Checking in... Anxiety about current events

[Katy]

My 3 year old took apart my favorite pen when my back was turned... and now half of it is missing so I can't fix it.  I got sooooo angry I realized it isn't about the 7 year old pen that cost less than $20. It's anxiety about current events and things I can't control.  So I just wanted to check in.  Am I the only one feeling this anxious?  I don't think I've been this glued to the news since 9/11.

[vonfirmath]

4 minutes ago, Katy said:

My 3 year old took apart my favorite pen when my back was turned... and now half of it is missing so I can't fix it.  I got sooooo angry I realized it isn't about the 7 year old pen that cost less than $20. It's anxiety about current events and things I can't control.  So I just wanted to check in.  Am I the only one feeling this anxious?  I don't think I've been this glued to the news since 9/11.

I am deliberately NOT glued to the news because that would make me too anxious.

[Drama Llama]

Anxiety is high here.  For a variety of reasons this is hitting very close to home, both literally and figuratively.  There have been many tears shed over this, and lots of anger expressed in this household.   Also, the fact that I'm posting this in the middle of a work day, is a sure sign that my self control about media use during school is shot.  

[Carol in Cal.]

I’m not glued to the news, but I’m absolutely heartsick.

[mommyoffive]

Anxiety filled  here.  But also of complete sadness.  Where we are as a country is dark.  I don't see a way from here.  I think the divide is much to deep.  This is not the normal divide between our political parties.  But it also is just so sad to me, that during a pandemic we should all be helping each other.  Doing the right thing to not spread disease.  To not kill our neighbors.  We should be coming together doing what we need to do to get over this pandemic.  The sadness for me realizing that people are not willing to do that is great.   That is instantly where my mind went watching the protests.  I am sure there will be people who contract and spread covid from that gathering and all that was before and after.  

I am so sad for all the police officers hurt and Brian Sicknick.  When I saw the protest getting out of control my thoughts went right to all of them.  I am glad it wasn't more violent than it was.   But to be confronting a huge angry mob while woefully outnumbered, would be terrifying.  I hope that the people involved pay for that.  But in the end it doesn't matter.  It won't give him his life back or the hurt away from his family.    My heart just breaks that this is where our country is.  Where our neighbors are.  Where us as human beings are.     That this is the world where we are bringing up our children to live sucks too.   We shouldn't be here in 2021 doing this to each other.  

[catz]

I step away from the news and social media on the regular when it gets to be too much. I walk outside, I bake in the kitchen, I laugh with my teens.  It really helps. 

 

[Carrie12345]

Anxious is probably the accurate word, though it’s not my normal anxiety. Dh has used the terms “fancy election anxiety” and “fancy insurrection anxiety”, like the “fancy Christmas anxiety” memes, lol.

My normal anxiety involves a lot of adrenaline and (unspecified/unwarranted) fear. It often gets me to do chores like a chore-doing, discomfort-avoiding machine. That tends to be when the legs of all my furniture get scrubbed and random drawers get cleaned and rearranged. Right now, it’s more like I’m moving through jello and just don’t want to deal with my normal responsibilities.  

My sons’ schoolwork today consists of math practice and telling them to make observations about the science experiment we did the other day. And I’ll probably tell them to read a book without making them tell me anything about it.  My teenager can study for her EMT and permit exams.  I don’t have any more in the tank this week.

[mathnerd]

56 minutes ago, Katy said:

I don't think I've been this glued to the news since 9/11.

I was saying the exact same thing yesterday. Never since 9/11 have I been sitting transfixed by unfolding news for 4 hours straight. Needless to say, my work is suffering and we have been eating frozen pizzas. I have started checking news every 4 hours, intentionally, to reduce my anxiety.

[vonfirmath]

19 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

Anxiety filled  here.  But also of complete sadness.  Where we are as a country is dark.  I don't see a way from here.  I think the divide is much to deep.  This is not the normal divide between our political parties.  But it also is just so sad to me, that during a pandemic we should all be helping each other.  Doing the right thing to not spread disease.  To not kill our neighbors.  We should be coming together doing what we need to do to get over this pandemic.  The sadness for me realizing that people are not willing to do that is great.   That is instantly where my mind went watching the protests.  I am sure there will be people who contract and spread covid from that gathering and all that was before and after.  

