Social media sparring in the aftermath of the 2016 presidential election has proven a past-time fraught with minefields as We the People react and absorb, in real time, the remarkable revelations and chaotic confusion that have arisen in the weeks between Election Night and Inauguration Day. With Democracy threatened or appearing under siege, even the reticent friends are posting more survival strategies and political analyses–their own and others–fewer cute cat videos and less of the lunchtime still life. We all might rather remain fixated on our little screens, screening out the ugly details and the unflattering tones and angles, but these times seem to have called many of us to action and speech for the first time ever. I know they have me.
I grew up in a remote mountain town in western Montana, but living in a West Coast city for more than 30 years has profoundly influenced my beliefs, my values, and my perspectives. Friends and associates of a range of persuasions and a family history rooted in the working class enrich me. Strong connections to friends and family in small rural communities in Western Montana nurture my country roots and leanings, and my urban friends and colleagues and associates inspire the sides of me that thrive in the city.
My own social media feed offers distinct echo chambers: Bernie lovers; Hillary champions; the studiously apolitical; the Tea Party/Trump die-hards and many shades of belief and alignment in between. I tried to leave the views unfiltered throughout the campaign so as not to insulate myself too far into my own comfortable world view, but the dialogue in the final weeks before the election proved too brutal to bear. Hiding several of the loudest and most frequent posters from my newsfeed granted some instant relief from their (to me) distressing and wrongheaded views. And yet these friends are no less convinced of their rightness than I am. Our moments of intersection are rare (though friends of all stripes give the cheery “thumbs up” to cute cat videos).