Politics aka Name Calling

Politics. I hate politics. My hatred is not a passionate one, but more of a passive one.

I’ll admit that I don’t even know what some of the buzzwords in today’s politics mean. I don’t care either. I don’t even care enough to spend 5 seconds doing a Google search. All I know is that when I read them in comments on social media posts, it’s clearly name calling and bullying. And it’s on both “sides”. It’s hatred at it’s finest. Probably the only thing that’s 100% clear in politics today. Sadly, it’s been made mainstream and normal by our president. Our leader is setting the example. If you support him, that’s fine and your choice. But you can’t deny that he calls people names and bullies people every single day in his Twitter posts (and I can’t even believe that I’m saying that….since when did Twitter become a way for our president to communicate to us and to the world?).

Whether you liked our former presidents (plural) or not, from what I recall, they all took criticism with grace. Ignored it mostly. I’m not talking legitimate criticism, I’m talking about jokes, sarcasm, racist comments (yes, there are a lot of white people who couldn’t handle having a non-white leader, which also blows my mind). When you’re in the spotlight, whether it’s as the POTUS or if you’re a celebrity (the current guy is both and don’t forget that), you are under automatic scrutiny. Sometimes for good reason, other times for petty reasons. That’s nothing new. If you think SNL didn’t make fun of past presidents, I urge you to go back and watch their skits. Is it done with more passion now? Absolutely. But come on, he begs for it. With all the name calling he does and how he singles out individuals because they don’t agree with his ways, he is asking for it. And personally I think he gets off on it, among a lot of other things. Do I agree with fueling his fire, not really. But again, he should be ignoring it as past presidents have.

Now, I already admitted that I don’t like politics. I also don’t understand half the shit that goes on. And I don’t really care to, to be honest. There were plenty of presidents I didn’t necessarily like, but there is one thing that I “judge” everyone by. And by everyone, I mean literally everyone. So even though I haven’t necessarily liked them all, I can’t think of any that I truly believed were bad human beings at their core. It all comes down to one single thing for me. ARE YOU A GENUINELY GOOD PERSON? That’s it.

I took a leadership course and interviewed a man that works at my company, who is a Senior Vice President. He’s a man I always liked very much. He’s kind, he’s soft (don’t confuse softness for weakness), he makes you feel good about yourself just by being in his presence. I don’t even know him that well personally. I see him most mornings in the cafeteria at work. He buys coffee and breakfast and sits alone. But he always talks to me and when he talks to me, he’s interested. He listens. I just know that he cares. If I were to die tomorrow, I know that he would have some kind words to say about me, despite not knowing me that well personally. I work in corporate office, but I don’t fit the corporate stereotype. I don’t wear dresses or skirts anymore. I don’t wear a ton of makeup. I often wear sleeveless shirts in the summer, which exposes my half sleeve tattoos. And if you’re lucky, I may have some shoulder exposed which shows a large tattoo across my shoulders and back. I don’t wear heels, and I don’t understand how women can possibly walk in them. I may be Chinese, but I don’t like my fucking feet bound. Sometimes I wear Chucks. And for the past several weeks, I’ve been basically wearing slippers that I’m passing off as shoes (hey, it’s debatable what they technically are). For other corporate people in this man’s position, they see right past me. Some might say hi, some won’t. That’s fine with me. I’m not trying to get ahead. I’m well respected by all the people that have worked with me over the past 23 years with the company. A lot of those people also know me outside of work. I’m good with who I am. But this man’s genuineness shines through and I always enjoy our exchanges. He is a good person, without a doubt.

When I interviewed him for this leadership course, he said something to me that has stuck with me ever since. When he is hiring someone and it comes time to interview them, he only asks them one question. Now keep in mind that by the time anyone has made it to an interview with him, they have already passed several interviews and made sure they had the skill set that is needed for the position. So when it’s time for him to sit down with them, he only needs one question answered. That question is….

Are you a good person?

So when I talk about our current president, my opinions are based simply off of that one thing. Is he a good person? The answer is, without a doubt, no. Now you might like his politics, a lot of people do. But if you do like his leadership style and his ways, do you also think he is a good person? I’m honestly curious.

You might ask me why I don’t think he’s a good person. While I think this is kind of obvious, I’m happy to explain. The way he makes fun of people. The way he calls people’s names. The tone of his “tweets” (I hate that word). The way he speaks about women. The way he treats women. The way he treats anyone that isn’t on his “side”. The fact that clearly he has cheated on his beautiful wife. He is a womanizer and I don’t even think he’d deny that himself (or at least he wouldn’t before he was president). The way he takes credit for everything. The fact that he can’t publicly speak using words bigger than “huge” or “the best ever” or “great” or “the greatest”. He’s very shallow. Even if you think he is the “greatest president ever”, you have to admit he is very shallow.

In my opinion, you can’t be a good leader without being a good person. That’s my simplistic view, and it applies to everything in life. Be good, be kind. And if you’re an asshole, that’s fine, just don’t try and be a leader. We don’t need more assholes in this world. And the next time you want to call someone a name for their political stance, just remember that we are all the same. We are all just human.

(Here’s a photo I took, just because. Because we need better views of this world we live in)