I am so sad for all the police officers hurt and Brian Sicknick.  When I saw the protest getting out of control my thoughts went right to all of them.  I am glad it wasn't more violent than it was.   But to be confronting a huge angry mob while woefully outnumbered, would be terrifying.  I hope that the people involved pay for that.  But in the end it doesn't matter.  It won't give him his life back or the hurt away from his family.    My heart just breaks that this is where our country is.  Where our neighbors are.  Where us as human beings are.     That this is the world where we are bringing up our children to live sucks too.   We shouldn't be here in 2021 doing this to each other.  

There is a lot of pandemic stress in the area before the fact it was a election year after the way the last few years have gone.

I was just reading an article in The Atlantic that emphasized how people were distrustful of each other now.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/05/is-flying-safe-coronavirus/611335/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=cr&utm_content=content&fbclid=IwAR12bAfD3GmimHoo5wrCJXoT1n4XthjA799zj7RTUQceNX1TeGc87k4P90w

[SKL]

I'm not anxious, but way too distracted.  I have to send some client work out, and it's an uphill battle.

I keep reminding myself how things like this have faded into history in the past.  It will happen with this also, sooner than most people realize.

ETA:  I'm not "glued to the news," because I've learned not to trust initial reports of anything any more.  I'll wait until the dust has a chance to settle.

Edited January 8, 2021 by SKL

[Katy]

3 minutes ago, mathnerd said:

I was saying the exact same thing yesterday. Never since 9/11 have I been sitting transfixed by unfolding news for 4 hours straight. Needless to say, my work is suffering and we have been eating frozen pizzas. I have started checking news every 4 hours, intentionally, to reduce my anxiety.

I turned the tv to PBS Kids and turned off news alerts on my phone, but it still gets through. 

[Ali in OR]

I've had anxiety since election day, though it waned for a bit in December. It's back to a high this week. I expect mine to get better on January 20. In my personal bubble, I truly believe the world gets a lot better and more unified once the poisoning force is gone.

[prairiewindmomma]

I am less worried than I was a few days ago. The ballots have been certified. The military has been signaling hard that they will follow where Congress leads. McConnell seems to have gotten his priorities straight. 
 

We still have a greater problem with the rest of the nation....but after living through a long summer of nightly riots here...agitators can be limited and confined. The Zeitgeist seems to be that people just want to go to Costco and watch Netflix still. 
 

If we see massive home foreclosures....then I am going to be a bit more worried. People are generally content if their bellies are fed.

[vonfirmath]

1 minute ago, Ali in OR said:

I've had anxiety since election day, though it waned for a bit in December. It's back to a high this week. I expect mine to get better on January 20. In my personal bubble, I truly believe the world gets a lot better and more unified once the poisoning force is gone.

You are more optimistic than I. (or have a different idea of where you feel the poisoning force lies)

 

Edited January 8, 2021 by vonfirmath

[HS Mom in NC]

No, I haven't felt any anxiety about any of it. I reconciled the fact that I'm not in control of most things a long time ago. God is, not me.  If I truly believe that's true, how will I think, then feel, then act? (I'm not talking about medical anxiety here, I'm talking about being anxious about the trials of life.) I read regularly about history and Christian classics written by authors under all types of circumstances, some far worse than anything in my lifetime. I've read the NT multiple times where Jesus told us there would be trials and tribulations, and to expect and rejoice in them. Am I living that out daily with my attitude toward current events?

So I check the news a few times a day to keep up with what's going on and so I can talk about it with my youngest still at home, pray specifically about what's going on, and trust God with it.

Edited January 8, 2021 by Homeschool Mom in AZ

[rainbird2]

32 minutes ago, FuzzyCatz said:

I step away from the news and social media on the regular when it gets to be too much. I walk outside, I bake in the kitchen, I laugh with my teens.  It really helps. 

 

 

When I walk outside, I see my next door neighbor's flag being flown upside down.  We take a walk only to hear rounds of target practice going on down the road.  I feel like I can't escape the craziness.  It's suffocating and anxiety-inducing.

