Half?!? (Not really)
(Pandemic Diary - day 255)
From my journal: 8 November 2020 (Sunday)
The thought that almost half of our fellow Americans voted for this guy is deeply disturbing and makes you question the nature of our nation. If you’re walking down the street with “half” in your head, you might find yourself looking at every face and wondering which of them are the “bad people”.
But do some rough math…
Trump got roughly 74 million votes. The US population is roughly 331 million. Only a bit more than 22% of us voted for him.
A fifth is better than half, but it’s still discouraging, right?
We’re not done.
Some of them are uninformed
What portion of those 74 million were engaged enough to know and understand what it was they were actually voting for?
That’s the point Pete Buttigieg makes about meeting people where they are (even if that means doing interviews on Fox). If they only know what Fox News has told them, then their decision isn’t an informed one, and you can’t draw the conclusion that they’re racist or filled with hate or whatever else would be implied if their vote came from a fully-informed and conscious decision.
“Uninformed” (or misinformed) does not equal “bad person”.
Some of them are pragmatic
Then also take out the pragmatic people who detested almost everything about Trump, but saw him as a means to an end, like packing the court with judges they presume will respond the way they want on issues that are more important to them than the demeanor or behavior of the president.
It’s easy to demonize these people, but I can’t honestly say I’m certain I’d vote against an otherwise objectionable and despicable person, if I knew they’d help us win environmental battles (for example).
“Pragmatic” does not equal “bad person”.
Some of them are sports fans
I think you should also take out the people who aligned with Trump in the same way they align with a football team. Fans often choose their team not on the merits, but on geography and peer pressure (if you’re from western PA, you’re a Steeler fan, period). I had the thought that the flavor of this election might have been mellower if the NFL and NCAA were in regular mode, that many Trumpsters were redirected football fans who just have to get carried away about something.
“Superficially-involved sports fan” does not equal “bad person”.
These are explanations, not excuses
This isn’t meant to excuse ignorance or pragmatism or apathy. Those are weaknesses, and they often lead to bad outcomes, but they don’t imply bad intent, and they don’t make you a bad person.
So the point is that, as you walk down that metaphorical street looking at faces, as you go through your life interacting with your fellow Americans, you’re much less likely than you might think to encounter a “bad person” — there truly aren’t that many of them out there.
I find this at least mildly reassuring.