Why Vote Trump 2020 - Follow Up
“Whatever you do, don’t talk about politics, religion, or guns!”
That was the advice I was given by many (Americans and Australians) amidst our move to Memphis in the US. They knew the topics were extremely divisive and would only cause heated discussions.
“Well, I think I’ll just ignore that” I thought to myself after living here for a year, because how do you really get to know a ‘culture’ unless you discuss the deeper issues? I’m here for an educational time, not a long time, so I’ve decided to throw caution to the wind and delve down into some of the interesting topics that so many of us ‘outsiders’ seek to understand.
Why people vote(d) for President Trump was one of them, and in this follow up to my most recent blog post ‘Why Vote Trump 2020’, I write about some of the feedback I received (or didn’t), I share some of the videos that have since been shared with me to further explain the topic, I briefly discuss ‘media’ and the power they wield over the world, and I share the podcast I was recently a guest on. It’s been an exciting, eventful few weeks!
But first, I wanted to share something from my archives…
During the past week, an old memory surfaced, and it was about debating. Now, I wasn’t on the school debating team – putting myself in front of people, and attempting to make a succinct argument on any given topic, was just not my jam - but I did enjoy watching them. Friday nights was debate night where pubescent senior school kids dressed in their full school uniforms would argue back and forth the merits of any given topic. As was often the case, they would be in need of a time keeper, and since I was just down the hall in the boarding house, I was often called upon to keep time. My strongest memory of these debates was just how ‘great’ they were – they were planned, intelligent, fluent, convincing, respectful, they answered the question, and of course, kept to time! Perhaps this memory came back to me after watching the debacle that was the 1st Presidential debate here in the US where almost none of those attributes were on display.
Maybe this memory also surfaced because of some of the vitriol I’ve seen on social media of late – and I’ve been wondering, what has happened to good old-fashioned debate where we respected each others opinions, articulated informed arguments, and focused on the issues - not on those with an opposing view. I recognise that not everyone fits into this category, but it is undeniable that we’ve seen an increase in division and hatred of late. After watching ‘The Social Dilemma’ recently, and gaining a greater understanding of how the algorithms are skewed to deliver us content based on our bias, and after that 1st Presidential debate, is it any wonder?
Does media have perhaps a little too much power in the world right now?
This could be a worthy blog topic by itself, but it’s interesting to note there is currently a petition taking place in Australia to hold a Royal Commission (public investigation) into media ownership in Australia, started by a former Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd:
“Our democracy depends on diverse sources of reliable, accurate and independent news. But media ownership is becoming more concentrated alongside new business models that encourage deliberately polarising and politically manipulated news. We are especially concerned that Australia’s print media is overwhelmingly controlled by News Corporation, founded by Fox News billionaire Rupert Murdoch, with around two-thirds of daily newspaper readership.” Read further and sign here.
But it’s not just in Australia, Murdoch’s reach is global, including the US and UK. To gain a greater understanding of just how influential NewsCorp is, see this article How Rupert Murdoch Became A Media Tycoon, with these key takeaways:
A native of Australia and a naturalized U.S. citizen, Rupert Murdoch began building his media empire in 1952 when he inherited the family newspaper company.
Murdoch is credited for creating the modern tabloid, encouraging his newspapers to publish human interest stories focused on controversy, crime, and scandals.
Murdoch's media empire includes Fox News, Fox Sports, the Fox Network, The Wall Street Journal, and HarperCollins.
In March 2019, Murdoch sold the majority of 21st Century Fox's entertainment assets to the Walt Disney Company for $71.3 billion.
It also owns The Times, The Sunday Times and The Sun in the UK.
That’s a lot of influence and power just in those three countries!
For more information on his empire, see How Rupert Murdoch turned a small Australian newspaper into a global media empire — and built a family dynasty worth $17 billion
I also discovered this interesting 10 minute YouTube video below on the five companies that control all US Media, including Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation. It’s been produced by Second Thought, a YouTube channel devoted to education & analysis of current affairs. I haven’t done any personal fact-checking, but the videos seem credible, albeit from a leftist perspective. Watch and make up your own mind. I thought it was was pretty shocking:
So, speaking of media and debating, what type of feedback did I get on my last blog post?
