Shroud of Morality
By Brittany
The attacks on college-aged conservatives must end. These attacks foster a culture that is intolerant of conflicting ideas and opinions. Moreover, they stifle the growth of discussion and communication among a generation that will soon take over important public office positions. Unfortunately, when someone is silenced, tension arises towards the silencer(s), which develops into resentment, and a fundamental breakdown of communication. Though I am an educated college student, I find myself unable to speak my mind. I have taken political theory, intelligence, international relations, and comparative politics courses, despite not even being a political science major. Yet despite my education, the Left still labels me as an “unaware and uneducated” college student.
Before you blame Republicans for the division in the country, I urge you to look at the leaders who guide the Left. Nancy Pelosi won’t shake the President’s hand, tore up the State of the Union address in front of the world, and encouraged Joe Biden not to debate Trump in presidential debates. Not only is that immature, but it encourages young liberals to treat conservatives with distaste. I wonder why liberals refuse to have discussions with conservatives and go straight to name-calling— racist, bigot, Nazi, and fascist, to name a few. But, as I recall, it was the Nazi party that stifled voices, burned books that contradicted their beliefs, and persecuted those who disagreed. These tactics align with what the young left and cancel culture continues to model. I have personally experienced these tactics— from being blocked, blacklisted, publicly blasted and ridiculed purely based on my political opinions. I am not alone, many Republicans, especially the younger members of the party, have dealt with similar issues. I have lost life-long friends who cut me off once they discovered my political views months ago, despite them knowing first-hand who I am as a person. It makes me sick, and I know this is a common feeling among younger conservatives.
I am a relatively outspoken person, but the young Left has made it impossible for me to speak up. Speaking out means crucifixion, and at the very least dealing with a toxic environment full of hate and vitriol. Disagreements, especially over policy prescriptions, aren’t indicative of correctness. For the time being, there is no way out of the conservative closet for college republicans unless we want to face a firing squad and public shaming. Because we feel silences, our resentment and frustration grow daily. I can’t even put my last name on this article for fear of attack, which is wrong. I am proud of my beliefs, my voice, and my mind. One day I will help be a part of the change, so girls after me do not live in fear of retribution from their sorority sisters, “friends,” and roommates for their beliefs.
Liberals have placed themselves on a pedestal founded on “wokeness,” and it is absurd. They hide behind this shroud of morality, which I hate to break it to you— is an illusion. They believe it gives them the power to “cancel,” persecute, and deem cast their political opponents as immoral. If we’re going to call every strike against the “morally corrupt” Republicans, we should at least take the time to remember some of our favorite Democratic strikeouts. Barack Obama waged a drone war in the third world that cost thousands of lives. Bill Clinton had an affair with a White House staffer, then proceeded to lie about it in front of Congress, and JFK cheated numerous times on Jackie O. They’re all (with the increasing, and deserving exception of Bill) heralded as outstanding, morally sound figures of the party. Many conservatives can acknowledge that politicians on both sides are corrupt, but liberals refuse even to bat an eye at their own party’s promiscuity.
Those who will inevitably attack this article, and by extension, myself, are the same people who will post on social media about tolerance, acceptance, and being politically aware. The outcry and posts of “vote, now more than ever” only applies if you are voting for Joe Biden. The country continues to go down this monolithic rabbit hole of only allowing one side to speak, and one side to be correct. It is damaging communication and progressive thought— if we cannot even be in the same room to have a conversation for fear of retribution, we will never evolve as a society. We have a two-party system that does not allow cross-party conversation or friendship. The old tales of “6 o-clock friendships” are long dead and replaced by an unproductive state of judgement between political foes. Cancel culture has ruined our generation. It has allowed for the dull emergence of tokenism, and the cringe-worthy practice of virtue signaling. It’s led to social media feeds tailored to our own biases, and a complete shut-out of opposition thought. While conservatives hold the White House and Senate, we’ve been principally shut out of the mainstream culture, academia, and the decision-making table in the virtual world that has come to dominate our society’s hive mind: social media.
What is perhaps most frightening is the fact that Millennials and gen-zers are already running for office, and will continue to occupy an ever-increasing share of this country’s political and cultural power. How is that going to work if we can’t even begin to have a conversation? How will our country progress and continue co-existing if 20-year-old liberals scream and berate young conservatives for simply disagreeing with them? I pray for a future of peace, educated discourse, and compassion. No matter your religion, we should all “love thy neighbor” and treat each other with compassion. I am only 21, and I have already lost too many friends due to the ugly disease of partisanship. I fear for our future and for our present society if we cannot work together.
If there is anything that I hope you take away from this article, it is that behind the party registration, there is a person. In our age of social media, it’s easy to render our political opponents to unrelated clips and tweets that annoy us. Young conservatives are not a monolith, they’re a group of individuals who have a set of political beliefs built by the world around them, that are just as legitimate as anyone else’s. In the same way that I encourage my conservative friends not to cut off their liberal friends, don’t cut off your conservative friends. This country was founded on the principle of working together, and we can embody that while disagreeing on policy prescriptions.
As long as we can all agree on the fundamental basis of human rights and decency, I should be allowed to disagree with a liberal publicly. It should not take conversion to garner acceptance, it should only take cooperation and compassion. I cannot wait for the day to come when liberals again accept that there are differing thoughts, and then I can exit the conservative closet and slam that door shut. Apart from getting rid of the toxic parts of social media, and being able to be open about my political beliefs, what I am most excited for is the restoration of some of my “6 o clock friendships.”
Photo via @roxanneassoulin
