by Zach
I have voted for Kamala Harris in the 2024 Presidential Election, in New Jersey. My ballot has already been received and processed. I want to make that clear before I jump into the rest of this.
My experience on PoYB is one of, above all, fun. Every Monday and Thursday at 1:59 PM my time, I get ready for the YSC posts to hit the Internet. I never know what that day will bring. Will the posts hit hard emotionally, or will I get awesome and weird takes on pop culture, candy, professional sports?
It's nice to be in a community where I feel supported, where I feel like people have my back, whether I'm writing about something vulnerable and emotional or whether I'm putting out a political take that I know probably not everyone will agree with. That's what I've appreciated most about my time on the blog, and that has made me feel empowered to write about topics that I've either never written about at all (like social anxiety at parties) or to write publicly about topics that I've only privately journaled about (too many to count). That's radical inclusivity and acceptance, and that's universal.
Sure, it's clear that the blog's writers are to the left of the spectrum politically. Like Joe, I'd be surprised if there are any Trump voters reading the blog or writing for the blog. And there have been plenty of posts that have addressed the political issues of the day, and I'm sure many more in the sixteen years of the blog's existence before I became a regular reader/contributor that I'm not aware of. I find myself appreciating that about the blog, and enjoy reading posts from people who I generally agree with politically when those topics do come up. It binds me to the community that much more.
Still, what Joe wrote in his Born This Way post stuck out to me. "I find it so hard to imagine that a conservative individual would find themselves hanging out here, because I find it hard to believe that there would be any values espoused on these blogging pages to which they could relate to. It doesn't make sense logically."
I don't know! I think the heaviest topics on PoYB are usually related to addiction, or relationships, or challenges with family. These are issues that both conservatives and liberals deal with while going through life. Beyond that, there are the usual takes about music, pop culture, the sarcasm that courses through the comments, Record Club. If Record Club is the blog's main course, then to me that says something about the blog's values being about a certain way to experience music (i.e., listening to an album in full), consistency (in writing a weekly column), and community (interactions around that album, exit surveys where more discussion takes place, etc.). These are the values I feel are the most real here. I don't posts about topics that are covered in the news are the blog's main event.
Of course, some of the blog's values absolutely touch political topics. But, to me, the way the blog puts forward politically-related matters as actual blog values takes a backseat to its values of inclusivity, fun, understanding, and joy.
So I absolutely think a conservative person could wholeheartedly enjoy PoYB and relate to its values. A Trump voter would certainly disagree with many of the takes that the blog's writers sometimes put forward, and, with courage, put their name to comments under those posts that respectfully address those takes. But I think a conservative person could relate to most of the heavy topics and to the pop culture-related topics just about as easily as a liberal person.
I am also curious to hear Joe's take on the following sentence he wrote: "I find it hard to imagine that there would be anyone who would find themselves regularly hanging around PoYB while also being a racist, or sex abuse apologist, or nazi, or conservative."
I say this with trepidation, because I don't want to put our EiC in an uncomfortable position. But here goes: I want to know if Joe sees conservatives as being just as morally depraved as racists and sex abuse apologists and nazis.
The way that sentence is constructed, one might reasonably come to that conclusion. But I don't exactly know what's behind that sentence. If he does see all those groups as being on the same level, I personally reject that idea, partially because the word "conservative" is very general and encompasses such a wide swath of the population (like, there are lots of conservatives not voting for Trump), and partially because, to me, a nazi / sex abuse apologist / racist advocates is just obviously so much worse that a conservative person who favors small government and lower taxes.
I would love to perform some kind of social experiment where a conservative person is introduced to the pages of PoYB for an extended period of time. That person would even become a semi-regular contributor. And then we'd get to know, for real, if a conservative person could mesh with PoYB's content and values, or whether they'd be so appalled by the content that they'd run away, screaming. That's the only way we'd truly find out, instead of hypothesizing like I'm doing here.
