[osb]

I'm afraid it is difficult to have empathy for people who support Trump, but who insist it had nothing to do with racism, sexism or xenophobia. Oh no, that was just talk. Nobody believes he'll do those things. It's about the economy, really.  The people who say this are generally people who would not be impacted by the "xenophobia talk" if it proved true. People who have experienced racism know better; the injury of being called a racist is nowhere near as bad as the injury of being subject to racism.

I will, however, refrain from labeling the people (and many friends here) and instead choose to label the behaviors of calling Conservatives/ Trump supporters "racist," "bigot," "homophobe" (a blatant and intentional misnomer, btw) and "xenophobes" as condescending, dismissive and yes above all childish.  Choosing to name-call those who disagree with you ends any intellectual discourse and really is the grown-up equivalent of sticking your fingers in your ears and saying, "La-la-la-la-la I can't hear you la-la-la." 

Thundarr, I respect you as a caring human being. When I was a child having the crap beaten out of me for being a Paki, I so wanted caring human beings around me. When I was afraid to leave my relatives' house (anyone remember the Dot Buster gangs in New Jersey, mid 80's? I stopped wearing a religious mark on my forehead around then), it would've been nice to have a caring human being in government say, out loud, that this was wrong. Now, this is the Great America you're voting to return to. No, I'm not name-calling you. But when your president-elect's team discusses making a Muslim registry (and uses Japanese internment as a nice precedent - I know folks who were forcibly interned, it made no sense then and it makes no sense now), it's bigotry and no question about it. When Trump supporters say, "it's ok if he says that, don't call me a bigot", I have little empathy for them.

In the end, of course you'll have the government you deserve, as a country. A small government. So small it can get into everyone's reproductive organs, no doubt. He'll bring back all the jobs he himself sent overseas. Yup. But do not be surprised at the reactions of your allies.

Modified to add: Velika, what a poem!! Tears in my eyes. Thank you.

[Sally Wood]

Stayed,  I find your statement

"Many of the people that supported Trump have a genuine propensity to buying into his fear mongering.  Most of them are not well educated and have very strong views about what a man is."

                                                  to be condescending, and very elitist in attitude.  I make no such judgments about those who voted for Hillary.  I am quite sure they came from many walks of life and levels of education and made their decision based on their assessment of the candidates. 

However, apparently those of us ("most" of us - and I am one - who voted for Trump are "not well educated".  This, of course, assumes that you know what my level of education is and what the level of education is for "most" of those who voted for him.

And that we have a "genuine propensity to buying into his fear mongering".  We must be a very weak minded bunch in your "opinion".  Insulting.

[Roma]

I feel people should go over the US Constitution again, including the Bill of Rights if you feel discrimination regardless of race, creed, disability, sex (gender) etc is ok.

I am not an attorney yet do recall it's not ok at all and violates the US Constitution. Perhaps it's just the work place where you can sue for discrimination yet all of what I have seen from Trump breaks me out in a rash it's so wrong, illegal and violates the Constitution.

We now are about to have a President who violated our Civil Rights to 'win' an election. We as humans have lost.

We most likely will lose allies and respect from other countries and  no longer be regarded as the Super Power we once were. Think globally, act locally. I still fear for our future.

Civil Rights
Definition: Guarantees and protections designed to prevent discrimination on the
basis of race, color, creed, religion, natl. origin, age and gender from both private
AND public, govt. institutions

[Thundarr]

Well, it seems the consensus here is that Stayed is very self-righteous, condescending and elitist.  Not a judgment on you as a person, Stayed, nor will I attribute this to your being in crisis but I would definitely suggest some mirror work on if this really is who you are and if not why you come off that way to so many.  It would definitely be helpful in communicating empathy if your goal truly is to help others here.

As far as Trump's attitudes toward other races and religions, I would definitely recommend doing some more research into what he TRULY espouses rather than what the media tells you he is all about.  Remember, this was a media with an end-goal of getting Hillary in the White House so take that for what you will. I have a link to a speech he gave that was greatly edited by the media and used as propaganda to say he wanted to ban all Muslims when in fact he was talking about one particular radical family.  I agree that Fox is no better than the others and I have a friend who has been around the world who gets all his info from Al-Jazeera, scary as that is, due to the fact they aren't biased.

Global Warming?  Is it a thing?  I'm no expert but I do want to point out that we did have an Ice Age at one time and I doubt any cars. factories or cow farts were responsible for that melting.  The temperature of the planet is something that can be measured (some reports say it's actually cooling....) but whether or not we have a significant impact is up for debate. Al Gore said there would be no ice caps in ten years and that was sixteen years ago and we still have ice caps.  Gore also lives in one of the least eco-friendly homes in Tennessee (look it up) so does he truly believe what he preaches or is he just a hypocrite?  All too often these buzz words are used for political or financial gain, just like gun control statistics, so take it all with a grain of salt and just live your life.  Lord knows we've given up enough of it to MLC and don't need the media causing us to waste any more of it.

[osb]

Is Trump really a racist?? (aside from being investigated by Dept of Justice for refusing to rent to black people? aside from inviting a professed white supremacist to be his chief of staff?)

About immigrants: "When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending the best. They’re sending people that have lots of problems and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bring crime. They’re rapists… And some, I assume, are good people."

