I started this Steps to Maintain Sanity during my short foray into TikTok and I think I’ll bring it back because I believe it’s helpful advice and also, I need to remind myself that I don’t need to go down so many roads that lead to annoyance and frustration.
The first step is a big one: Avoid any conversations that hinge on political slogan and catchphrases. If someone’s arguing over “Woke”, “MAGA”, “DEI”, "BLM”, etc. It should be taken as a sign to just bow out of the convo.
What reminded me of this was Ava DuVernay’s film “Origin” based on Isabel Wilkerson’s book “Caste”. In the movie, there’s a line from Isabel (played by the amazing Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor), “We call everything racism. What does it even mean anymore? It's the default.”
That’s how I feel with most hot button phrases in politics. When we start using catchphrases, we’re basically using shorthand but it’s a shorthand that overwhelms the actual incident that was supposed to be discussed. It’s now commonplace for someone on the Right to screw up and when called out, they blame “Wokeness”. It’s a great way to shift the focus away from what they actually did and onto a larger hot button issue. Similarly, Isabel Wilkerson’s point re: racism was that maybe we are so quick to label things as racist that we are missing a deeper root cause of issues. (I highly recommend checking out “Origin”.)
I’ve seen some on the Left quick to throw out “MAGA” or “racist” when anyone attempts to discuss immigration, but that strikes me as unfair and unhelpful. As we learned with the recent truckers convoy to the border, a lot of people are simply uninformed about what is happening. Reports were that members of the trucker convoy expected to see a flood of people crossing the border and long lines of people trying to get in and what they got was just empty plains of Texas.
I asked this question back when Trump was drumming up support for his border wall but why have we never gotten a detailed map of the border and a breakdown of the crossings? For such a major issue, it’s depressing to me that there’s so little actual information that’s been presented to the public. (Maybe it has and I missed it but I have never been able to find this.) I feel like we need a return of Dragnet’s Joe Friday; whenever politicians start grandstanding and throwing out catchphrases or scare tactics, we need to come back with a, “Just the facts.”
But there’s also a reflective element to this step. I have to question myself whenever I start to chime in on a subject. Do I really know what I’m talking about? Am I adding to the conversation or just repeating a fairly general talking point? Sometimes the noise that’s leading to our frustrations is our own voice!
It’s easy to give up on conversations on hot topics (especially on the internet) but I do still believe that there are some positive interactions out there and moments of enlightenment but it’s very easy to get caught up in chatter that is nothing but empty calories that fuel annoyance. Conversations that have zero upside besides killing time, which isn’t even an upside since I should use my waking hours on something productive instead of killing time.
Anyway, my advice is that whenever someone uses a political hot button phrase, it’s a sign to try to refocus the conversation back onto the actual incident or idea that is being discussed. If the person keeps retreating back to the catchphrase, then cut bait. Don’t bother getting into it any deeper. Don’t try to get the last word. Just save your sanity and move on.