There’s a made up national holiday for pretty much anything and everything you could possibly think of. Seriously, you could flip to random pages in a dictionary and probably find a national holiday for at least a third of the words you see. Today is a day you’ve probably never heard of, but in light of the political climate I feel like it’s probably more relevant than it’s ever been.
Today is National Unfriend Day.
Yes, it’s real — Jimmy Fallon made it a thing in 2010.
While its origins were innocent enough, I can’t help but think about what something like National Unfriend Day means in 2020.
Sure, 99.9999% people have no idea that this day exists. But 99.9999% of people have probably found their social lives more affected by politics in the last 4 years than ever.
Of course, political polarization didn’t start in 2016, and I hate when people pretend it did. People love to blame Trump for division in this country when the reality is that he wouldn’t have been nearly as successful as he was if Democrats hadn’t been calling everyone that disagrees with them sociopathic nazi dog killers for at least a decade.
Trump was so successful because he was one of the first major figures on the right to not only stand their ground, but hit back and give two big fat middle fingers to anyone that accused him of being an -ist or -phobic instead of apologizing and running away with his tail between his legs. Liberals can deny the role they’ve played in political polarization all they want, but as someone who fell for it for years, and genuinely believed Biden in 2008 when he said Romney wanted to “put me back in chains,” I know it’s true.
Liberals love reposting the same bird brained quote about how they can have political differences as long as your views don’t threaten their existence. That presents a problem when literally every opinion other than theirs is framed as an attack on human rights and/or the launch of the Fourth Reich. Believe in a flat tax? In basic national sovereignty? Biological sex? Literally any part of the Constitution as written? Congratulations! You’re a fascist according to what is now considered mainstream by the left.
Thanks to these increasingly insane character assassinations of anyone with mildly moderate opinions, people that believe normal, rational things find themselves consistently marginalized in social and professional settings.
Liberals will call this conservatives whining or playing the victim, but if you can look at these stats and tell me you genuinely see no issues with it, you’re not interested in “democracy” or an honest political process — you support actual fascism — you know, the kind that that silences your political dissidents, and you’re calling them bigots to make yourself feel better about it.
Liberals also love saying things like “if you have bad opinions, you should be ashamed to share them” and “make racists afraid again.” But the thing is, people aren’t embarrassed about what they think — they’re petrified of the isolation and ostracization that they know is very much within the realm of possibility for expressing their opinions. And that fear isn’t actually changing their minds about anything — which is why the Left has been shocked every the past 3 election cycles, expecting so-called “blue waves” and lucky to get a blue drizzle.
Another thing that drives me crazy is the amount of liberals that think they’re tolerant because they’ll be friends with a conservative — just as long as they literally never openly express their political opinions. No, I’m not talking about people that you reach a mutual agreement with to not talk politics. I’m talking about people that post infographics and tweets and stories about how conservatives are the scum of the earth and soulless shells of human beings — and go ballistic the second you express an opinion on what’s going on in the world. Newsflash: if you only tolerate agreement or silence, you’re not actually tolerant.
I can’t tell you how many friends and acquaintances I’ve lost over my political views. If I actually kept a running list it would probably be illegal for us to be in one room during coronavirus. I think it’s kind of sad, but I wouldn’t change a thing.
Sometimes, it hurts. But when you become honest about your political beliefs, the trash takes itself out, you learn who your real friends are, and you make room for better people who think highly enough of you to try to understand where you’re coming from before throwing your friendship away over a policy disagreement.
I completely understand the hesitation to be vocal about politics when it comes to job opportunities, but if the only thing you’re afraid of is losing friends, rip the bandaid off and trim the fat. No person worth keeping in your life will abandon you over who you voted for.
So welcome the unfriends, the unfollows and the uninvites — because they’ll lead you to the best people you’ll ever know and the best places you’ve ever been.
what do you think?