Message to Liberal & Progressive Friends: BACK OFF & STFU (please)
I am ready to scream obscenities at people I admire, like, who I think of as friends.
Since Hurricane Harvey’s severity was understood on Friday, I have read an unending stream of inane, tone deaf social media comments denigrating all the Trump supporters who “deserve” to lose everything they own because of their votes — with no regard for the predominantly Hispanic communities close to the coast that were devastated during Harvey’s landfall or largely Hispanic Victoria, Texas, that could be wiped off the map by the flooding Guadalupe River.
Do you know that Houston is one of the most diverse cities in the country? More than 100 languages are spoken there. Their last mayor was an openly gay white woman. Now the mayor is a black man. Empathy should not be political party dependent, however, Hillary carried the Greater Houston region by 13 points. It makes my skin crawl to say that in these circumstances.
I have read inaccurate comment after inaccurate comment about every little thing regarding responses to Harvey. Have there been mistakes? Damn sure. And some of them may cause deaths. But rather than doing the research (which only takes moments on the Google machine) to check the accuracy of the latest Twitter, Facebook or Instagram inflammatory statement, I see them irresponsibly circulated by people who should know better. This practice is now beyond obnoxious.
As a Gulf Coast resident, we all know this could be happening to us or to our communities. The behavior of all of you in other parts of the country, who think your nasty political commentary is clever in the face of this crisis, let me assure you it is not clever at all. It feels insensitive and vicious toward all the innocent people who are suffering.
Please, get a freakin’ grip! Verify information before you circulate it. Think before you criticize every little thing that happens. And bag your political prejudices in the face of these tragedies.
Hurricane Harvey is about life and death. It is about people’s lives being devastated. It does not matter what color people are, what religion they are, what anyone’s gender or sexual orientation is, or what political party people prefer. What matters is having empathy for the trauma that millions in Texas and Louisiana are experiencing.
If you are incapable of empathy, then please, STFU!!!
