Although this was a year of numerous big elections around the world, I missed all the opportunities to share my regular election-themed posts about the importance of voting. This one isn’t about that either (although it is important, go vote if you haven’t yet!), but something that happened to me last weekend on Instagram.
First of all, I barely ever comment on social media, not even on friends’ posts, I intentionally avoid those posts that invite a flood of comments. If I do comment sometimes, I mostly reply to matter-of-factly questions instead of sharing opinions. This time I also thought I was stating a fact until it started spiraling out of hand. Remember this episode from The West Wing?
They indeed have gone crazy under my comment last week proving that when it comes to politics these days, people are on edge, ready to fight with anyone even if they agree on most other issues except for whom to vote for.
It all started with an Instagram post of Bruce Springsteen, with photos of the Kamala Harris campaign event in Atlanta that he went to with President Obama last week.
I saw the post and then I saw the comments below where many of his fans wrote positive comments, but almost as many commented along the lines of how they like his music, not his politics or straight out stated that they are unfollowing him right away and some even scolded the VP. Now if you know anything about Bruce Springsteen, he kind of wears his political principles on his sleeve, he dealt with social and political issues in his songs for the whole of his 50+ years career, even wrote full albums of political songs.
Nevertheless, I don’t know what got into me when early in the morning I decided to write this comment. I wasn’t even thinking, I really didn’t mean to address it to anyone in particular, but sort of expressing my amazement at those who claimed to be a fan, yet didn’t know about his politics until his account posted these pictures.
I soon regretted commenting though after the replies started to come. I refrained from engaging those people from then on, so I didn’t answer to anything anymore, not even to name calling – especially avoiding those and just let them argue with each other. I will not quote all of them, just a few here, so you get the taste.
The elitist side! They call the Obamas and Bruce who all come from low-income middle class working families elitists, while happily vote for a guy who inherited billions and has no clue about working hard for the money or struggling economically. Can you believe these people?
I am still not sure about this one. If they called ME narrow minded for calling out people who unfollow artists whom they supposedly like because they find out about their political views, then, well, LOL. It was addressed to me, so I think that’s how it was meant.
I said I refrained from engaging anyone after the initial comment, but when this one came among all the craziness, I had to “like” it. They probably vote for Trump and I’m not happy about that, but they don’t start insulting other people over it, just acknowledge that it’s OK to disgree, you can still have a good time at a concert together. I can respect this attitude.
I also have to say that I don’t agree with name calling when it is the other way around either. Politics should never be a ground for instulting one another, it should only be well informed, smart arguments. I know, one can dream…
And to be fair, I don’t even agree that the problem is “cognitive troubles”. Those people are just blinded so much by their beliefs. Maybe misled by all the uncontrollable lies spreading on the internet.
A little bit about critical thinking, yes, but more like the ablility to abstract and interpret metaphors. You won’t hear Bruce sing “Bush’s wars were pointless” or “Trump is and idiot”, you have to read between the lines a bit to find out what he really means. Although he attended events and stated his opinions otherwise in the past, so it was pretty clear what his beliefs were for a long time.
So, what conclusions should I draw from all this? Other than never comment on anything related to politics ever again. I was recently listening to a podcast where they also raised the question whether candidates enlisting celebrities does any good for their campaigns. After this experience, I honestly don’t think it does. Speaking only for myself, I like and follow people whose acts and attitudes align with mine. And I am not talking about politics here, I am talking about values. What is sad is that values equals politics these days, when I say I am against exclusion, xenophobia, racism, homophobia, misogyny, etc., even though these should remain basic human values, you kind of know whom I’m voting for. Or if it’s a multi-party system like in my country, you definitely know whom I’m not voting for. What I mean is, is that you either already follow the people whom you agree with, or it seems if you find out they represent something else, it doesn’t affect your beliefs at all, you’d rather dislike them. I can’t imagine any of my favourite artists ever voting far right (because as I said, for me it’s values first, then politics), but if they did, I’m pretty sure I would be disappointed.
The comments under these posts clearly portray the divisiveness over politics these days, maybe even depict the extremely close competition that this election is. Whatever happens next Tuesday, see you on the other side, or, to quote Bruce, in the land of hope and dreams!