Vote Harris 2024.
5 comments:
The most important thing to me right now, in this specific moment in time, is that here is someone who took the time to respond to a blog post. I think that's awesome. I welcome it with open arms. I would welcome it just the same if Zach's point was "Joe K*** is a huge piece of shit and I hate him." All feedback is good feedback. Keep it coming.
First the "how," then the "why." How I wrote this was that I got angry. This happens sometimes, to my detriment. I get angry and unfortunately the blog is right there, and I write while I'm angry, and occasionally that anger comes out in a blog post that happens to have an email attached to it, an email sent to ~70 people, and so that anger gets to be seen by more than a handful of people. I am protected because it's just 70 people; there are no swarms of anonymous people tweeting about my anger or asking me to kill myself or doxxing my family whatever. So that's good. I feel comfortable being stupid and angry on here. It's not helpful, but it happens. I acknowledge that.
I'm angry because I have to feel this way. I have to feel anxiety and dread that the circumstances of my life and the lives of my neighbors are going to become more difficult for no reason other than there being a sizeable number of people in this country with voting power voting against their own self-interest and my interest too. Okay, okay, but you know all this. And you can understand, maybe (maybe!), the paranoia that would come from thinking that maybe some of those people voting against their own self-interest and my interest are on an email that I send out every week. The anger is toward these hypothetical people (who can't possibly number more than three or four, if more than zero), and the anger is directed toward the self, that here I am with a platform, and I'm not doing enough. I'm not doing enough!
And of course the self-hatred after the fact, when I get a letter to the editor, and I remember the blog post I wrote like three fucking weeks ago and apparently already forgot, in which I'm allegedly attempting to be kinder and more empathetic toward this group of people specifically, and then all of a sudden I'm implying shit like "conservatives are fucking nazis." Now how does that work? That's a moral failing on my part.
The "why," or at least what I tell myself the "why" is in this particular case: just a simple case of trying to stir up some discussion. Overturning rocks, looking for shit that I probably won't wanna see but feel a sick compulsion to see anyway. Maybe this is a bad faith attempt at doing that. I had imagined that maybe someone who is voting for trump or not voting at all might actually say something if I was hyperbolic enough. "I'm voting for trump but I'm not a nazi, you asshole" or something like that. Start a discussion. That would be a good one. It would leave me feeling worn out, but at least it would be happening. As opposed to just voting for trump and then sitting there as some asshole with a blog sends you emails every Sunday morning for 301 weeks in a row, which wears on me.
So yeah man, angry and anxious and all that. I'm wrong, basically. I acknowledge it. And I am thankful that someone can be a voice of reason on here and gently call me on my shit. So thank you for that.
I think it's fine to get angry and to almost blindly write out that anger in a blog post that's yours. I think that's part of the point of a blog like this - to process emotions that don't make sense. I wouldn't necessarily agree that you're wrong - I think just acknowledging that you're a human who needs to write out his feelings sometimes is great. Whether or not those thoughts are absolute truth. Because they can be inaccurate, but not necessarily wrong. Or something like that.
Not to belabor the point, but I am curious if you think that a conservative person who's into the Hold Steady and the Sixers and involved in addiction recovery could like this blog. Maybe the answer is no! Maybe you feel like you answered all you need to answer in your comment, and that's also fine and we can let all that's already been written speak for itself. But I'll just raise it anyways, one more time.
I appreciate the push. I'll answer in two different ways.
The first is that there are certain pop culture-related touchstones that I truly do believe would not make sense, logically, for someone who is conservative to enjoy. It happens, I know that. The example I usually give here is "Paul Ryan loves Rage Against the Machine." The man, both in character and in policy, represents the opposite of that band's purpose and mission, and yet he was able to like them anyway, mainly from just ignoring all that, and jamming out. I assume. But, like, if Paul Ryan came here to the blog looking to participate in some RAtM takes, he'd see some writings in which I specifically call him out for being a shitty person and for being a terrible RAtM who misses the whole fucking point... and so would he want to be here, on this specific blog? I don't think so.
