The Trump feeling

I don't think a single day goes by without someone posting an image, text or video that in some way ridicules Donald Trump. And why not? There's plenty of ammo to go around to do that, so by all means go ahead. But what is the purpose of this shared information? I'm going to work from the assumption that you want to show people who agree with his politics that they're voting for the wrong candidate. And again, why not? A lot of the things he has done and said is far from the actions and words of a responsible president. But if you think his supporters are driven soley by facts you're sadly mistaken.

Around the world parties that preach fear of foreigners, isolation, that crime is on the rise and that the country has to return to it's former glory have been very successful. These ideas are often driven by a subjective view. A perfect example is Newt Gingrich talking about this seen here. We are fed crime, hate and violence on a daily basis and a lot of people feel afraid. And that fear is being used in politics. The closest example I have is the elections in my country Sweden 2 years ago where the right wing party the Swedish democrats had their most successful election ever gaining around 12% of the votes becoming the third largest party. That's quite a leap from 6% in 2010 and 3% in 2006. Their platform? More rights for native swedes and very strict immigration laws. What they also did was not speak the classic political language when talking about theses issues. Sound familiar?

On social media videos of their representatives saying something stupid were frequently shared before the elections. The culmination was when the text "If you vote for the Swedish democrats I will remove you as a friend on Facebook." Here in lies the problem. We are trying to solve a serious issue by showing that we are politically correct and disclaim those who vote for these parties. This is the kind of thing that pushes people with this ideology closer together, and further away from where you want them to go, which is kind of ironic. How do you think people will change their mind if you won't even discuss the issue with them? This whole approach is like being a parent and buying your kid a toy, placing it in front of the kid and then walking away thinking you did an awesome job as a parent. My wish is that the next time you wind up with someone who disagrees with you politically - talk to them. See their point of view. Tell them yours. Maybe you'll both learn something. But if you think that the "shut them out and ridicule them"-approach is working, then by all means keep doing it. At least your PC conscience is clean.

Just ask yourself if you would change your mind just because someone told you to?