But let's back up a little bit. I have long been a social democrat, probably because I'm from a pretty humble family, with almost no money, believing in democracy and equality and the whole package. My political stance on gay marriage came from knowing gay people and on refugee policy from traveling the Balkan Route with them. Naturally, not everyone can make these experiences, and information about most issues is scarce if you don't know where to look. Those PR machines in political parties are no joke, and they know how to work the media to make you believe what they want. Knowing all that, I am very aware how different opinions come into formation. I do not blame anyone for disagreeing with me. I can't thoroughly deflect blame for being brainwashed by media outlets of my choice either, but at least I try for that not to happen. But not everyone can or knows how to do that.
As a result, some people, even in my circles, have been told that political correctness is just trying to be nice in a world full of sharks or that global terrorism is fundamentally Muslim. These things may sound like opinions but they're not. If they're sold as facts, how are people with no prior knowledge in independent thinking supposed to know that? Sure, it's tempting to just dismiss them as "stupid" because it is a lack of thinking that has them believe in certain facts that just aren't any. But just because a person does not possess the knowledge that is required to form a fact-related opinion, their intelligence isn't non-existent. When Donald Trump, with all of his other imperfections, goes on a lying spree, a lot of people just do not have a background in knowing that his speech is coming from the same place as their opinions: a lack of experience.
Some of my best friends are Trump supporters. Now, if I'm totally honest, there's a part of me that would consider them pretty stupid for knowing what I know and still showing support for a man who has proven to be disgusting. Truth is they don't know what I know. They don't know Islam, and so when some maniac tells them it's a dangerous religion, who will tell them it's not? They also, in large numbers, don't really know anything about policy because those who do know you can't just give the job to a random and wait for him to make good decisions. I can't expect people, especially in the United States, to understand their country's foreign policy when schools there don't even emphasize knowing anything at all about the rest of the world. One year of Sophomore Geography, dear Americans, ain't gonna cut it. So when my family and friends in the US post pictures of Nazis and compare them to Bernie's Socialists, I don't think it really is their fault they just made a huge idiot of themselves.
My love for these people is affected but not gone. I sometimes read what they have to say about political issues and am shocked how the same person that appeared saint-like to me could be posting something so blatantly ignorant, including the D himself. I don't even dislike Donald Trump as a person, I just believe his derogatory demeanor and complete unsuitability to be the President of any state, let alone of the United States, is all a person needs to know about this man to see he is impossible to vote for. However, I also know them as wonderful people. Coincidentally, most of these people became my friends because of their loving treatment of me due to their religious principles, which are in direct contradiction with almost everything Donald Trump ever stood for. Are all the wonderful things they did for me back in the day when I was pretty much homeless worthless because they are now preparing to vote for a man who made hating people and disrespecting minorities a daily routine? The only thing they really need is a reality check, not necessarily a head butt...
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