Conservative America, we need to understand the horror

Ok conservative America. I did a post on liberal America, and how they need to understand conservatives better. Now it is your turn. I want to talk about why liberal America is so horrified by Donald Trump (even more than you probably are, even if you were #NeverTrump like me). 

Just like my last post, my goal is to promote understanding, not to start another argument. We all need to understand one another better, so we can calm down and work together. You need to understand why Donald Trump is pretty much the opposite of everything liberal America holds sacred. He is the opposite, in fact, of what liberals love about America. This is why there are protests in the streets, calls for "Calexit" and the like. There is no need for a media conspiracy to stir up these protests--to them, the idea of Donald Trump really is that bad.

I grew up in liberal America. The Seattle area is pretty much the bluest of blue spots in the country. It is a relatively diverse, affluent place. It is also a fairly safe and stable place. It is a respectful place. I loved my school experience in liberal America. Teachers and students were very kind and respectful. The one student who ever bullied me was expeditiously expelled. I almost always felt safe at school emotionally and physically, and pretty safe in the community as well, even though as a Mormon I was a bit of an oddball. I never saw a single fight in all of my K-12 years, and I only saw drug abuse once (although I'm sure there was more going on out of my view).

Respect for the "other" holds liberal America together. Look at the map of the blue states, and you will find that the most diverse areas are liberal. Conservative areas, on the other hand, are relatively homogeneous. In conservative areas, you already have so much in common with those around you that it is not quite as critical to create safe spaces for the "other." Common culture holds most conservative areas together. But in liberal areas, respect for the "other" IS the culture. It is the holy grail, and the holy scripture. It is the greatest civic value and the essence of what it means to be American.

What you perceive as excessive political correctness, to liberal America, is the greatest virtue. Words matter in liberal America. Someone who spoke like Donald Trump would have been expelled from high school in liberal America one hundred times over. Liberal America cares about people's emotions, and how words affect them. They value empathy over toughness. They are sensitive to bullying, whether through words or actions, and consider it to be a vile offense.

Because there are so many diverse groups of people trying to fit in in liberal America, sometimes with many challenges, they are very sensitive to anything that even comes close to targeting a group of people. Such ideas, in liberal America, tear at the fabric of society itself. So when Donald Trump calls for things like surveiling Muslim neighborhoods, or seems to imply that most Mexicans who cross the border illegally are criminals, he does something very un-American. When he ignores the support of white supremacists, he pretty much is an accomplice to a hate crime. While you may think Hillary should be jailed over her emails, liberals may think Trump should be jailed for inciting hate crimes. You may think that words don't matter so much, but liberals are very sensitive to the fact that words often lead to perceptions which lead to actions.

Liberal America also values sophistication over "common sense." Liberal America is more urban and complex, and requires more complex solutions to problems. Donald Trump's ideas, such as building a wall on the border, or "bombing the shit out of ISIS," are so simplistic as to be offensive to liberal America. In liberal America, disaster strikes when one pushes through simplistic solutions without considering all the myriad implications. Someone's rights are always violated if the solution isn't sophisticated. 

You may think that Trump will make his ideas more sophisticated before he implements them, but liberal America isn't so sure, because they are used to politicians who acknowledge the need for sophistication. Donald Trump, to them, seems to play on people's jealousy of the educated class by offering them overly simple, anti-intellectual solutions that will seriously damage our country and violate many people's rights.

Now, I know that a good chunk of conservative America didn't like Trump that much either. But for those of you who did end up choosing him over Hillary, please try to understand your friends who feel like they are about to be transported to a different country entirely. Previous Republican presidents, although disliked in liberal America, were much more palatable.

Photo Credit: By Fibonacci Blue [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons