America Divided: Can We Unite?

Well, welcome back to another Walk Talk. My name is Rob Greenlee, and I just wanted to come to you again and talk to you about the post-presidential election kind of ideas and thoughts that I'm having based on what I'm seeing in the world today. And just wanted to share some thoughts for you to think about in the environment that we are evolving into. And I know the results of the election have upset many people in the Democratic Party, and we're seeing really an unfortunate kind of meltdown of people's emotions about the choices that the majority of Americans made about the direction of this country and who the President of the United States is. And I think it's indicative of a little bit of an adjustment in people's kind of perceptions that have been— unfortunately, it's been plain for me to see that the mainstream media has been playing a significant role in people's vision and what they see in the world today. And if you only really follow just the mainstream media, and I'm specifically referring to cable television channels and a lot of the mainstream kind of media that's out there, you know, the newspapers and the magazines that also have online websites, AP, all these news sources that have been clearly, their coverage of the political landscape has been skewed towards the Democratic Party. And that's been pretty obvious to see as we've seen the independent media actually grow in its popularity and become really, I think at the end of the day, the independent, and this includes podcasting, has become the mainstream source of news and information for the American people. And so when we see mainstream media, and I'm more referring to like CNN, MSNBC, and even to some degree Fox News, that they have a skewed perception of what the news is, right? And they tend to only cover political topics, right? So this whole concept of unbiased news has gone out the window. And so what we've seen is people that follow certain channels of news, what they think is news, are really more political opinion. And that is unfortunate because we as an American people should not be driven based on individual views when we're expecting to get unbiased news, right? And I guess what's happened is that our journalism has been taken over by profit interests and the fact that people are very tribal, right? And people like to get on a side. It's not unlike what I think is the case with being a fan of a football team. Or a baseball team or a basketball team. People are very tribal and they like to follow things that they like, they align with, their community around them also aligns with that. And so I think it's a very human nature kind of a thing. But up until the, like, the last, maybe the last 8 years or 10 years or something like that, we have been as a country I think a little bit more aligned than we are now, right? So what we're seeing happen post the election is that people are not really learning from what happened in the election and questioning why this happened, right? And I'm seeing this growth in interest of those on the Democratic side wanting to leave like platforms like X or Twitter, as some people on the left like to refer to it, even though it's been completely rebranded, has a new name. People on the left or Democrats tend to refer to X as Twitter exclusively, which I think is an indication of their— how can I say— their disrespect for the choices that Elon Musk has made. So I think it's another example of bias that is coming into it and has been expressed to me online and in conversations that I have seen online of this term that I think is very indicative of what's happening, and that is intolerance. Has come into our civil discourse, our conversations that we have as American citizens in our social channels. And this intolerance comes from our own individual bias and our own kind of tribalism. And this bias is being inflected upon this concept of free speech, right? So as people think about the First Amendment rights of free speech and they use the term intolerance, what that tells me is that the person that's using that term intolerance is not very tolerant of anything that they disagree with, right? There are no legal restrictions on free speech. Based on intolerance. There are some very— there's very few statutes, criminal statutes, that limit free speech. And I think we all know what they are, right? If someone says something that is threatening to violence to another person, then that's considered criminal free speech— or not free speech, but criminal speech. And then also, if you insult someone, there is clauses in the criminal code that give a person the right to sue someone, probably civilly, it's probably not a criminal thing, against any defamation that may have happened. Those are criminal statutes that are outside of the restrictions unlimited restrictions of the First Amendment of free speech. So, so I think we've strayed into an area that is unfortunate because it's going to be very difficult for people to come back from this concept that we should all be tolerant for most speech and respectful to others that have a different view. I think all of us in America want what's best for America. So I think we all come at this from an intention of doing what's right. And I think doing what's right is the opposite of intolerance, right? Tolerance should be our willingness as humans to accept and respect the view of another person, right? So that actually comes into a lot of elements in our lives, right? So intolerance is something that comes from mental discipline, emotional control, and our ability to listen, comprehend, and think maybe that someone else may have something that I can learn. And I'm definitely open to that because that's what I went through. For most of my life, I was a Democrat and I aligned with that, right? But the world has changed. And I think all of you watching this probably would agree with me that things are not the way they used to be. If you're— in a lot of ways, that's okay. That they're not the same. The world changes over time, and our society is changing, and I think there are increasing numbers of views, and I think the complexity of our world is, is adding to that. You throw into the mix AI, and you throw into the mix the openness of the internet and the availability of all of us to reach large numbers of people very easily through these social media platforms is very powerful. And I guess it's unreasonable to think that there isn't going to be some backlash to that, that people in politics are going to want to take advantage of that, right? And I think that's what we've seen over the last probably 12 years at least is the internet's ability to manipulate people in their thoughts and emotions. I think all you have to do is look at Facebook and see that happening. And I think to some degree that was happening with Twitter prior to Elon Musk acquiring it. Now granted, many people view what's happened to Twitter X as Elon putting his thumb on the scale of allowing it to become what is being viewed by the Democrats increasingly because of this move over to Blue Sky as a right-wing extremist platform, right? But what a lot of people don't realize is that if they're Democrats or liberals and they choose to leave X, they're actually leaving what I would consider to be the community