A lot of serious reflection needs to come about amongst the left. A mantra I very much consider myself a part of is going about things in completely the wrong way. How about holding a mirror up to ourselves, asking how we lost to an utterly unlosable election. And I say we despite obviously not being part of the US constituency.
When Obama took office in 2008 he had as strong a mandate as anyone has had to take on the political elite - flush out those responsible for the GFC and act accordingly. From my understanding of how it came about - many people should have been convicted, or the system should have been checked harder at the very least. Instead we had many responsible winding up working for and involved in the Obama administration.
As most of you guys have been quick to identify, Hilary was the embodyment of everything hurting the middle america who voted Obama in. Initially it appeared a complete anomaly that Trump could win despite Clinton having such a tremendous lead at the polls. After a second look, it was obvious she was going to lose. But we get our american media from the democrat hubs of NY and Cali - strongholds of the democratic left. Its a filtered and bias replication of whats actually happening. Social media played a huge and thusfar understated role in this boilover. We read only what we want to read. Algorithms feed us only what we already have read and consumed. Facebook doesn't challenge us. The left has gone unchecked and unchallenged for 8 years because of this. Because I follow politics closely I was very intune with the primaries and Trump smashed it in the Mid west Industrial belt: Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Hilary was totally belted by Sanders through the same area. The EC votes through these states almost literally decided the election. And honestly, as a hard left idealist I found Trump totally inspiring. "If you take the manufacturing down to Mexico - I'm going to slap a 35% tarriff on what you send back."
I love listening to guys like Yiannopoulis. Not because I agree with much (if any) of what he has to say, but because he challenges my position on things like feminism. I've changed my position accordingly. I don't believe things like the issues of domestic violence belong in the feminist movement. They're too important and feminism is totally decisive. But Milo holding that mirror up to myself has forced me to justify my position. We need to stop dismissing people like this on the outset, listen to what they have to say and then rationalise our positions - the right wing filter, if you will. Im so sick and tired of scrolling through facebook at the moment and reading about how "America just proved its not ready for a female president" and how people are protesting through the streets screaming "Not my Pres". For gods sake, take a look at yourselves. Ask how we lost this election and get better instead of whinging. Its not going to be that bad, it really isn't. Trump will probably be impeached or assasinated anyway. Hell, the last anti-establishment president was killed because he was too damn good (guess which one I'm talking about
).
I could go on, that's probably enough for now.
