2008 is the only US election I was in America for. It was two months into my first semester at Vassar, a whirlwind of new – a new place, new friends, and an unfamiliar country. The sheer volume and novelty of all that was happening around me has turned the majority of those early days into a blur. But November 4, 2008 is a day I still remember distinctly.
Vassar, with its amazing open-mindedness and liberal mindset, was such a special place from which to witness the elections. I sat with a large group, first in the common room of my dorm and then in one of the larger open spaces on campus, fervently clustered around the big-screen television that had been set up for the event. A quietly tense atmosphere slowly led to audible sighs of relief as states turned blue, and finally, emphatic cheers as Obama was declared the president-elect. Celebrations continued late into the night and spilled into the next few days. The one moment I remember distinctly among all of them is my roommate at the time stating with quiet but fierce pride that her county in Virginia, historically Republican, voted blue.
It was such a wonderful time to be at Vassar. The atmosphere was one of utter jubilation along with pride, as people discussed the historical significance of what had occurred that night. What has taken place now in stark and disturbing contrast to that night, as a country, and the world at large, moved several steps backward with bigotry’s victory over liberalism.
Of course, this isn’t the first win for the right wing in recent history, or even the first holy shit, no one saw that coming moment of 2016. We have been seeing it in India for the past few years as the Hindutva ideology and its practice has only grown stronger and bolder. We saw it only a few months back, with Brexit. We are seeing it with the growth of right-wing parties and leaders across Europe, most notably Le Pen in France, whose rise to power is now seeming increasingly possible.
The ideologies that these groups stand for and the viewpoints they espouse are some of the most despicable that we, as a race, can believe in. Whether it is misogyny, racism, Islamophobia, or homophobia, these ideologies stem from a complete rejection of the Other, and a refusal to accept that they are entitled to the same rights, treatment, or basic respect as anyone else. It is humanity at its cruellest and its ugliest.
And yet, these events happen. The extreme right wing succeeds. And every time it happens, we are surprised. Every time it happens, we ask: how? We didn’t expect that. We didn’t see that coming.
Today, I can’t help but reflect on my Vassar days. Vassar was always a safe space, where it was acceptable, rather, celebrated, to be of any race, religion or sexual orientation. A running joke was that it only wasn’t acceptable to be of any political affiliation. Vassar, like a lot of liberal arts college, was staunchly liberal, almost unrealistically so. It was a den of political correctness, of political awareness, of blissful openness. Of questioning close-minded statements, of rallying against what we felt was incorrect. It was a place where you could wear anything you wanted, where walking across the quad in just a towel didn’t cause anyone to bat an eyelid. It was a place where my friends and I joked that our friend group had a token white friend. But unfortunately, it was also a bubble. It was a wonderfully unique, but thoroughly unrealistic, bubble, utterly unrepresentative of the real world.
I think of Vassar as a more extreme version of the environment I have continued to exist in afterward, one where I am surrounded predominantly by people whose views are extremely similar to mine. Whether it is my family and upbringing, the workplace, or my friends, everyone around me shares the liberal viewpoint that I have almost taken for granted. Even the news sites I seek out or my Facebook feed further reinforce those very beliefs. Intolerance has always met with the same disgust or anger, never support. Not in my circles.
The days leading up to this election were spent in a similar echo chamber. My Facebook news feed was full of positive encouragement, urging people to go out there and vote for her. News articles discussed how a Clinton victory was all but guaranteed or the latest eminent personality that had spoken vocally in favour of Clinton and denounced Trump. Even today, my feed is full of anger, sadness, fear, and now, positive statements to spread love, keep fighting, and not lose hope. To be surrounded by such an atmosphere and such people, while a wonderful validation and source of pride, continues to be deceptive. It blindsides us.
It allowed me to be blind to a whole other world out there, populated by people who propagate close-mindedness, bigotry, and hate in the basest manner possible. It is only when such disgraceful events take place that we realise what the rest of the world stands for, and are shaken to our very cores.
As we discovered today, and have been seeing over the recent past, a large part of the world believes in the very same values that we strongly condemn. We have been closing our eyes to it, choosing, instead, to engage in meaningful dialogue only within our own circles, staying in our bubbles of liberalism where the opinion of others only reinforce ours instead of challenging them. It is time to open our eyes. It is time to understand what the rest of the world is thinking, and why they are thinking that. Only then can we actually do something about it.
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