Well, most of it was positive – that I know of! I’ve worked out that the ‘Southern way’ means that folks down this way are VERY polite. The term ‘Southern Hospitality’, as the article These are the 6 Qualities that Really Define Southern Hospitality writes, encompass the qualities of politeness, good home cooking, kindness, helpfulness, charm, and charity - to which I would agree, based on the people I have met here.
I enjoyed reading this blog post Southern Politeness at its Best and Worst by Southern blogger Danielle Easley , as it summed up nicely what I have also discovered in my time here:
“Southerners rarely call someone out in front of others, in part going back to the respect aspect of our culture; additionally, we generally want to avoid embarrassing someone and avoid causing conflict in front of “company” or a crowd. More typically we will hold off on giving someone negative feedback until we can get that person one-on-one. One of the biggest challenges with navigating life to avoid disrespect and embarrassment may mean those raised in the South simply avoid conflict altogether.”
So will I ever really know what the locals thought of my blog post? Who knows? But really, is it even any of my business? Perhaps not…
There are a couple of things I do want to share though. The first is a 26 min video of Catholic Father Ed Meeks, explaining in a recent homily ‘how your vote should align with Church teachings’ which has had over 2 million views globally. It’s been shared with me by a US Catholic Trump supporter, as well as an Australian Catholic (that isn’t a huge fan of Trump). You can read the full transcript here. He describes why he thinks America is ‘staring into the abyss’, why you should ‘think with the Church’, what a Catholics ‘non-negotiable values’ are, and he explains the ‘5 things everyone should know about Catholic Joe Biden’. He begins by saying it is not his place to tell you how you must vote, but then goes on to explain why you shouldn’t vote for Joe Biden.
I’m not interested in discussing the content of the video - you can do that for yourself and make up your own mind, or read the countless articles online about this homily. Everyone has their own personal opinion and I respect that. What I am intrigued with though, is that this is allowed to happen. Father Meeks talk seems to err very closely with what the IRS calls political campaigning, although I am pretty sure due diligence has been done and it’s probably just within the rules. This is what the IRS say on Charities, Churches and Politics:
‘Currently, the law prohibits political campaign activity by charities and churches by defining a 501(c)(3) organization as one "which does not participate in, or intervene in (including the publishing or distributing of statements), any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office."‘
And in the Political Activity and Lobbying Guidelines for Catholic Organizations - The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, it states:
“A Catholic organization may not directly or indirectly make any statement, in any medium, to endorse, support, or oppose any candidate for public office, political party or PAC.”
But I guess there are loopholes…
How difficult it must be for some US Catholics to decide who to vote for when Pope Francis writes this: (from Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship - A Call to Political Responsibility from the Catholic Bishops of the United States)
"The call to holiness, requires a “firm and passionate” defense of “the innocent unborn.” “Equally sacred,” he further states, are “the lives of the poor, those already born, the destitute, the abandoned and the underprivileged, the vulnerable infirm and elderly exposed to covert euthanasia, the victims of human trafficking, new forms of slavery, and every form of rejection.”
The Catholic vote was split approximately 50/50 in the 2016 election. It will be interesting to see if it is similar in 2020.
The other video I wanted to share was one that was brought to my attention by another US Catholic. It summarizes ‘why your vote for President might not impact abortion the way you think’ and I certainly found it very educational. I know it’s a very complicated issue, but it backs up what I wrote in my previous post where I quoted an article that wrote “There has been a majority of Republican-appointed justices on the Supreme Court for 49 of the last 50 years. And yet abortion is still legal.” Here’s the summary of the video:
“Is abortion the one issue that should determine how Christians vote?
In this insane election year, Christians are debating a whole host of issues. The character of the president. Immigration. Race. The environment. The police. COVID-19. But in all these debates, one issue arises that seems to trump them all: Abortion. And there is one solution to abortion: Overturning Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in 1973. Without Roe, abortion would still be illegal. Problem solved.
