I can tell you from firsthand experience that anger and vitriol don’t win arguments.
Trying to shove the same tired rhetoric down our throats doesn’t work and all this backlash coming from Democrats over the #WalkAway Campaign only proves the point for us that we made the correct choice to leave.
Thanks for listening, stay strong everyone and be excellent to each other!
Wow you guys. I’m floored by the response to my #WalkAway story — especially by my own friends! Over 100k *real* people organizing on FB to say they’re leaving or have left their respective political parties and instead of asking us Why, or using this as an opportunity to open a healthy dialogue, the majority of our friends would rather vilify us, call us brainwashed, racists, white supremacists and worse.
What about taking a moment to reflect on their own politics and wonder why someone would want to leave? What about trying to bring their friends back into the fold in a kind, supportive way?
Naw, self-reflection is hard. Pointing a finger at oneself is difficult. It’s far easier to try and shout us down and insult us until we see how foolish we are and come to our senses, right???
Except that’s not working.
Throwing insults, unfriending, even blocking people they used to care about is only driving an entire group of people further away. Calling a friend a brainwashed robot because they’ve decided to openly speak and think for themselves is only proving to them they we were right to leave.
Get off Twitter if it’s bothersome. Stop using it as the litmus test. That is not the home of this campaign. Every popular thing that exists on Twitter is full of bad actors. Go to any thread about a popular musician or group and you will find a flood of bots trying to sell you something. Twitter is a means for some of us to communicate, but Facebook is where we are currently organizing. And it’s on FB that we’re getting the most hurtful responses, because most of us understand that Twitter is full of trolls and shouldn’t be taken as seriously.
It’s on Facebook that we’re called traitors and cowards by our own friends. It’s there that we risk isolating ourselves in our real lives. It’s where the people we grew up with and love try to openly discredit us by insisting we must be brainwashed and mislead.
Those kind of ‘friends’ don’t need to worry about Russian bots encouraging us to #WalkAway, they’re doing a bang-up job on their own.
I’ve been so inspired by this #WalkAway movement that I decided to get over my fear and add my voice. It’s such a shame what’s happening to our country. I’ve seen this quote in several places recently and it resonates with me enough to try and paraphrase it here: if your love for your country hinges on who is president, then you don’t love your country.
I am so proud to be an American and have the right to sit here today and express these thoughts. I’ve tried to voice my concerns but it feels like such an all or nothing argument coming from the left. To vocalize any kind of dissenting opinion that doesn’t fall in lock/step with “the war for social justice” gets us labeled a nazi, bigot, or some other kind of racist— sometimes by our own families.
So here’s my contribution to this movement. From one lifelong Democrat, here to say No More. I’m nowhere near Conservative, nowhere near Republican, but I’m still breaking up with my party. No more rabid cognitive dissonance, no more exaltation of victimhood– I’ve chosen to #WalkAway.
I recently got lost and wanted to do a deep dive into my usual round of self-defeating, destructive behavior– mentally tearing myself apart for making a simple mistake…
I was about to start crying when I told myself to regroup and search for any way I could turn this into a positive experience– literally (and I only use that term when I literally mean it) as soon as the thought escaped my head I drove by The Most Amazing Place I Never Knew Existed.
Thank you, Tony and Jim, I mistakenly say you’ve “been in” radio when I meant “INTO radio” but your joy and acceptance was everything I needed right then. You had no idea what you saved me from, thank you for welcoming me to the National Capital Radio & Television Museum with open arms and for turning a potentially rough afternoon into a fantastic one!
I get asked this question a lot and this promotional video from United Way / 211MD does a GREAT job of explaining just what a “typical” day looks like for me. And I’m not just saying this because it features yours truly! (I’m totally just saying this because it features yours truly.)
There’s no “usual” or “boring” day. Being a crisis counselor and resource specialist is more than just talking people off that literal ledge, it’s being there during someone’s worst moments and helping them realize they can get through this.
I’m really proud to be a part of the United Way and 211 community, to learn more visit www.211.org and www.unitedway.org.
