A Warning
One morning before Christmas, I was working out with a friend who I adore, and workout with regularly. She's young, smart, and a recent college graduate. In the middle of our session, my phone started going off incessantly and I finally picked it up. It was, of course, breaking news. That day, it was about the Giuliani bankruptcy.
I apologized to her for taking the call. I got off quickly and told her, by way of explanation, “Rudy Giuliani just filed for bankruptcy.”
“Who's Rudy Giuliani?” she asked.
You know that noise they make in TV sitcoms, the one where the needle scratches across the record, and everything is interrupted? That was what I heard in my head. My mind worked over the implications of her question for the remainder of our time together.
She was born after 9-11. She never knew Giuliani as America's mayor when the Towers fell and certainly not as the staunch pro-law enforcement mayor in the city in earlier years. But it shocked me that someone of voting age was unaware of Giuliani—didn’t recognize his name and associate it with Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
She asked me about the bankruptcy. “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” I explained that he’d lost a big defamation case in Georgia because he said horrible things about two election workers and disrupted their lives. Still no signs of recognition, but she got the point. “What an a**hole,” she concluded, based on my brief description of what he’d done.
I was raised in a politically active family. Politics was dinner table conversation in our house and I’ve been interested and engaged in politics for my entire life. This conversation was such an important reminder for me that not everyone is. And it’s not always because of a lack of interest.
I decided to get a gut check from my 21-year-old. “Do you know who Rudy Giuliani is?” I asked. He rolled his eyes. Of course he does. He reminded me he’s my son. But then, he schooled me on how it works for his generation. College kids, or most of them, don’t watch TV news or read newspapers. They get it from their social media feeds.
Intellectually I know this.
“Giuliani and Trump are all over your newsfeed Mom but now newsfeeds are customized. The only news I've seen today is about chess and rap music. [editor’s note: have I failed as a parent?] The algorithm generates your feed based on what you're interested in, and over time, you just get what you’re already into.” So it makes sense that my friend hadn’t seen anything about Rudy Giuliani. She’s not a politics junkie or a news junkie.
Don’t be afraid to share what you know and what you’re thinking about the upcoming election, especially with younger voters. They’ll tell you if they already know. But what if they don’t? What if they’re like my friend? Before Christmas, we looked at some numbers on voter turnout, which is particularly low among young voters. Some statistics from the 2014 election in particular revealed that 20% of those who didn’t vote stayed away because they didn’t like candidates, didn’t know enough, or didn’t care.
This is such a valuable insight. It’s a warning to make sure that we don’t assume that those around us know everything we know about the upcoming election and what it means for the future. Not everyone watched the January 6 committee hearings or has been exposed to the overwhelming evidence of Donald Trump’s perfidy. Take the time to start the conversation, whether it’s over a cup of coffee, in line at the supermarket, or in the gym. One voter at a time.
I got lunch with my friend after we worked out today. She told me she’d read a few articles about Giuliani and realized what it was about. She asked a couple of questions about the election interference case against Trump. Apparently, those few articles she’d looked at piqued her interest—and influenced her algorithm.
Donald Trump will end American democracy if he’s reelected. He will corrupt our country for his own benefit. He has not made a secret of it. The only question is whether enough of our fellow citizens will be aware of what the 2024 election means for the future and care enough when we go to the polls to prevent Trump from returning to power. The small steps that we take during the next few months will pay big dividends.
We've got to do everything we can.
We’re in this together,
Joyce
I live in a relatively small city and work in a relatively public field (health care). Up until very recently I've made an effort to keep my political life separate from my work, social and social media life. But a few weeks ago I came to the conclusion that continuing to "silo" my convictions was not helping anyone - not me or anyone who might read them. If my employer takes umbrage I'll deal with it. If I'm terminated it's their loss. I'm almost 72 and very, very good at what I do, and have been holding on through hard times out of loyalty as much as anything else. If freed from work obligations I'll have more time (though less money) to put into supporting the things that are important to me: the survival of our democracy and a fairer society for all of us. And knitting to stay sane.
I had a similar experience. With my daughter. I've been unable to interest or irritate her into reading more than basic headlines. Don't get me wrong. She knows who Trump and Giuliani etc are, and what they've done and why they're on trial. What she hadn't done is VOTE. This year will be different. She's seen and read about the people that are suffering untold miseries because of Maga bullshit in Congress, too and countrywide. Her understanding of the past is less than mine. But finally, FINALLY she sees the threat to her friends and family. And now she's mad. Now she will vote. And now she's beginning to be involved in democracy because now she knows people who are being denied aspects of it which she hasn't been denied.......YET. I hope she continues to learn. I feel the way to talk to those ignorant of so much of this is, as I've said before, to talk to people about what they need or feel is withheld from them or people they care about. Anywhere we can chat with people, we need to ask questions and listen to the answers. And....we need to know how Biden and Dems have been striving to and have improved so much. Point to where the positive changes are happening. Then listen some more.