

Thank you!