Before Thanksgiving, my husband, Brad, and I travelled to South
Dakota – land of a very large Byrum clan. I knew it would be difficult to
travel to a state where almost every white person voted for Trump, because I am
unabashedly, passionately distraught over the election results. Many of my fellow
Buddhists have been recommending dialogue with those of an opposite viewpoint.
I knew that preserving family harmony trumped (as it were) political
discussion.
I had one ally: my young step grandson is half Lakota Sioux. So
at the huge dinner gathering – held in a hunter lodge – I started discussing my
sympathy for the Water Protectors, privately with him. One of the more outspoken
Trump supporters jumped into the conversation to inform me that the protestors
were all paid by Black Lives Matter and were throwing kerosene bombs at the
police. I got sucked in. Moments later he was telling me that Obama was full of
hateful rhetoric. I could see my mother-in-law looking at us across the
kitchen; she said, “No politics!” I said, “I agree 100%...one hundred percent!”
I have been thinking of the millions of primarily white voters
who voted for a man so stupendously unfit for office. One demographic is the
Christian evangelical, conservative vote. I am particularly aware of this group, because
Brad used to be a minister with Assemblies of God. They have one issue: Pro
Life. They willfully ignore Trump’s racism, misogyny, narcissism,
and proto-fascist tendencies –because of this one issue.
To me, this is ignorance. The Latin root of ignorance is “not
knowing,” but I think it is ignoring the
truth. Many of these people probably know that Trump could dismantle Social
Security, Affordable Care Act, and Medicare, but they choose to ignore it, because of their One Issue.
Brad has used the analogy of two pick-up trucks driving toward a
precipice. One is blue, full of people shouting, “Unity in Diversity” and the people
in the red truck shouting, “Make America White Again!” Global, corporate greed
is driving the truck, and we are all headed for disaster: global destruction,
if nothing else.
Also, political discourse may be impossible with Facebook and
the Internet and Twitter, where one can put forth an opinion with great
certainty, but with no basis in fact. This morning I saw a video clip from CNN
in which the moderator was interviewing Trump supporters. One woman was
convinced by Trump’s statement that millions of illegal immigrants voted for
Hillary. When asked about the source of her opinion, she said: “Facebook.” We
know that Trump mastered this technique of manipulating social media. John
Daily used to call his show “false news.” But now it is more difficult to
distinguish between true news and false news. More and more, I have even become
suspicious of posts by Facebook friends: Is
this really true?
How would dialogue even be possible in these instances?
So what is our Buddhist practice at this time? Well, on the one
hand, a meditation practice and a general grounding in the knowledge of the
impermanence of all phenomena, can be very helpful in regaining some
equanimity. And, of course, we know we can be compassionate because all the
Trump supporters are each suffering in his or her own way.
But the unanticipated result of this election is a waking up to
the reality that we need to take action, we need to stay informed. Every day. Complacency
seemed safe, but now we know, for sure, that it is not.
