The Viable Alternative

I had originally wanted to write this two years ago, but I didn’t actually write this until well over a year later in August 2022, and after finishing it, it sat for another seven months before I decided to make this public. Posts like these tend to be very polarizing and so I’ve tended to be more discerning as to what I post because arguing with people on social media just takes up a lot of your time. Nonetheless, I feel that now this needs to be shared.

In these polarizing and politically charged times, it is very sad that black and white thinking has completely taken over and nuanced, gray area thinking has been cast aside and even frowned upon to such an extent that if you ever dare to offer a nuanced, gray shaded opinion that came from your own research, discernment and critical thinking, you’re automatically relegated to the black or white corner depending on the particular topic.

Basically, if you don’t say “Black,” you’re accused of being “White” and if you don’t say “White,” you’re accused of being “Black,” or if you say, “Gray” you’re accused by each side of being on the opposite side.

Shoot, I even found out last year that even saying you’re a ‘free thinker” means that you’re proudly claiming yourself to be a “right wing conservative” when I was attacked for using those words to describe myself. I naively thought that a free thinker was literally just that, a FREE THINKER i.e. one who, instead of blindly and automatically a point of view about an issue because of one’s tribe (i.e. race, gender, sexual orientation, political ideology, nationality, religion, etc) or blindly adopting the popular, emotionally charged sentiment of a current news headline, likes to objectively look first at all sides of an issue and draw one’s own conclusions before expressing one’s thoughts.

• You are NOT necessarily an “anti-vaxxxer” if you were against getting the CV-1.9 j@b. Some people have no problem with vaccines but had legit concerns about the j@B and didn’t want to put something like that in their body.
• You are NOT automatically pro-Trump or any other polarizing figure if you agreed with SOME of the things they said or did. You don’t have to like someone to be able to agree with some of the things they say or do.
• You are NOT automatically anti (insert beloved figure) if you disagreed with some of the things they said or did. You can like someone and still disagree with some things they say or do.
• You are NOT automatically a racist or a sellout if you refused to support BLM. You can support fairness and justice for Black people and still, due to your own research, not support BLM.
• You are NOT automatically a socialist just because you support universal healthcare. You can believe fully in capitalism and free enterprise and support the government coming up with creative ways to provide affordable healthcare for all its citizens. I can’t believe this even has to be explained.
• You are NOT a traitor or hate America if you’re against her invading a certain country or starting a certain war.
• You do NOT automatically hate all women if you’re against abortions. What if a person’s being against abortions had nothing to do with women? What if this person’s Mom almost aborted him (or her) and the LAST MINUTE decided not to?
• You can be pro-choice but against abortions.
• You’re not necessarily a “non-believer” of God if you’re pro-choice.
• You’re not automatically transphobic if you say that there are only two genders because gender and sex are the same.
• You’re not automatically transphobic if you’re against children below the age of 18 transitioning.
• You’re not automatically homophobic if you believe marriage should be between a man and a woman. What if you supported civil unions between same sex couples for health benefits, protection and inheritance of property when one passes, and other legal reasons etc.?
• You’re not automatically a racist or an Uncle Tom if you are pro-Trump.
• You can totally dislike someone and disagree with just about everything they say and still support their right to free speech and be against them being deplatformed across all social media.
• You don’t automatically hate all policemen if you think there needs to be more accountability demanded from them in their jobs to serve the public and that they should be made accountable to legal ramifications if they deviate from that.

We as human beings are complicated, nuanced beings that have a wide spectrum of beliefs such that you can’t put always put a person in the construct of a black or white box based on the most popular political/social issues of the day, the political parties, or the “conservative/liberal” pole.

With all this talk about social constructs, these issues used to categorize people are the social constructs. It is unnatural to take a human being, with all his nuances, preferences, prejudices, biases, ideas, personality etc. and force him to configure his whole outlook and view of life under one of the two sociopolitical, black-or-white polarities.

I personally believe that the media combined with powerful corporate interests are the ones responsible for this polarization for the purpose of dividing people so we remain distracted from all the corruption, lies and other b.s. going on and don’t unite to expose and pull it all down. They’re also trying to make malleable, obedient, mindless, over emotional, reactive consumers.

PLUS, there are many sides to an issue some of which you may agree with and others you may disagree with!

