An Open Letter In Which I Respond To An Angry Old White Man Abusing The Interwebs

I get it - you're angry. Really angry. Angry about immigrants. Angry that the economy isn't doing all that well. Angry about the Affordable Care Act. And most of all, angry that we have a brown president with a foreign-sounding name.

But that's kind of the point, isn't it?

You keep using the phrase "your world," as if you and I don't live in the same country, and as if your taxes don't go to the same government that mine do. Guess what? We live in the same country and pay for the same government, and we both get things that we want and things that we do not want. Learn to deal with it.

I suppose in a way, you're right: we don't live in the same world. I live in a world that I call "reality." It has verifiable facts, sources, evidence. It has nuance and subtlety, and one side is rarely one-hundred percent "right" about anything. From it I derive a sense of proportion about what is important.

Honest people may disagree with my conclusions. But you aren't honest: you live in a terrifying and mythological world of narcissism and wounded pride. If you weren't such an angry person, whose relentless stream of fact-free messages contain thinly-disguised race-baiting, a palpable hatred of strong women, and most of all, an unsavory thirst for belligerence and violence, I'd feel sorry for you.

You're not going to solve any problems. You're part of the plan and you're playing an essential role in perpetuating our nation's problems. For you and people like you, debating issues isn't the point, and facts don't matter. The hate and the fight are the only things. It's your side, the "real America," against "them," whoever "they" are.

I have my own criticisms of President Obama. Who knows, together we may have been able to find common ground. From this common ground, we might have presented a unified front to those in power and thus have some small influence on national policy. But as it stands, you've been completely co-opted by hate and anger, and as citizens, we are less able to make any changes to the status quo.

Keep hating - that's exactly what your puppet masters want. You're fighting for the wheel of the clown car *against yourself.*