OP, I yelled at my husband last night over something so stupid.  I showed him your thread this morning so he knew I wasn't the only one.  Still no excuse for the lashing out, but he understood and gave me a hug.  So, thank you for starting this thread.

 

 

[marbel]

Homeschool Mom in AZ said just about what I was going to say. I'm mostly sad about the way things are going in the US. But I don't really get caught up in it because there is literally nothing I can do about it. Typically during times like this I read the Old Testament book of Habbakuk, which starts out:

O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear?
Or cry to you “Violence!  and you will not save?
Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong?
Destruction and violence are before me;  strife and contention arise.
So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth.
For the wicked surround the righteous,   so justice goes forth perverted.

And ends:

Though the fig tree should not blossom,
    nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
    and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
    and there be no herd in the stalls,
¹⁸ yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
    I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
¹⁹ God, the Lord, is my strength;
    he makes my feet like the deer's;
    he makes me tread on my high places.

 

(No idea why fonts and formatting are do different, since I copied/pasted from the same source, but I can't fix it!)

Anyway,  this always makes me see things from a different perspective. 

One thing about these sorts of events - they do remind me of the importance of local and state elections. In most cases, the people in higher offices started out local. Yet local elections often have very poor turnout and people are ambivalent. I should have done better with that when my kids were younger, to model an interest in local politics. 

 

[catz]

1 minute ago, rainbird2 said:

 

When I walk outside, I see my next door neighbor's flag being flown upside down.  We take a walk only to hear rounds of target practice going on down the road.  I feel like I can't escape the craziness.  It's suffocating and anxiety-inducing.

OP, I yelled at my husband last night over something so stupid.  I showed him your thread this morning so he knew I wasn't the only one.  Still no excuse for the lashing out, but he understood and gave me a hug.  So, thank you for starting this thread.

 

 

I'm sorry.  I will say I live mostly in a very happy, calm for me.

However we were given a security alert this week because there have been open threats by people online to show up at the house of a democratic state legislator whose house I can see from my front windows.  Unnerving.  

[Scarlett]

I am glued to the media.  But I don't feel anxious.  

That could change though if things get worse.  

[historically accurate]

Well, I just delivered my oldest to college, so I am in isolation in the master bedroom. So I literally have little to distract me from the news.

I know anxiety displays as anger sometimes, but I don't think I have anxiety. I do however have anger; lots and lots of anger regarding the situation. I am angry that we have let ourselves get to this point where people literally died for what? a 6 hour slowdown of the inevitable? so people could Instagram themselves flipping the bird in Pelosi's office?, super angry that half the country still feels like they were wronged in the election, super-duper angry that no one in power seems to have a plan for what to do for the next two weeks or any impetus to hold anyone powerful accountable. 

I wish the punching bag were in the master bedroom right now - I've been doing a lot of situps, but those don't work out the anger. Although I may actually have abs when I come out of isolation LOL.

edited for typos

Edited January 8, 2021 by historically accurate

[Harriet Vane]

Anxious, yes, in a tired-resigned-told-you-this-wouldn't-be-okay way. Glued to the news and unable to focus, too. I have had long and hard experience with dysfunctional crazy people in my life. Watching this play out is like watching a predictable B-movie. It's the same awful stuff whether domestic violence or national domestic violence. 

[Dmmetler]

Yes, but for me it's headaches and nausea. Which is good, in someways, since my meds tend to make me kind of drowsy and effectively have an antianxiety effect. 

 

 

[Katy]

30 minutes ago, rainbird2 said:

 

When I walk outside, I see my next door neighbor's flag being flown upside down.  We take a walk only to hear rounds of target practice going on down the road.  I feel like I can't escape the craziness.  It's suffocating and anxiety-inducing.

OP, I yelled at my husband last night over something so stupid.  I showed him your thread this morning so he knew I wasn't the only one.  Still no excuse for the lashing out, but he understood and gave me a hug.  So, thank you for starting this thread.