That's a specific example. The Hold Steady, I mean, my whole thing with them is that this is a band that celebrates inclusivity, and I've made that clear here. Could a conservative white male visit this blog and read those words about this band and believe that he, the conservative white male, is the intended audience of the Hold Steady? Maybe! But I would hope that it would eventually be clear that there's a friction here, that I also believe that conservatism as it exists now has a deep-seeded and insidious focus on villainizing outsiders, and so how could I possibly understand why a conservative male would like this band? It happens, yes. But I don't think it should, logically, based on what I know, and what I write here.
The Sixers... I mean, obviously with sports this happens a lot more. All the worst trumpers I personally know are all Eagles fans, ya know? I don't think there is any expectation of morals and values lining up when it comes to be a fan of the same sports team. One of the bigger emotional crises of my recent life was when the Phillies knowingly rehired a domestic abuser. I would say that this has negatively affected my view of sports overall, perhaps irrevocably. I've written about this. I don't think a conservative dude who is voting for a literal rapist tomorrow is going to give a shit about that writing of that subject. So why is he here? I don't write about the Sixers too often, though, so I'll renege on that specific example. I would say that, hypothetically, if I found out Embiid voted for trump, then I'd probably never forgive him. And I'd write about that. Etc.
Substance abuse. Yeah, that's probably the best example here. Because I have little doubt that if I walked into an AA meeting in Northeast Philadelphia, most of the people there are either voting for trump or not voting. And yet I'd find so much empathy in that space, and would be able to relate to so many stories. HOWEVER, the caveat here is that these are people willing to spill their fucking guts, which is so goddamn brave, brave in ways that I admire so much. And I think that if they are here on the blog to read my own spilled guts about my own issues, and then they see something politically that they don't agree with right after that, then they are going to be responding.
So I guess overall I'd say that it's not a problem that MAGA-loving human beings would exist, and it's not a problem that MAGA-loving human beings would exist on the blog, but it IS a problem that MAGA-loving human beings would exist on the blog and stay silent about it. Does that make sense? It pisses me off more so that someone could just be here and have to hide themselves and their shitty views. I'd say: grow some balls, and write a fucking blog post about how you lick the boot. Ah, but I'm getting angry again.
So I'll answer in a second way. This Friday, I am going to be a groomsman in a wedding. It's my honor to do that for one of my oldest pals, and I love this man and I love his soon-to-be wife. It is also almost certain that my friend is going to vote for trump tomorrow.
It's complicated.
Now, I'm 99.99% certain that he's never visited this blog. That's not for lack of trying. I think he'd be a great contributor. I'm not necessarily asking him to make a case for some small-dicked wannabe dictator becoming president again, but I'd be fucking PISSED if my friend was reading this blog after all this time and never cared enough to write that blog post about his beliefs.
If that was the case—it's not with him, since he's not here, but if it was—I'd conclude that he was Paul Ryan-levels of dense by reading and not comprehending how his views don't fit here, OR that he was choosing to insult me by not giving me a chance to respond to his views by remaining silent.
I seriously cannot write about this shit without getting upset. I'm sorry. I know I am preaching to the choir with a lot of it. I know I swore to myself I wouldn't write about politics on the blog this week and yet here I am, basically writing blog posts in the comment section.
But at a certain point, I think asking a question like "Well what if a conservative liked the Hold Steady?" is the same as "Well what if we found aliens on Mars?" It's a great question. Show me proof that it's happening, and then I'll deal with it.
I was trying to find proof, I guess. No feedback so far beyond some very kind and wise and patient feedback from my internet pal Zach, so we'll see.
This is very helpful. It's not that these people wouldn't enjoy YSC, but that it's their lurker presence in the face of ideology contrary to what they believe it that is most difficult for you to understand and accept. Very understandable. Thanks!
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