The Facebook page my wife and I jointly keep is a place for us to share with family – and advance our political views in an engaging, non-confrontational manner.
However, a few days ago a pro Trump activist seems to have run across some of our postings and he has unleashed a rage of vile hate that is truly outlandish. (I have no idea how he stumbled onto our page.)
While it was tempting to immediately delete his posting and ban him from our page, I noticed that many of our friends were responding to his hate with smart, non-threatening comments. (One friend, however, did take him on and challenged him into the gutter.)
What amazed me is that this individual so blatantly and brashly spews his hate without any consideration, empathy, or concerns. I am sharing some of his comments in this post so we will not forget how militant and dangerous these individuals can get. I remain hopeful – and pray – that one day he will amend.
I am also sharing his comments because – unless someone corrects me – I have never seen an anti-Trump individual be so openly insulting to a specific Trump supporter on Facebook. Maybe that exists; I’ve never seen it. (I am not talking about a token comment that is insulting and degrading in general. I am talking about following another individual and posting endless comments with violent memes and degrading language.)
While this one person is not representative of Trump supporters, it is alarming that he is enabled and complicitly encouraged to do this by Trump and some of his supporters.
Regardless, it is up to us to confront them with love, empathy, and ready to forgive. A beautiful video that captures how to try to do this is Richard Rohr’s conversation on the topic: https://youtu.be/aNYJHucX-aY
Having said that, THIS is what Trump has unleashed. #RESIST
If anyone knows this individual (Thomas Oconnor), please get him help. His last comment referencing his “LICENCED (sic) 9MM SAYS SO” takes this to a different level… He may need to be reported…