It is November 2022. Election Day, as a matter of fact, but that's not directly relevant to this post. At the start of the month, I reached 42 years of age. I do not expect this to be my last birthday, but at the rate things are going, I expect it to be near the last. This isn't because of a terminal disease, or mental health issues, or anything like that. I believe this is the case because I fully expect to die as a result of Random Political Violence sometime within the next three years. As the title states, I presently don't expect to live to see my 45th birthday.
Why? Because I refuse to pick a side. I'm not going far-left OR far-right. As I've half-jokingly half-seriously put it before, I'm of the Party of Mercutio: "a plague on both your houses!" But that doesn't matter; folks determined to Strike Back At The Enemy will helpfully assign me a side regardless, as is their wont. And thanks to the way tribalism works, the side I get assigned is inevitably going to be that of "the enemy".
Excuses will be found as to why I am "the enemy" one way or the other, and there will be plenty. I'll get to take on the part of Vizzini in that immortal The Princess Bride scene featuring the Battle Of Wits between him and the Dread Pirate Roberts. It goes something like this:
I have already repeatedly personally experienced this on smaller scales when the stakes were just what kind of snappy jokes and casual insults were thrown my way; I've been alternatively lectured about my "so-called good friends who want to destroy us all" on the right versus my "wokeist allies who are trying to destroy freedom" on the left. There's really no way for me to win.
So with how polarized everything is getting despite best efforts, I frankly expect political violence to continue to be on the rise, and for folks on both sides to welcome it. And so, sometime within the next three years, I fully expect to end up dead as a result of said violence. Not because I'm an activist. Not because I'm stepping into harm's way. Just because I exist and I happen to not be buying into anyone's authoritarian worldview.
But at least I won't have cowardly embraced tribalism. At this point I increasingly suspect that's the best someone in my position can hope for. That or the world finally coming to its senses and rejecting authoritarianism in all its forms, whether it be the obvious immediate threat posed by Trump and his MAGA supporters, or the daydreamed-about in-theory-but-so-many-want-to-put-it-into-practice threat posed by The Squad and others who think The Way To Stop Trump Is To Be Authoritarian Right Back.
I guess we'll see how that goes in a few days. In the meantime, I'm still looking for a way to reject both glasses and instead drink from the wine bottle. Wish me luck.
Why? Because I refuse to pick a side. I'm not going far-left OR far-right. As I've half-jokingly half-seriously put it before, I'm of the Party of Mercutio: "a plague on both your houses!" But that doesn't matter; folks determined to Strike Back At The Enemy will helpfully assign me a side regardless, as is their wont. And thanks to the way tribalism works, the side I get assigned is inevitably going to be that of "the enemy".
Excuses will be found as to why I am "the enemy" one way or the other, and there will be plenty. I'll get to take on the part of Vizzini in that immortal The Princess Bride scene featuring the Battle Of Wits between him and the Dread Pirate Roberts. It goes something like this:
- I am very strongly anti-authoritarianism and a committed anti-Trumper, so I'm clearly "the enemy" of folks on the right.
- At the same time, I think socialism and communism are hopelessly naive and inevitably lead to authoritarianism, so I'm clearly "the enemy" of folks on the left.
- I don't vote straight-ticket Democrat, so I'm clearly "the enemy" of folks on the left.
- But I also don't vote straight-ticket GOP, so I'm clearly "the enemy" of folks on the right.
- The first time I voted I was registered Democratic (owing to not quite knowing how the primaries process in Ohio works), so I'm clearly "the enemy" of folks on the right.
- But I later switched away from that (to independent, but even so, it's moving away), so I'm clearly "the enemy" of folks on the left.
- I'm white and have some opinions that are conservative-leaning, so I'm clearly "the enemy" of folks on the left.
- And yet I'm a transwoman and have a few left-leaning opinions, so I'm clearly "the enemy" of folks on the right.
- I happen to be the tech admin behind this site, which is overwhelmingly majority liberal or further left, so I'm clearly "the enemy" of folks on the right.
- But I actually (politely where possible) disagree with many of those who speak up here and am usually seen playing "devil's advocate" in so many ways when I do show up, so I'm clearly "the enemy" of folks on the left.
- I rail against folks who claim to "represent" me as a trans woman and end up trying to shame me into joining some sort of radical revolution, so I'm clearly "the enemy" of folks on the left.
- But if you actually look at my recommended ballot in my voters' guides, the majority of the folks I vote for are actually Democrats, so I'm clearly "the enemy" of folks on the right.
- Finally, I'm Jewish, so I'm clearly "the enemy" of, well, pretty much everybody, left, right, center, or whatever. Universal Scapegoat, really.
I have already repeatedly personally experienced this on smaller scales when the stakes were just what kind of snappy jokes and casual insults were thrown my way; I've been alternatively lectured about my "so-called good friends who want to destroy us all" on the right versus my "wokeist allies who are trying to destroy freedom" on the left. There's really no way for me to win.
So with how polarized everything is getting despite best efforts, I frankly expect political violence to continue to be on the rise, and for folks on both sides to welcome it. And so, sometime within the next three years, I fully expect to end up dead as a result of said violence. Not because I'm an activist. Not because I'm stepping into harm's way. Just because I exist and I happen to not be buying into anyone's authoritarian worldview.
But at least I won't have cowardly embraced tribalism. At this point I increasingly suspect that's the best someone in my position can hope for. That or the world finally coming to its senses and rejecting authoritarianism in all its forms, whether it be the obvious immediate threat posed by Trump and his MAGA supporters, or the daydreamed-about in-theory-but-so-many-want-to-put-it-into-practice threat posed by The Squad and others who think The Way To Stop Trump Is To Be Authoritarian Right Back.
I guess we'll see how that goes in a few days. In the meantime, I'm still looking for a way to reject both glasses and instead drink from the wine bottle. Wish me luck.
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