In defense of spite.

It may come as surprise to some, but I have strong feelings about a number of things. I know! I contain it well but it is true nonetheless.

The election, specifically the people involved, make me legitimately angry, both with their idiocy as well as the incompetence with which they try to convince us their stupid fucking ideas are in our best interest, it is like they don't respect us enough to even try to come up with a good lie. Which I guess some might say is the major difference between the two parties, both are pretty evil, but the Republicans can't even try hiding their disdain for the common person, that more than anything I think is why Trump is tanking so badly, he doesn't respect his supporters enough to make an effort, and actually hates them instead.

Anyway, these folks make me mad on a general scale, they don't hate me personally(mostly) and won't actively work against myself or those I love. I mean yeah they will end up destroying me, but that will be collateral damage rather than targeted disdain.

You know who does? Those who support them.

See, while those at the heights of power might not actually care about me, the lies they use to get into power are supported by a fairly large amount of the population, and those people do hate me, or at least people like me, personally and want me to fail. They see people who want things like economic inequality as the enemy, more than that they think we are directly responsible for whatever shitty thing they think is happening to the country.

My friend Heather routinely argues with a couple people like that on Facebook and I have to restrain myself from venting at them, they aren't my family or friends and I don't want to put her into an awkward position because I called them hateful douchebags or something. But they are prime examples of people who have decided that I am an enemy. In my arguments on the internet I have been called many things, superficial insults mostly but eventually if I keep at it, the insults trend towards calling me "an enemy" I've had members of the military say they wouldn't want to protect me, people who want to be police saying I better not need their help, and others just telling me I should leave America if I don't like it.

I want to make something clear here, I don't think I am being unjustly persecuted here, there have been a handful of stuff like this over the years I have been arguing with strangers online and I had to work to get these reactions, I treasure them because I feel like they are the most honest reactions I've had from people I disagree with and the insight into their true views is valuable. I also realize that if I was a woman or a minority I probably wouldn't have to work too hard to get them, but my privileged position as a white man means that I get a higher default level of respect usually.

They hate me because I disagree with them, and to be fair I hate them right back, perhaps more intensely than I do the candidates who spout the poison the people absorb, because, like I said, these people are dealing with me at the individual level and therefore made the conscious choice to hate me and what I stand for, knowing I am a real person, not a group or ideology, they can put a face to me and they still choose to hate me.

They think things like being paid a proper wage for work is somehow damaging to the country, they think that government shouldn't have any say in how businesses run, well, anything while at the same time defending the influence of of business on the government. They see poverty figures and think to themselves "yes, this is correct and good". They see a household of two adults working three jobs to pay for an apartment and their only comment is that they should have gotten better jobs. People die without proper medical care and they think the proper response is to deregulate the insurance industry.

Their reaction after mass murders consists of "thoughts and prayers" followed by going out and buying tons of ammo before the government makes it illegal.

They think compassion is only about taking care of yourself and everyone else can go hang, that making choices to improve the station of others is somehow un-American and to be looked at with suspicion.

They think all these things while at the same time knowing, personally, dozens, perhaps hundreds, of people who deserve better than they are getting, and on some level these fuckers think that all of us deserve the shit that gets heaped on us all on a daily basis. Fuck them, I hate them and make no apologies for it, they should fucking know better because they are just as vulnerable as the rest of us. But of course when they need a hand it's all "government doesn't care about the little guy" and they remember the parts of the bible about loving thy neighbor. The only moral assistance is their assistance. Fuck You Got Mine.

I realize it is may be hypocritical to react with hate to those who may hate me, fuck it, I don't care, they have the same, or more, resources I have and I figured out how to give a shit about others, it shouldn't be beyond their capacity, why do they get to be treated with kid gloves? I won't murder them or advocate their harm, and even if they won't I will still vote and argue for policies that will help them anyway, I don't have to like the shitheads though, and I won't.

So that is how I feel, as a guy who honestly doesn't experience a great deal of adversity on a daily basis, that is my baseline level of anger. I don't think I am alone.

So with that in mind how do you think a woman feels? Or a black person? If I am this mad by my little troubles, what about people who are at risk of being killed out of hand or of being sexually assaulted by almost anyone and knowing, not thinking, but knowing, that there is nothing they can do about it and they almost certainly will not receive justice after the fact?

Anger isn't going to turn Hillary Clinton into the perfect liberal candidate, it isn't going to shut up Donald Trump, or make Ted Cruz a person, but on a personal level, anger might just get that asshole on your wall to stop for a day or so, or at least force him to expose himself as someone who hates others for no good reason.

It isn't right, but it's pretty much all we have.