Realtor Leigh Thomas Brown reads and responds to online comments about her politics. She's run for office three times and argues real estate work is inherently political, especially zoning decisions. She opposes nationwide rent control, calling it an economic disaster, but warns against letting politics destroy friendships.
Is it Jimmy Kimmel that did the whole mean tweets thing where he had celebrities read out loud the things that have been said to them on the interwebs? Well, if it wasn't, y'all can correct me in the comments because I know you will. But I thought that since I'm getting these entertaining comments and I'm just a realtor with an iPhone, that I would just let y'all hear my response. But I'm gonna have to put my reading glasses on because I'm medium-aged and I can't see everything. In response to a lot of people finding out that I do have political opinions about things, there were a couple of constant remarks. One of them is, I'm unfollowing. Okay, I mean, that's what you're allowed to do. That's what free speech looks like. I can say it, you don't have to listen to it. But I do love that you announce your departure like we're at the airport. I personally don't have to announce it if I don't want to follow someone anymore. I just don't. But bye. Okay, the other comment that keeps coming in is, keep your politics to yourself, you're going to lose business. Well, this is going to come as a shock to some of y'all that don't know me very well, but I've run for office 3 times. My politics are pretty much out there. I think what makes me unique is that I'm not hateful and ugly about it. My personal close circle of people includes people that disagree with me on a lot of topics, and we still love one another as humans, and we know exactly what to talk about and what to stop arguing about because we love each other more than we love politics. So So if you're the person that tells me to keep my mouth shut, I'm going to say to you, no, because politically there are a lot of things that I feel compelled to talk about as a REALTOR® because politics is involved with real estate and real estate is involved with politics. And if you think I'm being hyperbolic there, go to your next planning and zoning meeting in your county and you will find out exactly what the politics look like. And no, it's not the D.C. politics, although we have a lot of real estate issues at the federal level that are important. Those local local politics, you're in real estate, you better be involved. And this is not, I repeat, not the time to be neutral. Not when there are statements coming out of the executive branch calling for nationwide rent control. Y'all, that's not a partisan statement. That is terrible, terrible policy. It has been looked at by economists and numbers people. For every area that's tried it, it's a disaster. That's why I'm going to speak on politics. So for you who tell me to keep my mouth shut, no. All right, the next comments I saw told me, oh, that I'm a hypocrite and I'm awful. Okay, you don't know me, so I guess you can now announce your departure. That's fine too. And then there's just a plethora of people who tell me they love me. I love those comments, y'all. They're my favorites. Here's the moral of the story though. It's great to engage with each other. It's terrible to engage and call names. It's great to have opinions that differ from somebody you know. It's terrible to let your difference of opinions drive you away from people. We have to remember that politics should not be our religion. It can be your Super Bowl, but it should not take over your life. And right now, we're at a time when politics seems to have infiltrated every single thing. So you get to ask yourself, How much are you interested in? How much are you not interested in? For me, I totally look at politics with a very serious, critical thinking eye. I also have a sense of humor, and I also know that God matters more to me than politics. My husband matters more to me than politics. My children matter more to me than politics, and my friends matter more to me than politics. So as long as I keep my priorities in line, I can enjoy what's going on. But more importantly, I'll be a voice that stands up And if you disagree with me, I'm still gonna stand up for you too.