 

 

Yes, same here. My next door neighbor told me he’d give everything he owned to fix the election fraud. And two neighbors on our block still have Trump flags flying that are bigger than my SUV. Gadsen flags and confederate flags are flying a few blocks from here. I live in the Midwest, not the South. It’s a warning, not a pride thing. It feels like the whole world could errupt at any moment. Locally. Not just in Washington. 

[KidsHappen]

I haven't watched the news since election day so I literally have no idea what is going on other than the weather and I can't say that I am terribly motivated to check it out either.

[Hilltopmom]

3 minutes ago, KidsHappen said:

I haven't watched the news since election day so I literally have no idea what is going on other than the weather and I can't say that I am terribly motivated to check it out either.

Um you might want to find out what happened this week in DC. 

[saraha]

I've never been more than a check msn daily kind of news follower, but have been haunting it today. I don't know where else to look for news, but they seem to have stuff from lots of news outlets. To add to the general anxiety of current events, dd got the call this morning that her new boss and his family can't taste or smell today. She was the only one in the office wearing a mask. I am hanging on by my fingernails.

[Pawz4me]

I was super anxious Wednesday and yesterday, but for about the totally opposite reason of many -- I wanted to be watching the news 24/7 and had other things that I had to do. That type of almost cognitive dissonance--having to do one thing but wanting desperately to be doing another--stresses me a lot. That's not to say that I'm not totally enraged at these bozos and TPTB who manipulate them, or that I'm not terribly sad that it happened. I am both of those things.

[Paige]

I don't feel especially anxious but I've had a headache for 2 days. I think it's from clenching my jaw. We don't keep the news on- maybe watch a little once a week, but I read and know what's going on. 

 

[athena1277]

I don’t know if I’d call my feelings anxiety, but definitely frustration.  Mainly because it’s so very hard to get to the truth on almost anything that’s happened in the last year.  It’s to the point that even if we are told the truth, it’s hard to trust that it is the truth.  I think that has made everything infinitely worse on nearly every big topic.  It’s hard to see a way forward when we don’t necessarily know the causes of so many major events.

[importswim]

2 hours ago, Homeschool Mom in AZ said:

No, I haven't felt any anxiety about any of it. I reconciled the fact that I'm not in control of most things a long time ago. God is, not me.  If I truly believe that's true, how will I think, then feel, then act? (I'm not talking about medical anxiety here, I'm talking about being anxious about the trials of life.) I read regularly about history and Christian classics written by authors under all types of circumstances, some far worse than anything in my lifetime. I've read the NT multiple times where Jesus told us there would be trials and tribulations, and to expect and rejoice in them. Am I living that out daily with my attitude toward current events?

So I check the news a few times a day to keep up with what's going on and so I can talk about it with my youngest still at home, pray specifically about what's going on, and trust God with it.

Thank you for this.

My anxiety stems from the fact that IRL for me is like living in a comment section of a political article where I feel like I'm living in the twilight zone and am the only person with a reasonable view of things. I've already muted almost all of our FB friends, but I can't escape every conversation when I see people IRL. Reconciling my friends' conflating political beliefs with biblical ones has been hard. It's always been hard but these past few months and especially the past couple of days has been incredibly hard. 

[Not_a_Number]

I'm barely functional. I am having trouble sleeping. So, yes, lots of anxiety. 

[prairiewindmomma]

1 minute ago, importswim said:

Thank you for this.

My anxiety stems from the fact that IRL for me is like living in a comment section of a political article where I feel like I'm living in the twilight zone and am the only person with a reasonable view of things. I've already muted almost all of our FB friends, but I can't escape every conversation when I see people IRL. Reconciling my friends' conflating political beliefs with biblical ones has been hard. It's always been hard but these past few months and especially the past couple of days has been incredibly hard. 

I am sorry that you are under that strain. We made some life changes this year in part because I realized my friends and fellow church members were different people than I thought they were. They literally do not think or speak as they did five years ago.

[importswim]

2 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said:

I am sorry that you are under that strain. We made some life changes this year in part because I realized my friends and fellow church members were different people than I thought they were. They literally do not think or speak as they did five years ago.