Except the reality is much more complicated than that. Starting with the fact that Roe didn’t make abortion legal, and overturning Roe wouldn’t make abortion illegal. Throw in the fact that the abortion rate in 1972 - before Roe - was actually HIGHER than it is today, and things get really confusing. Our friend David French, a pro-life civil liberties attorney, recently wrote about the reality of politics and abortion in America today. When Holy Post co-host Skye Jethani echoed French’s point of view on Twitter, people asked if we could summarize it with a video.
So we did.
This is a tough topic. You may disagree with David and Skye. And that’s okay. We just think it’s a conversation worth having.”
The following from this HolyPost article is also interesting:
“David French shows that abortions have dropped during every administration—whether the president has been pro-life or pro-choice—for the last 40 years. And more pro-life laws and regulations were passed during the Obama administration than any other. French does not give credit to Obama, but to local and state efforts by pro-life activists and lawmakers who between 2011-2014 have dramatically lowered the number of abortions. French also shows that the abortion rate is now lower than it was before Roe v Wade, and simply reversing that ruling via the Supreme Court is not the silver bullet solution many assume it to be.”
It’s certainly a hot topic - and not one that I want to get into a debate about - but I just wanted to show a tiny fraction of the conversation to give a little more insight into the topic.
With just six days of voting left, the whole world awaits the result of what many are calling ‘the most important US election ever’. Hopefully these past two blog posts have given some insight to ‘outsiders’ as to why so many will ‘vote Trump in 2020’. Who will prevail?
And finally, something on a lighter note….
I’M PUBLISHED…. well kind of!!
I wanted to share my first ‘published’ anything (well, besides that letter I wrote to Dolly magazine when I was 13 about the ‘pitfalls of being tall’ that I wrote about here). I mentioned a couple of posts ago that I recently met the publisher of Storyboard Memphis, Mark Fleischer, and that I was just a tad excited that a Publisher had read my blog posts! Mark and I sat down to discuss my blog, my impressions of Memphis and America, and the current US President; which he recorded for the StoryBoard Memphis Podcast and a local radio station. This is not very humble of me (!), but here’s his introduction and link to the podcast in case you’re interested:
October 16 - 18, 2020
Your StoryBoard Weekend - From your community connections at StoryBoardMemphis.org
EDITOR'S NOTE
Have we forgotten how to listen?
"When you approach something with some level of curiosity, you're going to listen. You are really going to listen - and I feel like what we're so missing in this country right now is that we've forgotten to listen to each other."
I made those comments this week when I sat down for a StoryBoard 30 interview with Christina Day. Christina is a photographer, a writer, a wife and a mother. And, she's from Australia, now two years into life in Memphis and the United States.
To her utmost credit, she approaches her blog and her life here in States with that sense of openness and curiosity that I commented on. It's refreshing. And surrounded by the noise and vitriol that is the news and social media, her openness is an important reminder to all of us to stop for a moment, many moments, and truly listen.
As we approach the upcoming election, I urge each of you to pay a listen to this engaging and honest conversation about how a part of the world sees, and sadly even, pities America.
~Mark Fleischer, Publisher
CLICK HERE FOR THE LINK TO THE PODCAST
I realised this week, that the main reason I was so chuffed to be invited in to chat with Mark, was that so much I have written in my blog has been straight from my heart. I haven’t been trying to sell anything, or win anyone’s approval, or get paid for anything I’ve written. It’s been pure creative self-expression, or educational learning that has come from my own curiosity, and that feels pretty good. It’s really nice to get noticed for something you’re doing for which you don’t expect anything in return - well, comments and likes are always nice, ha!
Whilst ‘Why Vote Trump 2020’ was by far my most widely read post (I guess Trump sells), it’s been quite emotional at times delving down into the layers that is this complex issue. I’ve certainly enjoyed educating myself more on American politics, but I’m excited about moving onto the next topic. I’ve now touched on politics and religion in my posts, perhaps it’s time to tackle guns next! (although maybe some photography in between is needed!)
My final thought, and something I’ve come to realise even more strongly in 2020 is that ‘truth’ is very personal – and is based on how we’ve been brought up, our societal conditions, church teachings, our peers, our political allegiance, and of course the media. Until we can unravel from those layers of conditioning and question everything we’ve been told, how do we know the truth is really our own? Something to ponder…