• I know of someone who would describe themselves as liberal and was for the BLM riots back in 2020, but was against the j@@b and wearing masks. So much for being a “liberal” huh? Is this person now a card-carrying conservative?
• I know of a Black YouTuber who is a registered Republican and unapologetically pro-Trump who is “pro-Black” and refuses to date interracially because he wants to stay loyal to Black women. Is he a sellout?
• I know of a Black person who voted for Trump in 2020 (this person didn’t vote for him in 2016) who sued their employer for racial discrimination (and won). These people that were doing the discriminating described themselves as “liberals” and espoused the “woke” principles. Isn’t this person supposed to be out of touch with the reality of racism because they voted for Trump?
• I know of a White person who dated brown and black men all her life and has two adopted Black children who voted for Trump. Is she still automatically racist?
• I know of someone who describes herself as an Afro-Latina who called me up to yell at me back in 2016 for refusing to vote for HRC (I didn’t vote for Trump either), who was married to a Black man and has what she calls Black children who voted for Trump in 2020. Is she now a sellout or automatically got confused about her identity?
• I know someone who describes themselves as a social democrat and is very liberal on most issues who was against the j@@b. Is this person now a “conservative?”
• I’ve seen gay people who describe themselves as conservatives. “But you’re not supposed to conservative if you’re gay.”
• I’ve talked to a dude who’s married to a man who doesn’t understand the trans-movement and seems to disagree with it.
• I’ve had a conversation with a Black dude who’s a registered Republican who describes himself as “pro-Black” and supports controversial figures in the pro-Black community such as Umar Johnson.
• I know a dude who got cured of polyurethane poisoning that wreaked havoc on his health by going to the Scientologists and he thought they were a bunch of kooks before, during, and after his healing, and said he would NEVER join them, but he said their methodology definitely worked. Does that automatically make him a card carrying, die hard Scientologist supporter?
• I know people who’ve lost loved ones to CV-1.9 or had a difficult time with it when they contracted it and yet are also against the j@@b and think the government totally handled the situation wrong way the pas two years.

Now, I don’t agree with everything these people believe in that I just listed, but I applaud them for using some type of critical thinking in some areas of their lives to draw their own conclusions that resonate with them rather than follow the popular narrative of the media or the supposed box they’re supposed to fit into due to their race, gender, political ideological preference, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, etc. I also commend them for being open minded and courageous enough to embrace their individuality that is displayed in nuanced thinking rather than being a walking, breathing, carbon cutout of beliefs espoused under a particular umbrella.

It is very LAZY to allow our minds to be hijacked by the media that likes to induce emotionality and hysteria in people so that they can polarize of instead of engaging in critical thinking, doing your own research in areas that interest you, and deciding what resonates with you most.

• I don’t like Trump, didn’t vote for him in either election, will likely not vote for him if he runs in 2024, and think he’s a narcissist who really only cares about his own image, yet I can agree with some of the things he did. I think it was totally wrong for him to be deplatformed across all social media, and I also think Democrats like to use him as a straw man for all the problems that exist in the country and are desperately trying make sure he doesn’t run in 2024. Yet, people who don’t see nuance will STILL call me “pro-Trump” just because I’m not full force denouncing him. I’ve actually gotten unfriended and called pro-Trump even after saying I don’t like him just because I wasn’t hysterically denouncing him and tried to get folks to see things a different way about him. You can dislike someone and still agree with them on some things just as you can truly like someone and disagree with them on some things because after all, you don’t always agree with everyone 100% all the time and you don’t always disagree 100% of the time.
• I think the Clintons are shady af and I definitely don’t like HRC, but I think it’s wrong how people vilify them for the ’94 crime bill that some folks begged for.
• Also, I don’t like nor necessarily trust Candace Owens. For starters, the b*tch went on GoFundMe or a similar site and raised money for the cop who killed George Floyd. Also, she said she never experienced racism while having sued two students back in HS for racial harassment. To me she’s the equivalent of what I don’t like about many Black Democrats in that she totally follows the Republican agenda without any type of deviation. Joe Rogan brilliantly pointed this out when he had her on his show and they were talking about climate change and she, although admitting to knowing little about the subject felt apt to say she thought it was a hoax. Rogan said to her something to the extend of, “If you just admitted to not knowing about climate change, why don’t you just say you don’t know about it rather than automatically adopting the Republican talking points.” (again this is paraphrased but that was the gist of what he said to her). However, even though I don’t like her, I agree with a lot of what she says about certain subjects. That doesn’t make me “pro-Candance.” It makes me a guy who, as best as I can, separate his feelings about the person from what they say and then decides what he agrees or disagrees with.
• I like Andrew Tate and think he’s a net positive, but I disagree with him on some things that I share in a previous blog post.

There’s many sides to an issue and at times, the solution for these issues lies in the nuance, or grey area, not at the polar opposites which people are beating each other up over. AND, in cases where the solution lies in one of the polar opposites, it takes objectivity, open-mindedness and critical thinking involving different aspects of the issue n order to come to that conclusion, not emotionality, rigidity and bullheadedness.

This is The Viable Alternative.

Hope this helps,

Ike Love