Last Thursday, I was given the opportunity to attend a regional conference to provide new information and methods related to my profession. The conference was actually in Memphis, so it was really convenient for me. Several other people came from the Memphis area, as well as several from Alabama, Arkansas, and Mississippi.
Of course one of the main things that is always pushed at any sort of conference is networking. So I was putting forth some effort to be less of an introvert and talk to people.
After having several conversations throughout the day with various people, an older man, whom I had not spoken with yet, came up to me and struck up a conversation.
"I heard you tell someone earlier that you went to Murray State University."
"Yes, sir." I replied "I work at the University of Memphis now, though."
"Murray State.... that's Kentucky, right?"
His face immediately adopted a disgusted look, and said, "So, you voted for Trump." Let me make it clear at this moment, that this was not a question, but rather a statement.
"...Kentucky's 8 electoral votes went to Trump, yes." The conversation fizzled out and luckily the next presentation started.
This conversation (or lack there of) made me furious, and here's why:
1. Maybe its just because I was brought up with (Kentucky) manners, but isn't it rude to ask someone you just met who they voted for? To be clear, politics had not been brought up in my rhetoric the entire day, nor would I even want to talk about politics with people I've just met.
2. Yes, "Kentucky voted for Trump." After this incident, I couldn't help but to look up the actual election results and statistics. Trump got 63% of Kentucky's popular vote, winning their 8 electoral college votes.
But listen here, sir, TENNESSEE voted for Trump too. 61% of Tennesseans voted for Trump, winning the state's 11 electoral college votes.... What's the point in throwing shade at me about where you think I voted, when your state did the exact same thing.
3. Here's a question, if I work at the University of MEMPHIS, is it even possible for me to have contributed to Kentucky's voting pool?.... Absolutely not. Obviously, I'm a resident of Tennessee, and my votes counted with the rest of Tennessee's ballots.
4. Even though Kentucky and Tennessee (and many other states) had a majority of Trump voters, they still had Hillary voters! Just like California had majority of Hillary voters, but 33% voted for Trump. Every state will always cast votes for each candidate or issue, but the majority wins. This is called democracy...
5. Lastly, and most importantly, we, as Americans, have got to stop assuming things about one another. All this man knew is that I grew up in Kentucky. He assumed (for some reason) that I still live there. He assumed I voted with my state's majority. He assumed I agree with my state's majority winner on every issue. Although he didn't say a word, I could see in his face that he assumed a lot about me.
This election has widened the gap between the two most prominent opposing sides. I'm getting sick and tired of hearing that all people who voted for Donald Trump are racist, sexist, rednecks. I'm also getting sick and tired of hearing that all people who voted for Hillary Clinton are Christian-hating, baby-killing, tree-huggers. Those people DO exist, I'm not denying that. In the past few weeks, I have seen some posts and heard some stories from both sides that make me furious. Things that make me feel nauseous. Things that make me embarrassed that I live in a country where people are so vile.
But this behavior is not the majority! People voted for their candidate for their own personal reasons and its not your place to assume that they fall into the 1% of the hate.
I'm not insinuating that the supporters of Hillary Clinton should just bow down to Donald Trump and accept everything he says as right and true. But I am asking us all to show a little respect to one another. Don't assume lies about anyone but let individuals show you their true colors, instead of assuming that someone is as bad as the worst of us.
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