Making enemies

Hello you. My name is Luca but you can call me Luca. So I would be very naïve to say that this world was only ever full of love, it's unfortunate but we know fine well that there are bigots among us, and don't get me wrong, I will not stand for bigotry or discrimination in any way. But we are very quick to label someone as the enemy, and I do think it's wrong.

I won't go full Donald Trump and say "There are some fine people" among the Charlottesville protestors (Because really, there wasn't from what I could see), but I do believe the attitude of always labelling the slightest bit of opposite thinking as wrong, it isn't healthy. I remember watching a video with I believe John Cleese in it, and he spoke about how the most popular groups of people are the ones who rile people up with their opposing groups, and how the neutral middle man won't ever get anywhere near the support. This does ring so true.

Allow me to be transparent. I am a UK resident born in late 1996 so my first general election was 2015, and in both elections that have taken place whilst I can vote, I have voted for Labour in my region and I don't want anyone of you to send me an email saying how I've given power to the anti-Christ and that I'll be murdered by them because of it and I should have voted Conservative, none of that bullshit thank you.

This year's snap election was infuriating for me, not for the result but for the lead up to it, reading the very obviously biased newspapers and there was one columnist who had wrote an article pretty much demanding parents to prevent their children from going out to vote for Labour, which is disgusting. If I ever have children who don't vote for the party I vote for, the only thing that will make me question their choice is why they're voting for them.

In conversation with a close friend one time regarding the confusion over free speech and hate speech, it was really screwing with my head, but she told me something really clear to me that I honestly wish was so clear to me before. With all these people trying to legitimise a lot of hate speech and pass it off as "Oh you don't think they're entitled to being able to say anything, are you an advocate for censorship?". The very fact that this sentence was uttered is such a huge issue.

But whilst the most complicated questions in life should never have a simple answer, my friend really helped me here. The very clear answer to this question was, that unless what someone says is infringing on the rights of anybody, discriminating against them or just plain thinking that they are superior because of their race, gender or sexual orientation, that it's free speech.

I had been sitting on what she told me for a while and came to realise how toxic every environment can be due to the applied logic that everyone who doesn't confine to your beliefs is always the enemy, is just really self destructive. I find that hearing opposing views can help you see past the confines of your own echo chamber, as I do believe that it's quite destructive to only listen to people who agree with you and as a result, you could go your whole life doing wrong and you would never know by a count of your ignorance.

It's honestly quite sad that people who are on one side, seeing the other side as the enemy all the time in every case without fail. I for one am not going to become friends with someone, find out that they are Conservative party supporters and cut all ties with them, only if they were racist, sexist, homophobic, that's when I'd take an issue and I don't think it's wrong to think that way.

Another thing, why is it seen as wrong to try and think about something? If we always acted very impulsively without looking at the evidence, so many innocent people would be in prison. I am of the mentality that if something is everywhere, then it's also nowhere, that we become so desensitised to hearing an accusation that may very well be true, be we are always so ready to burn someone immediately even if it isn't true.

If let's say you're a strong Republican party supporter in the USA, I'm not trying to make you vote otherwise as this can be said for all parties as well, why do you support them? I know in the US, the Republican party are attempting to pass a bill to privatise healthcare which I think is an absolute disgrace. I don't think there's any excuse to deprive someone of healthcare just because they can't afford it, and having heard stories about people being unable to have treatment and dying as a result of not being able to pay for it, means that from an outsider's point of view at least, that the Republican party don't like the American people.

Then of course you have the people who voted Republican who are strong white supremacists, who are against LGBT rights, who want to defund or outright remove healthcare funds for anybody who can't afford it, who want to remove women or transgender people from the military, who discriminate against anyone who do not share their religious beliefs, you can't deny their existence. But at the same time, if someone voted for Trump to be president last year, you had people like that but then you had people who just needed an income, and we all need to sit back and think about why we support whoever we do.

If any of you out there vote for racists, or anyone who wants to redefine rape, or deprive people of basic rights just because of who they are, I don't put this lightly at all but shame on you if that's why you voted for them.

At the same time, not all political parties are perfect, like how the Democratic party in America are apparently more in line with sorting social issues as appose to getting the economy going for the good of the country, I believe in a good combination of both but definitely not at the expense of anyone for whatever they are. The fact that we have a president in office right now who is freely reposting stuff from a hate group is inexcusable, and I'm not going to give him the benefit of the doubt because we have seen people act impulsively and attack him for something that wasn't true. Again, if something is everywhere then it's nowhere.

But there's no excuse for hatred and bigotry, and the very fact that people in this world are of that mind-set and are so normalised in their own mind, that we are apparently wrong and unaccepting. To this I say, imagine yourself as the sort of person you hate for whatever reason, who you think you're better than, to think you don't accept them just because of what they are, not who they are, how would you feel?

Give people basic respect and basic rights. Treat others how you want to be treated, and don't stand for hatred in any form. Judge people on who they are as a person, not for their sexual orientation, not for their religious beliefs, not for their race, because everyone really is the same race, the human race.

The very fact I have to say it when it isn't just basic knowledge, it's unfortunate. But if I can end this on any note, it's just letting you know that you're entitled to any view you like as long as it isn't at the expense of anyone's basic human rights. Not everyone is your enemy, know what will constitute an actual bad person over just an opposing viewpoint, because these undermining efforts don't help anyone. When it's everywhere, then it's nowhere.

Alright! Thank you all for reading. If you're new here and fancy knowing when I next post, you can follow me on Twitter @TheLucaFormat or if you want all my blog posts sent straight to your email inbox, look for the 'Follow By Email' option if you're on a desktop or laptop as I don't believe it works on the phone.

Hope to see all of you back here soon, so until we meet again.
Luca.