51吃瓜

Why your聽voice matters beyond聽the US election.

As the series finale of America comes to an end, I鈥檇 like to do one thing鈥攁nd that is to thank Donald Trump. He has challenged everything that I hold dear and worthy, and has attacked every angle that makes up the prism of my worldview. By doing so, he has managed to shape all the thoughts, feelings and ideas that have been fermenting in me my whole life into a political ethos by making it clear that you cannot take anything for granted.

I thought we lived in a better world. I thought that things like racism, xenophobia, sexism, avarice and impunity for them all were slowly beginning to give way to the better angels of our nature. Without being naive, I felt there was a subtle but palpable change in society toward more tolerance, acceptance and justice. I thought we were part of something together.

What Trump has demonstrated is that we can never take our rights and achievements as a given. How swiftly decades of progress can be swept away, with a stroke of a pen, a series of angry tweets or a perpetrated lie. How important it is to speak up and stand up for what you believe in and fight to change stubborn minds.

Because to me things like equal rights before the law鈥攂e it women鈥檚, minority, reproductive, gay, disabled people’s, employment, children鈥檚, animals鈥攈ave become inalienable. I do not wish to live in a society where it is acceptable to treat people like they are worth less than others based on the origin of their birth or their religion or sexual orientation. I will not accept blatant sexual assault being dismissed as 鈥渓ocker-room talk,鈥� and I am tired of the sexist sniggering whenever it鈥檚 addressed.

Yes, I am a woman, and no, I don鈥檛 hate men. I am just universally fed up.

I see first-hand what the Brexit vote has unleashed in Britain鈥攖he inspiration felt by racists and xenophobes and their demagogues. And I know that a Trump victory will empower the far right across Europe preying on the fear and insecurity because, whether you like it or not, what happens in America reverberates in the world鈥檚 echo chamber.

And that is why this vote is a choice between good and evil. And that is why I am grateful to Donald Trump for making all this painfully clear to me. For making me understand that what I do in my personal and professional life on a daily basis matters, because how I choose to live my life matters鈥攁nd not just to me. And we all bear that responsibility.

Many a famous quote to this effect has been uttered by men in what we say were much more trying and troubled times. 鈥淏ut in the whole world there was no help. Society was terrible because it was insane,鈥� so D.H. Lawrence.

You and I make up this society, and I now know that our voices matter.

I cannot vote in the US election. But if I could, #ImWithHer. Bigly time.

The views expressed in this article are the author鈥檚 own and do not necessarily reflect 51吃瓜鈥檚 editorial policy.

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