Thank you! We love our church and truth and biblical doctrine are preached from the pulpit. Our teaching elder is also very good at detangling biblical and political beliefs and calling it out when he sees it. I'm having a hard time with the private beliefs of attendees/members and friends. What I really need to do is to realize that I can't change or convict anyone. I can only control how I react. Just typing that out to you is helpful, so thanks!!!

[pitterpatter]

I am highly distracted...to the point I was when Covid started. I am information hungry, but there isn't a large enough stream of new information to sate my hunger. My brain won't stay focused. I can hardly work and can't seem to focus on nor enjoy traditional pastimes during my "off" hours. I'm restless and want to do something to help, but I'm in no position to do so. I try to understand the insurrectionists' viewpoint, but it's a puzzle my brain cannot solve. I'm frustrated and upset because my daughter's generation may not get to enjoy the same freedoms that so many people have recently squandered and exploited. My daughter will miss the cutoff to vote in the next election, but many of her friends will be able to do so. I'm putting some hope in them and their peers because as far as I can tell, they crave equality, acceptance, and peace. Hopefully, they won't forget. Hopefully, it won't be too late.

[HS Mom in NC]

1 hour ago, importswim said:

Thank you for this.

My anxiety stems from the fact that IRL for me is like living in a comment section of a political article where I feel like I'm living in the twilight zone and am the only person with a reasonable view of things. I've already muted almost all of our FB friends, but I can't escape every conversation when I see people IRL. Reconciling my friends' conflating political beliefs with biblical ones has been hard. It's always been hard but these past few months and especially the past couple of days has been incredibly hard. 

You're welcome.  I'm so sorry it's been hard for you and others like you.  I live in a purple world IRL and on social media, and my spouse and I are in the same place politically (not R or D,) so I'll admit it's easier for me than for people living in red and blue bubbles surrounded by people with contrary views, either voluntarily or involuntarily. 

I did unfollow and unfriend a few people on social media after the insurrection in Wednesday.  I don't have an issue with people complaining about the outcome being different than what they voted for, it's the people who are downright vicious and insulting to anyone disagrees.

Hopefully after a few months this will die down and we'll go back to America's national pastime: grudgingly putting up with politicians we don't like but voted for because the alternative was worse, or putting up with politicians we didn't vote for and don't like.  It's the American way.

[Carol in Cal.]

4 hours ago, marbel said:

Homeschool Mom in AZ said just about what I was going to say. I'm mostly sad about the way things are going in the US. But I don't really get caught up in it because there is literally nothing I can do about it. Typically during times like this I read the Old Testament book of Habbakuk, which starts out:

O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear?
Or cry to you “Violence!  and you will not save?
Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong?
Destruction and violence are before me;  strife and contention arise.
So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth.
For the wicked surround the righteous,   so justice goes forth perverted.

And ends:

Though the fig tree should not blossom,
    nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
    and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
    and there be no herd in the stalls,
¹⁸ yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
    I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
¹⁹ God, the Lord, is my strength;
    he makes my feet like the deer's;
    he makes me tread on my high places.

 

(No idea why fonts and formatting are do different, since I copied/pasted from the same source, but I can't fix it!)

Anyway,  this always makes me see things from a different perspective. 

One thing about these sorts of events - they do remind me of the importance of local and state elections. In most cases, the people in higher offices started out local. Yet local elections often have very poor turnout and people are ambivalent. I should have done better with that when my kids were younger, to model an interest in local politics. 

 

Yes, I have read Habakkuk several times in the last week.  Great stuff.

[kbutton]

2 hours ago, importswim said:

Thank you for this.

My anxiety stems from the fact that IRL for me is like living in a comment section of a political article where I feel like I'm living in the twilight zone and am the only person with a reasonable view of things. I've already muted almost all of our FB friends, but I can't escape every conversation when I see people IRL. Reconciling my friends' conflating political beliefs with biblical ones has been hard. It's always been hard but these past few months and especially the past couple of days has been incredibly hard. 

I don't feel particularly anxious, just heavy and wiped out in some ways (more so yesterday). But the bolded is precisely how I feel. 

2 hours ago, prairiewindmomma said:

I am sorry that you are under that strain. We made some life changes this year in part because I realized my friends and fellow church members were different people than I thought they were. They literally do not think or speak as they did five years ago.

