November 2016 – AMERICAN SOCIETY – Two weeks after the election of Donald Trump, this is how divided America has become: People have moved beyond staring at the vast gulf that divides them and proceeded to arguing over who is to blame for it, what to do about it and even whether it exists at all. ‘This idea that we’re now divided is being manufactured and spread by the media,’ said Trump supporter Loy Brunson, 60, a musician in Provo, Utah. The protesters on the street? ‘Paid professionals hired to provoke,’ Brunson said. The anger and vitriol online? ‘Hillary’s fault ever since she called us deplorables.’ The growing number of hate crimes? ‘Played up by the left.’
To Kelcey Caulder, 22, the division is painfully real. The college student from Athens, Ga., feels its looming presence every time she thinks about her grandma, a Trump supporter and ardent opponent of abortion rights. They haven’t talked much since Caulder’s grandma found out that Caulder was voting for Democrat Hillary Clinton and told her granddaughter bluntly, ‘You’re going to hell.’ Caulder tried to be understanding. ‘I think, in her way, she was trying to be protective of me,’ Caulder said. ‘She wasn’t saying ‘Kelcey, go to hell.’ It was more like she was saying, ‘Kelcey, don’t you know this could send you to hell?”’ But when her grandma unfriended her on Facebook, Caulder said, it was hard not to take it personally. Now, she is nervous about Thanksgiving, although she hopes the family dinner could be a chance to reconcile.
This post was published at UtopiatheCollapse on November 22, 2016.
Follow on Twitter
Recent Comments