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My Post-Election Thoughts

2016-11-09 · letter vlog · John · 3:40 · watch on YouTube

Topic: US politics & society (also: Philosophy & meaning) · mode: Personal essay · tags: timely hook, heavy topic

The day after Donald Trump won the 2016 US presidential election, John acknowledges the fear his attacks caused, apologizes for hateful discourse and sealed echo chambers (Nerdfighteria included), and argues that citizens must hold leaders answerable and that hope, the founding emotion of our species, is not naive.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — The planned warehouse video is replaced; Clinton won more votes but Trump won the Electoral College; the pain of being attacked for who you are

  • ★ John says a video from the DFTBA.com warehouse was planned for today, but he decided to make one instead. — 00:00:00 · DFTBA Records
  • ★★ John says more Americans appear to have voted for Hillary Clinton than Donald Trump, but Trump won most Electoral College votes and is president-elect. (hedged) — 00:00:05 · Donald Trump, United States presidential election
  • ★★ John says most, not all, of his viewers wanted Hillary Clinton to win, as he did, and for many the result is devastating. — 00:00:16
  • ★★★ John thinks the result is so hard partly because Trump attacked not what opponents believe but who they are (race, gender, religion); being called dangerous or less than by a president-elect is painful, scary and real. (hedged) — 00:00:25 · Donald Trump

00:00:47 — John's apology for hateful discourse and sealed echo chambers; different data sets; Nerdfighteria's 4% Trump census figure; the social internet

  • ★★★ John apologizes that we let political discourse become so hateful and echo chambers so sealed that each side finds the other's choice of candidate unfathomable. — 00:00:47 · Donald Trump
  • ★★ John says he spoke with hundreds of undecided voters before the election and was struck that, with shared concerns (environment, health care, taxes), they worked from completely different data sets. — 00:01:03
  • ★★ John says Nerdfighteria is also an echo chamber: just 4% of Nerdfighters who filled out this year's (2016) census said they would vote for Donald Trump. — 00:01:17 · Nerdfighteria, Donald Trump
  • ★★ John says he doesn't know how to make the community more inclusive without opening it up to cruelty and hatred. (unsure) — 00:01:24 · Nerdfighteria
  • ★★★ John says we must get better at listening to and challenging each other constructively and generously, but worries the very architecture of the social internet might make that impossible. (hedged) — 00:01:29

00:01:38 — Feeling lost; quotes from Saladin Ahmed, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Kamala Harris; a tough time ahead; the nation is bigger than its leaders; change happens beyond election night

  • ★★ John says he honestly feels lost and is looking to the community for guidance and clarity, as he has for almost a decade. — 00:01:38 · Nerdfighteria
  • ★★ Saladin Ahmed (quoted): Saladin Ahmed, quoted by John: it is our job to fight those in power and stick up for the powerless, whoever is president. — 00:01:46
  • ★★ Lin-Manuel Miranda (quoted): Lin-Manuel Miranda, quoted by John: he loves this country and there is more work to do than ever. — 00:01:53
  • ★★ Kamala Harris (quoted): Kamala Harris, quoted by John: this is a time to fight for who we are. — 00:01:57
  • ★★ John thinks this will be a tough time in US history, though he hopes it won't be. (hedged) — 00:02:01 · United States
  • ★★★ John holds that the nation must be bigger than its leaders, who must answer to the people, so citizens must make sure government gives all equal protection, protects rights and keeps policy sound. (hedged) — 00:02:05 · United States
  • ★★★ John says change doesn't only happen on election night or in the Oval Office; it is up to us to find where our skills meet the world's needs and do the hard work of making life better, and on that he is hopeful. — 00:02:27

00:02:42 — Orin's birth as an act of hope; an America made better by hopeful people; hope as the founding emotion of our species; Emily Dickinson

  • ★★ John says his nephew Orin was born ten days ago (30 October 2016); his parents bringing him into the world was an act of hope, which heartens John and was not misguided. — 00:02:42 · Orin Green
  • ★★★ John says Orin was born into a better America than his grandparents', made better by people whose hope, from Alabama restaurant counters to Normandy's beaches, held the line in far darker times. — 00:02:53 · Orin Green, United States, progress, hope

  • ★★★ John says hope is not idealistic or silly but the founding emotion of our species. (hedged) — 00:03:12 · hope

    “I think it’s the founding emotion of our species.”

  • ★★ John says it is not naive to hope we can bend the arc of American history toward justice, because our ancestors did so in the face of unimaginable difficulty. — 00:03:16 · hope, United States

  • ★★ John closes by quoting 'the great American poet of the human heart' (Emily Dickinson): hope is the thing with feathers that never stops at all. — 00:03:25 · hope, United States

    “Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul”

In the description and comments

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Donald Trump · echo chamber · hope · United States presidential election

Also: People: Emily Dickinson · Hillary Clinton · Kamala Harris · Lin-Manuel Miranda · Orin Green · Saladin Ahmed

Projects: DFTBA Records · Nerdfighteria Census

Works: "Hope" is the thing with feathers

Organizations: United States Electoral College

Concepts: political polarization · progress

Places: Alabama · United States

Events: Normandy landings

Only in the description or credits: Ilene Cooper · Marie (person, mentioned from 2016) · Rosianna Halse Rojas · Sarah Urist Green

Also centred on echo chamber: Are We Making Things Worse? · Does the truth still matter?

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