Even though I am that person, who after the shock faded, what set in was, “Well, but nothing has REALLY happened YET.” In response to the people who do not think we should be protesting Trump winning, in terms of International perception, it is important that the world see us mass protesting his winning the election BECAUSE of the things he said while running.
While it is not our responsibility to fix the world, it is our responsibility to not alienate ourselves from participation in International politics and the global economy. Given Trump’s running stances, that may prove difficult and our populace is doing its best to make up for that, for the sake of us all.
There is no certainty that our nation will get into better shape under Trump… and we can’t avoid participating in the world and overseas until then either… the world keeps on… and we either keep pace or fall behind.
And frankly we are already behind in a lot of ways in comparison to a good number of post-industrial countries… look at how much of the Netherlands and Europe have functional socialized health care and are far surpassing us in economic stability and education to mention only a few aspects.
I can’t actually think of anything we are leading in other than the number of incarcerated people to population ratio and the size and impact of our carbon footprint and deterioration of the ozone layer. Some of these things cannot be tackled purely on a local level, many of these shifts in policy must be implemented and adopted on a national level or there will be zero to no effect on the outcome and policies.
Peaceful protesting which is the majority of the protests going on ARE effective. The people who are peacefully protesting would be the first to agree with you that destruction and rioting are not what is helpful. But do not dismiss the tens of thousands peacefully and productively coming together in protest because a handful to a few hundred got swept up in the rage they feel and used the protest as an opportunity to wreck havoc. Same as the racism of a few cannot speak for the feelings of the majority, do not discount the protests for a few assholes who take advantage of the situation.
I’m in no way saying there is no hope. The hope is in how we choose to treat the people we interact with day in and day out. The progress will be had on a person to person basis. There is so much beauty that happens within protests. Have you ever even been to one?
The hope is in choosing to offer kindness to a stranger instead of calling on whatever stereotype you assume they fit. The hope is in interacting with people as individual people and seeking to build connection and understanding deeper than what is obvious. Yes, change happens primarily on a local level, but the locality of it is relative to how far reaching we can manage to stand in kindness, empathy and understanding first and foremost.
I mean, is the internet local? Many would say it is.