About whether Gonzalo Curiel, the American-born federal judge hearing a class action lawsuit against Trump University, could fairly hear the case because of his Mexican heritage: “He’s a Mexican. We’re building a wall between here and Mexico. The answer is, he is giving us very unfair rulings — rulings that people can’t even believe.”   (btw, in the words of Speaker Paul Ryan (R), "Claiming a person can’t do their job because of their race is sort of like the textbook definition of a racist comment.")

About Muslims: "Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on."

About Ghazala Khan, Gold Star mother: "She had nothing to say. She probably, maybe she wasn’t allowed to have anything to say. You tell me."

Thundarr, this ain't the media talking; I watched him say each one of these things. Don't you go calling anyone condescending and self-righteous, before thinking a bit about how defending this man sounds. Mote in thy brother's eye. Beam in thine own.

[Mermaid]

Global Warming?  Is it a thing?  I'm no expert but I do want to point out that we did have an Ice Age at one time and I doubt any cars. factories or cow farts were responsible for that melting.

Global Warming is a thing. Scientists have learnt about the extent of global warming because of the ice age, not despite it. It's by looking at how naturally occurring CO2 historically changed the planet that they have an idea on how fast it is changing now. Natural sources of CO2 were from volcanoes and the combustion of organic matter.

The questions now are not whether global warming is happening, but only how fast.

The temperature of the planet is something that can be measured (some reports say it's actually cooling....) but whether or not we have a significant impact is up for debate.

No, the academic debate has now ended. It's certain that there is global warming. The question is, can America get educated enough to catch up? Global warming means more extreme weather, more hurricanes, tornados, snow storms, as well as more heat.

Al Gore said there would be no ice caps in ten years and that was sixteen years ago and we still have ice caps.  Gore also lives in one of the least eco-friendly homes in Tennessee (look it up) so does he truly believe what he preaches or is he just a hypocrite? 

If you get your information from the internet, from newspapers and even from Al Gore, you will never get insight on this. The only way is through peer reviewed papers and academic discussions.

All too often these buzz words are used for political or financial gain, just like gun control statistics,

Follow the money. Who gains from holding back changes on global warming? Oil companies, businesses, etc. Don't tell me scientists do! Do you know what a scientist earns doing research? Much less than they could working for business! It's now true that there are new companies earning from green changes, but that's a good thing (different ways of doing business in a green way), although these are outnumbered by traditional companies.

 

so take it all with a grain of salt and just live your life.   

That's the point. We won't have lives to live (or your descendents won't) if we don't realise what's happening and make changes.

[Roma]

I feel like we are doomed. Just may go start watching reality tv, which I dislike. It's brain numbing in my eye. Just what I need.

[karmirtsaghik]

Thurdarr,

RE. The Global warming: does it occur to you that 99% of scientific community now agreed unanimously that it is a fact. You might not know your geography, political economy, basic history, but you want to eat, drink, have heated and air conditioned house, and drive a car, right? Our livelihoods are endangered because of climate change, especially those who live in near coastal areas. It is not a prediction it is a reality. Just look at the frequesncies of abnormal and potent natural disasters.  You would not argue with the thermometer, would you? So the thermometers are saying that this has been the third warmest year ever. Yoh know what are the catastrophic consequences if our planet's temperatures rising above 2 degrees celcius, this is a temperature unit, used in Metric system, i.e. in the parts of the world, which you by your own admittance have no idea about.

 If you answer is no to any of these questions, I strongly incourage you to start reading. Because, I cannot imagine that in this day and age, a father of school age children, would say something to the effect that I do not care about the rest of the world, I do not know who their leaders are, and if they take a liberty and critisize the intellectual giant, Trump, that I just elected to be the President of the US,  then we should figuratively speaking show them our middle finger. You know there is a certain age where ignorance is a bliss and there is an age where it is shame, but it is never too late to learn. Diversity is beautiful, it is enreaching, educating, and creating wealth.

[calamity]

FOX is not better or worse that CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, NY Times, Washington Post or many other publications.

This is like saying the National Enquirer is the same as the LA Times.  No.  It's not.

My [educated] opinions on the media are beside the point, Trump is on record, see osb's post.

I'm afraid it is difficult to have empathy for people who support Trump, but who insist it had nothing to do with racism, sexism or xenophobia. Oh no, that was just talk. Nobody believes he'll do those things. It's about the economy, really.

Yes.

From here I see 2 types of Trump supporters:  those who believe what he says and approve and those who don't believe what he says and approve.  Deplorables on the one hand and on the other, people who have absolutely no idea what his beliefs are and voted for him anyway.

Follow the money. Who gains from holding back changes on global warming? Oil companies, businesses, etc. Don't tell me scientists do! Do you know what a scientist earns doing research? Much less than they could working for business!

Thank you Mermaid.

[Mermaid]

Is Trump really a racist??....

Thundarr, this ain't the media talking; I watched him say each one of these things. Don't you go calling anyone condescending and self-righteous, before thinking a bit about how defending this man sounds. Mote in thy brother's eye. Beam in thine own.

Thank you osb, the world watched him saying these things. All the way across the world, where we watched the election process with detached interest, we heard Trump. Not an invention, not a mistake, not words taken out of context.

But as horrified as we are by the changes he is planning, and as much as some of us disagree with his economic vision, it's the changes to the climate change agenda that I most fear, because they affect all of us.