From my responses to Facebook posts.
IT is an understatement to say that we lost friends, friendships that we created long before there was internet, because of this Left-Right/anti-Trump zeal on social media.
I was a very visible Left-wing activist then. Organizer, part of advising teams, and indie publisher/editor until I saw the Organized Left (back home in the Philippines) disintegrated due to infighting in the mid-1990s. That year I decided to move to New York City and regroup. I also had to fully recuperate from a lung ailment, mostly inflicted by my super-relentless Left-wing activities. I almost died in 1995.
Yet I was still drawn to Leftist activism in NYC and helped a nonprofit organization write a funding grant, while I co-organized cause-oriented events. My experience with these clueless zealots and rahrah choir chanters was the worst chapter of my life in America. A lot worse than my frustration from the RJ vs RA fissure in Manila.
"Pop politics," you know. Bandwagon noise.
I again messed up my lungs. So after my surgery, I moved to Asheville (North Carolina) to heal and chill. I eventually organized events and published a tiny paper for THE Community. Left, Right, whatever--community. EVERYBODY was happy. The only common ideal that I maintained is anti-war.
But life and politics changed in a very short time. Many of my anti-war friends have “mellowed down” or now prefer to throw their full activism energy on hate-Trump noise (mostly in Social Media) over the pro-active advocacy to end all these wars. Of course, they don't support Mr Trump's efforts to persistently broker peace amidst all the magnificent challenges, internally and globally.
These days, I just stay indoors mostly, write and when I go out to do errands, only with two female BFFs, separately. Friends who are more Conservative traditionally (than politically, like my family) but essentially "unengaged" but calm and peaceful. And definitely, fun. ☮️☮️☮️
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