I was wrong about everything and I am ashamed of myself. · 9:51pm Jun 26th, 2020
Hi everyone. I'm Arwhale. I have a lot of blogs from over the years. A lot of those blogs are political commentary made by a high school/college student who watched a lot of Youtube videos and absorbed the information like a sponge. A sponge that, whenever you squeezed it, a whole bunch of sooty and smelly water dripped out into the sink.
I'd like to think I changed a lot since a few years ago. In many ways, I definitely have, and for the better. But now, I'm realizing more than ever before just how wrong I was about so many things, and even worse, I'm realizing that a lot of the ignorance, bias, and pure vitriol I had in my heart isn't even distant history. I voted for Trump in 2016. That's only 4 years ago. To clarify, I didn't vote for him because I necessarily liked all the things he was saying. No, I voted for him mainly because I wanted to "own the libs" and "own the stupid SJWs/feminists/mArXiStS" because the extent of my knowledge on sociopolitical matters came from one trick pony Youtube commentators with little to no formal educations on anything talking in snide, self-assured tones about low-hanging fruit.
But let's not make excuses here: I voted for Trump. The writing was on the wall, and I voted for him anyway. There's nobody to blame but myself and the people like me who did the same. It doesn't really matter what my reasons were at this point. This country and the rest of the world are suffering the consequences.
I remember when, as recently as early 2017, I genuinely thought with a straight face that the reason this country was so divided... was because of Obama being elected president. I remember when I thought that HE was stirring the pot and thought with a straight face that all of the issues facing the black community in this country were due entirely to "personal decisions" and "culture" without even DARING to think that maybe, just maybe, all of that poverty didn't just happen in a vacuum. Without even daring to consider the possibility that maybe, just maybe, the desperation of poverty hitting black communities across the USA could be due to a whole host of prolonged and systemic factors that have never been addressed and have been actively ignored for decades.
I remember when I thought that Kaepernick was just an SJW who wants attention and that he was "DiSrEsPeCtInG tHe fLaG aNd ThE pEoPlE wHo DiEd fOR tHiS cOuNtRy" by kneeling. I remember when I said "All Lives Matter" because I was so fucking arrogant and thought so little of the average person supporting BLM that I assumed they were saying "ONLY Black Lives Matter!" when they were actually saying "Black Lives Matter TOO."
I remember when I listened to Ben Shapiro and thought he was smart.
I remember when I said things like "a few bad apples" when talking about police departments and police officers. I also remember being so hypocritical with this line of thinking that I ignored the arguments of reasonable people regarding the suffering of impoverished communities due to militarized policing because of a few nutjobs on the fringe that chanted "kill all white people".
I remember lots of other things, too. I remember in the now (thankfully) more distant past, back in 2010-2012 or so, when I thought that gay marriage was a sin and that illegal immigrants were just trying to mooch off tax dollars and should all be deported. None of those ideas happened in a vacuum, either. In fact, you could almost say that they were due to me bring raised in a community, a SYSTEM, which was bigoted, closed-minded, and lacking in all compassion. You know, that SYSTEM that I previously denied even existed, but in fact exists in places all across the country.
But that doesn't excuse me for what I've said in the past. I know I can safely say that I am a changed person compared to how I was even three or four years ago, perhaps even less than that, but I'm still really sorry. I'm ashamed and I wish I could have seen the light sooner. And the fact that my ignorance and lack of perspective didn't just hurt me, but also caused me to vote for a fucking pig who is now in office, makes me sad and will probably make others upset and angry. They'd have every right to be.
Black Lives Matter.
Glad to see you wish to better yourself. I do personally believe that, hopefully, the reforms across mulitiple police divisions across the US will help change the police for the better, because, yes, there are some officers who do genuinely help out their communities, but then again, there are many who either are corrupt, or are good, but stay silent to the corruption so as to not be a target. The ones who have called out the corruption are quickly sacked.
As for undocumented immigrants, yes, many are trying to live better lives. I'm sure many would have immigrated legally if the system wasn't so backed up, but many I've met, or the children of, are trying, like all of us, to make their way in the world
On the contrary, I respect this a lot. Like really a lot! It's hard to step outside one's comfort zone, especially outside of echo chambers and communities which are closed off to other ideas or thoughts. It's hard to say you were wrong... like really fucking hard when it's something this big.
Yeah dbags like Shapiro and the hacks at TPUSA are paid charlatans who are marketed by old rich ass holes who hate "them lib kids these days." It's just people resistant to change in any form.
The painful lessons many are learning right now is to listen, really listen, not to respond, not to argue, but listen to understand.
Just be careful who you listen to, just because some people in the BLM movement are intelligent doesn't mean they all are, don't get suckered into feeling guilty just because of the color of your skin, if you are white that is.
A former Trump follower coming onto the right path. Good to see, Trump's allegiance crumbles more and more. That he was elected and the three and a half years that came afterwards really brought the flaws of a democratic system to light.
At least he will be gone soon, there is no way how he will get re-elected after the train wrecks he caused.
5295858
Just because Trump is Bad does not mean that the other side is automatically Good, what have the media done since Trump came into office? Nothing, I'd argue they made things worse by taking our attention AWAY from Trump and more towards their bumbling, they played right Into his hands.
Don't assume that Trump's enemies are any better, they're all corrupt, the only difference is Trump doesn't hide it.
You are an amazing person. I am in such awe of you and you learning, realizing you were wrong, and taking responsibility. You are amazing