Are things really that political out there?
My biggest window into the world from in here is the news. I watch every news channel. I admit my favorite is News Nation, it seems the most balanced? Fox seems like it thrives on lies, conspiracy theories and extreme partisanship. The majority of their content seems to be about why everyone else is wrong and not much about why they are right.
I remember a time when the news didn't involve opinions and culture war arguments, it just reported the news. Now I go to CNN and get my brain scrubbed with leftist ideas and then I go to Fox and get the opposite, it´s so strange to me. I guess the good part is that at least I still possess the choice to choose which one I watch, or not to watch it at all. I just think about the millions and millions of people at home watching each side and being convinced that theirs is the right one and being taught more and more that not only is the other side wrong but they are evil.
I don't remember things being this way when I was a kid? I remember watching the local news with my dad and you would see the weather, they would always have some uplifting story about a cat being rescued or something like that. Now I go on there and the first thing I see is one side calling the other anti American and accusing them of hating our country and loving crime and drug addiction. It´s crazy isn't it? And it´s not just in the news and in the "political arena" that you hear it, it has seeped in to every area of life.
A movie star makes a commercial about jeans and people call her Hitler. Someone agrees with something our president does and the whole other side calls them a fascist. This is one of the areas where I think the world wide web has done a great disservice to mankind in general. It really matters because it affects people´s everyday lives. A person works really hard just to get by and every week their paycheck is less because taxes are being taken out and we were always okay with it because we new it would come back in the future when we are too old to work or maybe we have a medical misfortune. Or we knew it partly went to help the less fortunate. Now we can't even trust the simple rules that we were taught governed our lives and survival. One side is telling us that our tax dollars are going towards condoms in third world countries and the other side is telling us that our Medicaid and Medicare is being taken aware. Each side is trying to scare us in to not voting for the other side while not offering anything themselves.
I don't want to be negative or look at the world through a pessimistic view but sitting in this prison cell watching TV, it´s hard not to? I know that human beings are good and most people just want to love, be loved and have a small place on this earth where they can feel safe and comfortable and can share life with like minded people. I know that there is great value in relationships, family, and loving. I just worry that the few power hungry politicians who are obsessed with their version of right and are willing to burn it all down in the name of it, I think they are having an unbelievably powerful and negative effect on the course of our country and maybe even humanity itself. I worry about it.
I am writing this because I have a question for whoever might read this. My question is, am I over exaggerating? Does it just look this bad to me because I am in this cell and my only real window in to life out there is through what I see on TV? Do these things just look bigger to me and really the people all over the country, living in their neighborhoods, going to work and school, enjoying their relationships and life's experiences aren't even seeing or thinking about these things? Are things much brighter than how I envision them? Where I think about neighbors arguing over Trump signs in their yard, could it be that they are borrowing sugar from one another and sitting out on their front porches talking and laughing in the evenings?
Should I just stop watching news altogether because it doesn't really represent the reality of what everyday life looks like all over America? I would honestly welcome anyone's perspective out there? I would be forever grateful if you would grant me the ability to see through your eyes even for a moment!? I have 12 years left in here and I don't take even one day for granted. I try not to waste a moment. It can be real easy in here to get caught up in routines designed only for the purpose of passing time, but what a waste it would be to keep my mind busy and occupied passing time only to get through this and still be the same person as I was when I came here. It was that person who was angry. It was him using drugs and committing crimes. He was a liar and a thief. He was broken and had no idea what was wrong with him or how to fix it. If that guy got out of prison today, tomorrow, or 12 years from now, he would only be a negative to society. I cant allow that to happen. I am not going to suffer 26 years of incarceration only to be the same person who deserved to be sent here or maybe even a worse person. That is why I don't waste a moment. I use every second and every possible tool at my disposal to better myself. To learn and to grow. To understand. To be sorry and to make right my wrongs.
The most important thing that I learned so far is that I need help. I don't know that I deserve help, but I desperately need it. That's why I have set out to "grow" my world even while I am in here. I can't always trust my perceptions of things from in here, that is why I try to listen with all my heart to those who are kind enough to share with me, I appreciate you!!!!
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"am I over exaggerating?" yes and no. The short answer is your perception of the political climate could easily pass as the perspective of tons of us on the outside. Anybody who keeps up with politics sees or engages in these kinds of conversations everyday. It is getting worse, especially compared to decades ago. It's now considered foolish to ask "why can't we just go back to the 90's?" because it's been asked so much and evidently it's impossible.
However, the same people will also ask whether the real world is as bad as it seems just like you did. We think about this a lot.
Yes, there have been many examples of neighbors, friends and family excommunicating each other over politics, sometimes even reporting the other to the mob in an effort to publicly shame them. I've lost some friends, or missed an opportunity to make friends due to politics, and for some family I just pretend politics doesn't exist even when they bring it up. The survival of each relationship could depend on whether both parties are willing to fight or if one of them is willing to swallow their pride. We also face trouble or drama at work over this, many have lost their jobs and have even been blacklisted in their career field.
At the same time, lots of people prefer to keep the peace. We have a neighbor one block away with a leftist sign and another neighbor on another block with a trump sign, both are undisturbed. I'm sure somewhere there are anti-trump and pro-trump next-door neighbors who do exchange sugar and so on. And as you guessed, there's still tons of people who aren't political at all living their lives, or at least they're not political enough to broadcast their politics. When we're out and about we might get reminded of politics much more often than when we were kids but there's still plenty of times and places where we don't have to think about it.
What I personally think's going on is Russia and China are amplifying both sides to play us against each other. They hope we destroy ourselves so they can become the next superpowers. Left and Right are getting duped in different ways. There's a lot more to it but that's my summary.
"Should I just stop watching news altogether" In my opinion I would watch once every 3-7 days for a set time, if you have a desire to keep up with current events. And I would stick with News Nation or whichever channels don't make you anxious. I'm in the process of slowly cutting out overly political content in my life because I get too worked up over it. There's an allure to knowing everything that's going on but it's not worth it. Eventually there will be so much going on that no human can keep up with it all.
What else are you allowed to do? If there's anything else I'd do that. Read, watch a TV series if there's any good ones. Learn anything, history, any skill or hobby. Find more avenues to communicate online if you're allowed to. Exercise. Learn a language. Maybe your friend's native language. If you have literally nothing else, is there any way you could just befriend a Mexican and learn Spanish?