7 days ago
"My Father Told Me Empathy Is Just A Buzzword": People Are Sharing The Moments They Realized "We're Not Separated By Politics, We're Separated By Reality"
Warning: This post discusses anti-trans bias.
If you think the world feels so divided now, you're not alone. Recently, Reddit user Musicferret asked people to share examples of situations where they thought, "We're not separated by politics. We're separated by reality."
People had A LOT to say — the post had over 1,400 comments! Here are some of the best and most interesting replies:
1."Canadian here. I visited the US recently and took an Uber. I told the driver that I'm from Canada, and he asked me how we're taking the 51st state stuff. I said that Canadians are mad about it. He told me I'm wrong because some folks in Alberta support it and would separate."
"I ended the conversation by saying that Texas has a bigger chance of seceding from the US than Alberta leaving Canada, and maybe he's not getting the full story."
—judgingyouquietly
Related:
2."My father told me that empathy is just a buzzword for my generation."
—Bananarine
3."I was doing bedside nursing during the pandemic. So many people who'd never set foot inside a hospital told me COVID was a hoax."
—synthetic_aesthetic
4."In the late 1990s, I was clear to a conservative friend that I think Bill Clinton is a mostly terrible human, and I just voted for him because he did things politically that I liked. My conservative friend said she couldn't get past the sleaze. Now? She's skeptical that Trump has ever cheated on a spouse and is skeptical that he's even racist."
—KetosisCat
5."My mom said she wondered if there really was a war in Ukraine because 'you don't see any videos, just some pictures.' Like, Mom, there are a lot of videos, you're just not seeing them because of the websites you're on."
—Afalstein
6."The whole anti-vaccine movement in the global West, especially for diseases like measles. I grew up in a developing world country, where everyone — rich, poor, and destitute — clamored to get their kids vaccinated. Then I moved to Canada and heard parents say they won't get the measles vaccine for their kids while we're in the middle of an outbreak. Their stupidity is endangering the lives of their children."
—Obscure_Occultist
7."The whole United Healthcare CEO assassination showed a clear divide between the upper and lower classes. No matter the politics, the rich couldn't fathom why the middle and lower classes reacted the way we did. The media (controlled by the rich) was saying one thing; meanwhile, social media (where the lower classes are given a platform) was saying something else. That time felt like I was in a dystopian novel."
—hideyohuzbandz
Related:
8."I'm trans, and most of my friends are trans. We get together and laugh and cry and have good times and bad. Some of us want to settle down with a house, wife, and kids. Others are extremely ambitious with their art and careers. But they're all good people. Then you speak to someone who's anti-trans, and they claim we're all groomers, rapists, pedophiles, mentally ill, mutilated, radicalized monsters. We live in completely separate realities, but you can't convince these people of our humanity."
—Faye-Lockwood
9."A couple of years ago, my wife and I went to California with some other people. One of those people had a very specific and negative opinion of California that came out every once in a while. We were on the boardwalk enjoying a beautiful day and taking in the art, but that guy was adamant about California's 'bums and crime' problem, even though we were perfectly fine. It was a very weird situation just trying (and failing) to get him to look around and see reality."
—MrFunktasticc
10."The ability to drink safe milk products."
—Antiolant
11."My dad maintains that there are no known incidents in all of American history of any Republican politician ever telling a lie or failing to keep a campaign promise — except when they were forced to by a dirty liberal."
—CliftonForce
Related:
12."My boss laughed when I said masks help you to avoid spreading COVID."
—SuperStingray
13."The last time I communicated with my dad, he was subscribed to the idea that the No Kings protestors were all paid."
—OrochiKarnov
14."I recently had a conversation with my dad about the flooding in Texas. He said, 'I don't understand how something like that could happen. Isn't the whole point of the weather service to warn people ahead of time? How did they miss something like that?' I replied, 'It's probably because Trump severely cut their budget and fired a ton of people.' He responded, 'I should have known you'd make this political.'"
—despotic_wastebasket
15."When Elon Musk did a 'Nazi-like salute' during Trump's inauguration, some of my friends started making excuses for him. That's when I left my friend group."
—Slarg232
16."My father told me that my sisters and I were radicalized by going to college."
—prospectheightsmobro
17."My dad believes that UFOs are real, but not aliens. He says UFOs are metaphysical evidence of demons interacting with our plane of existence. He learned this on YouTube. And yes, he voted for Trump three times."
—himbologic
18."Climate change. There is an overwhelming amount of evidence that climate change is real and driven by human actions. Differing opinions about how we should handle climate change can be political, but denying that climate change exists in the face of all the evidence is delusion."
—Qel_Hoth
Related:
19."One of my coworkers falsely believes that EMF (electric and magnetic fields) waves cause cancer."
—ToKeepAndToHoldForev
20."I once had a conversation with Republicans who sincerely believed that schools let kids identify as cats and have litter boxes in classrooms for them. This is fake. It never happened. But they genuinely believe it is actively still happening."
—StragglingShadow
Do you have a similar story to share? Drop in in the comments, or if you'd rather remain anonymous, fill out the form below. Your response could be featured in an upcoming BuzzFeed post.
H/T r/AskReddit
Some replies have been edited for length and clarity.
Peer-support services are available at the Trans Lifeline. You can call the hotline at 1-877-565-8860.
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