This is so true IRL for me.

2 hours ago, importswim said:

Thank you! We love our church and truth and biblical doctrine are preached from the pulpit. Our teaching elder is also very good at detangling biblical and political beliefs and calling it out when he sees it. I'm having a hard time with the private beliefs of attendees/members and friends. What I really need to do is to realize that I can't change or convict anyone. I can only control how I react. Just typing that out to you is helpful, so thanks!!!

Our pastor preaches truth and biblical doctrine with a dash of...concerning stuff. I am pretty sure he's a Christian Nationalist but doesn't make a connection between what he sees as embodying CNism vs. what other Christian Nationalists say and do. That's problematic. I don't always like to be lumped together with what is perceived as "my side," but that drives me to want to make "my side" better, not to put my head in the sand about it. 

He tends to stay biblical in his actual teaching, but it's a neutral kind of biblical. He doesn't untangle things; he offers up truth, and people can take what they will. Which means that while I start to feel comforted about a particular reassuring part of scripture (such as the scriptural encouragement that @Homeschool Mom in AZ posted, and which I agree with, sorry to pick on you, AZ--I am increasingly very purple as well!), I then freak out because I realize that someone else who holds a view that logically leads to a totally different reason for being comforted by it is listening to it, nodding along, and having their view reinforced. Add to it that the people who are all sobbing in their cups about the election loss and feeling the need to pity and defend the biggest sore loser in history are the people comfortable going to church in person. It feels like the pandemic has created a coup of my church, followed by an attempted coup of my nation.

Even with realizing that my fellow believers were not where I was five years ago, I didn't think they'd be down this path either. 

[kbutton]

My friends on the left have, almost to a person, behaved as though their conservative friends are people and are pretty concerned and also open to dialog to some extent (with some reasonable boundaries around that). I can't say the same about my friends on the right. It's really sad.

[Not_a_Number]

6 minutes ago, Carol in Cal. said:

One thing about these sorts of events - they do remind me of the importance of local and state elections. In most cases, the people in higher offices started out local. Yet local elections often have very poor turnout and people are ambivalent. I should have done better with that when my kids were younger, to model an interest in local politics. 

Yes. That's a very good point. I don't do enough in this respect (although I can't vote, which is part of why I don't get involved. Not the whole story, but part of it.) 

[J-rap]

I don't feel anxiety...  But just absolute disgust, on so many levels.

[Ditto]

When it comes to Covid, I am extremely anxious.   Scared shitless that one of us will get it is an accurate description.   

When it comes to what is happening in the US, specifically Wednesday (and the potential for a repeat on the 20th, if not before and after), I am just disgusted and heartsick.  It is beyond concerning.

I am helping to manage the anxiety by staying away from as much news as possible.  I hit the headlines, know I am doing all I can to protect my family, and just so praying for this to all be over soon.   But if I think too much, I want to cry.

[bethben]

I wish it could be just get used to the new normal and everything will go back to people just upset that their guy didn’t get in.  I’m crying daily.   The rate at which non confrontational conservative voices are being kicked off of facebook and Twitter is scary.  A whole new group of them happened today.  The national dialogue of opposing viewpoints is being shut down to only one viewpoint.  Also, I have never heard multiple voices from one side saying that one side should be silenced altogether and re-educated.  This is what is freaking me out.   I’m honestly scared and not just disappointed.  

Edited January 8, 2021 by bethben

[AmandaVT]

It's been a hard couple of days. I feel similarly to how I felt after 9/11 except instead of working in sales, I'm teaching middle schoolers. Our principal did a great job addressing what happened in politically neutral middle school friendly terms in the morning. I left it up to the students if they wanted to talk about it or not. I had one group that did and I felt like I was threading a needle in the conversation - one comes from a democratic family, one a conservative family, and one with a conspiracy theorist father. I talked about how people can make decisions in a large group that aren't good choices more easily than if they are acting alone and about herd mentality. We talked about "keyboard warriors" and how people start drama online. We talked about how anyone can post anything online and claim it is true and about how I try to get news from a variety of reputable places. It was hard. They did all tell me they felt respected and heard, so that was good. The last thing I want to do as an educator is make a student feel defensive about their family's political leanings, so I tried to stay as neutral as possible and stick to facts when answering questions. I felt like a ran a marathon afterward, though.

