"YOU PEOPLE"

I just got referred to on Facebook as "you people" -- as in "You people will believe anything" in rebuttal to a comment I made on a friend's post agreeing with her dismay about the immigrant crisis where the current Administration has decided it's just fine and dandy to take children from their parents who are crossing the border and send them to "shelters" or foster homes out of state without having any plan for reunification.  When I objected to the responder referring to me as "you people", with a request for civility, she in turn responded with a laughing face emoji.  That about sums up the political discourse these days, doesn't it?

I looked up her profile, of course.  Scary to find out she was a Journalism major at WSU.  But I know for a fact (my son is a grad) that for many students the Minor over there is in "party", so maybe her semester on fact-checking was negatively influenced.  (See?  It's contagious!  Now I'm being the catty bitch!)

Here's what I've noticed about the conversations around the most recent national crisis under this Administration:  Even those who generally try to remain calm and objective, civil and respectful, are losing it.  When you are talking about vulnerable children and vulnerable adults and policies that are designed to hurt people as a deterrent to seeking refuge or asylum in this "land of the free", people get surly.  Plus,  there is the cumulative effect of one outrage after another that we have been living with for two years.  (Yes, I date it back to the 2016 campaign).   How much more can we all take?  Some days it is damned hard to find a glimmer of hope, to keep smiling through the pain.

I try to keep the very worst of my swearing, berating, and "puttin' a hurt on 'em" fantasies to myself.  In public discourse I try to remain calm and factual.  Problem:  Facts have somehow become subjective and open to question, like with this morning's FB nemesis.  She absolutely does not believe what every single reputable news outlet is reporting about these kids being removed and relocated with no plan to reunification.  How can you even have a discussion about this policy when what we see with our own eyes is deemed 'fake'?  I even cited that I worked in foster care for 10 years, have friends who still work in foster care and who actually have kids in their programs from the border crisis and they state that they have NO IDEA when/if/how these kids will get back to their parents. Her response was the laughing emoji.

My response was to "hide" my friend's posts for 30 days.  She has far too many supporters of this president who are being rude and stupid on her newsfeed.  I get sucker punched by them when I try to engage in even a small way.  Plus, why does she keep these people around?  I just looked and see she has 770 FB friends, which is far, far too many.  When I see that many FB friends, I tend to stop interacting because I don't trust the friend list to really be vetted for true friendship.   Nobody has that many true friends.  Cull that list!

Anyway, after that early morning upset, I ran across this extended edition of James Cordon's "Carpool Karaoke".  https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=61&v=QjvzCTqkBDQ  I couldn't stop smiling.  The antidote to fury and dismay is joy.

At least, that's the view from here...©