[Frances]

19 hours ago, bethben said:

I wish it could be just get used to the new normal and everything will go back to people just upset that their guy didn’t get in.  I’m crying daily.   The rate at which non confrontational conservative voices are being kicked off of facebook and Twitter is scary.  A whole new group of them happened today.  The national dialogue of opposing viewpoints is being shut down to only one viewpoint.  Also, I have never heard multiple voices from one side saying that one side should be silenced altogether and re-educated.  This is what is freaking me out.   I’m honestly scared and not just disappointed.  

Could you please post a link to the whole new group of non confrontational conservatives being kicked off Facebook and Twitter recently? I’ve searched but can’t find anything. Thank you!

[Starr]

19 hours ago, AmandaVT said:

It's been a hard couple of days. I feel similarly to how I felt after 9/11 except instead of working in sales, I'm teaching middle schoolers. Our principal did a great job addressing what happened in politically neutral middle school friendly terms in the morning. I left it up to the students if they wanted to talk about it or not. I had one group that did and I felt like I was threading a needle in the conversation - one comes from a democratic family, one a conservative family, and one with a conspiracy theorist father. I talked about how people can make decisions in a large group that aren't good choices more easily than if they are acting alone and about herd mentality. We talked about "keyboard warriors" and how people start drama online. We talked about how anyone can post anything online and claim it is true and about how I try to get news from a variety of reputable places. It was hard. They did all tell me they felt respected and heard, so that was good. The last thing I want to do as an educator is make a student feel defensive about their family's political leanings, so I tried to stay as neutral as possible and stick to facts when answering questions. I felt like a ran a marathon afterward, though.

It sounds like you did a great job!  I can imagine it was totally exhausting. 

[historically accurate]

26 minutes ago, Frances said:

Could you please post a link to the whole new group of non confrontational conservatives being kicked off Facebook and Twitter recently? I’ve searched but can’t find anything. Thank you!

I'm not the poster you responded to, but I, too, was interested. Bethben, if I am completely off base with what you have seen, please let me know. I am only going off of what you posted in a few sentences. I haven't been able to find any first hand reports of non-confrontational conservatives who has had their account locked. But some sites are reporting their numbers of followers allegedly dropping. No mainstream reporting that I can find yet. 

https://www.lifenews.com/2021/01/09/twitter-starts-massive-purge-of-pro-life-conservative-accounts-claiming-harmful-activity/

Note I found this exact story on 3 sites. Breitbart also came up in my searching, but I didn't check them to see what they said, because, well, Breitbart. 

But I found a very similar article from August 2020 as well: https://realclimatescience.com/2020/08/massive-twitter-purge-in-progress/

Edited January 9, 2021 by historically accurate

[Not_a_Number]

19 hours ago, bethben said:

The national dialogue of opposing viewpoints is being shut down to only one viewpoint.

What is this one viewpoint you are complaining about? 

[Drama Llama]

20 hours ago, bethben said:

I wish it could be just get used to the new normal and everything will go back to people just upset that their guy didn’t get in.  I’m crying daily.   The rate at which non confrontational conservative voices are being kicked off of facebook and Twitter is scary.  A whole new group of them happened today.  The national dialogue of opposing viewpoints is being shut down to only one viewpoint.  Also, I have never heard multiple voices from one side saying that one side should be silenced altogether and re-educated.  This is what is freaking me out.   I’m honestly scared and not just disappointed.  

Can you share the names of some of those voices?  Or a link so that we can read about it?  

 

[wintermom]

Watching and praying for you all from north of the border. 

[Ausmumof3]

What I’ve seen is a tonne of conservative voices cancelling their Twitter and Facebook accounts because they are upset about the POTUS account being suspended.  I haven’t seen anything saying people are being kicked off.  I’m curious to know if that’s true and if so what the basis given was (were they in breach of the terms of service we all agree to without reading or something?). Just curious about how it’s happening.