square, right? And they're going off to their own kind of safety zone of a blue sky, which the name of it implies an allegiance and an alliance with the Democratic Party, right? So those people that are moving out of X are leaving what I would consider to be the global public square, as Elon has expressed many times, over to, a Democrat echo chamber or a liberal echo chamber where people feel, I guess, safe to be intolerant. Because that's what's been expressed to me. And that's unfortunate. And I'm really disappointed. People, this is a free choice country and people should be able to make their own choices, and I respect them for doing it. But I think that what they say is that they're doing it for all these reasons around, we don't want to be tolerant of the speech that's going on the X platform, and they don't agree with it, so they're going to abandon it and move on to their own safety zone of the, the blue sky platform. Now granted, there's both ends of the spectrum that are going on too. There's Truth Social, which was started by Donald Trump, which is at the other end of the spectrum. And what is concerning to me is, is that if we see people on the right and on the left exit to their own platforms or their own communities, and abandon what has been here more recently over the last couple of years, seeing Democrats and Republicans intermingling with each other to have thoughtful expressions of ideas and let's say arguments that have happened over there. And there's a global experience on the X platform. That can be— what can I say— emotionally challenging, right, to accept, understand, or trust. There's a lot of things that are shared over there that if someone is not strong and emotionally tolerant of things that are differing from their own worldview, then I can see where there might be or there likely is some emotional reaction that they may think is negative. And I think that's what's really going on here. And so what I'm concerned about is that people are running to their safe sides and not talking to each other anymore, and people are having extreme behavioral reactions. And ultimately, I blame the politicians And I blame mainstream media for doing this. And to some degree, the independent media has played into that too. But that's the atmosphere that we're in right now. These media personalities and these media websites and mainstream media are making a lot of money on driving division in this country and making people hate each other. And that's what's going on here. And that's the part that I'm really sad about, is that I keep hearing about families being divided. There's people that are saying, I don't know what I'm gonna do at Christmas time because my family members didn't vote for such and such candidate and I can't talk to them anymore. I think this is complete craziness. And I think we need to get back to respecting and tolerating difference of opinions. And this applies to all sides, whether it be the Republicans or the Democrats or people that are not even involved in politics. There's still a huge amount of people in this country that didn't even vote in the election, and if they're pulling themselves out of the civic process. And I think that's also extremely dangerous here as we get further and further down this divide. Let's say what it is. We see more and more people pulling out of being an active citizen and expressing their views because they feel threatened. And if they run to a side and don't have acceptance and tolerance of different views, then we're gonna head down a path that's hard to come back from. And I worry that's the direction that we're going. And I try and be unbiased and try and think the best of everyone and, and respect everyone on their views. And where they're thinking is the right thing to do, but I don't see that coming back the other way. And that's what makes me concerned about the future of this country. And Donald Trump coming into office, he is gonna change things. And I think what we all have to look at is, are those changes gonna create a better and stronger United States of America. And I'm increasingly seeing that's probably going to be the outcome. The problem is if half the country doesn't see intended and what was communicated during the campaign that the majority of Americans voted for isn't accepted, and the other side fights him every step of the way, and even the the government and the deep state fights him all the way on making very, I think, potentially positive changes in our government. They may not be ones that make you feel comfortable, or— but sometimes change and improvement is difficult. And I think that, that is the key kind of way to look at this is that change is not easy, and we are in a time of massive and rapid change. And I think I would hold your head high and be friendly to your neighbor, be friendly to your online communications with others, and listen to each other. I'm listening and I want to hear what you think. Please make a comment in the thread of this, this video, and I hope you find peace. If you're disappointed based on the outcome of the election, I hope things smooth out for you. I don't really know that's going to be the case. I think a lot of people are in massive distress because they don't know the level of changes that are happening. And I think each one of us just has to be willing to learn and become more tolerant and just get out and be with your family, accept those difference of views, respect them, and move on with your life. Nothing is gonna negatively happen to this country. I, I just don't see that happening. What I see happening is things getting better. Now granted, we have to be willing to accept that is the potential outcome here, but my worry is that everything turns into a divisive argument. So I say, I don't want to make this too long of a video. I'm just out for a walk and I've seen a lot of discussion since the last walk-talk that I made where I talked about the fact that the American people won the last election as opposed to the government winning the election. And I think that's a key way to start thinking about this, is that Donald Trump does represent the values that the US Constitution was created, the values of the United States of America. And I think that's why he won. And I know that may be hard to take for some of you, but there's a lot of people out there that agree with the choice. And I think we have to be tolerant of that. Maybe being a patriot is not a bad thing. And though I think that is demonized now more than ever, and that's really sad and unfortunate. So as I walk here in Connecticut and a sunset is happening right now, as I walk down the street— this is a street that's getting cleared and remade. Actually, I made a video about this street and how the city was coming through and clearing all of the debris, and it felt like it was just chaos going on here. But, but thank you for watching this all the way through. I know it's a longer video than I had intended because this issue is so complicated and so important to all of us to get our head together and be able to process what's happening and look at the positive side of this and realize that Maybe our U.S. government is a little too bloated. It's a little bit too powerful in its own interests, and that maybe are disengaging from the interests of being a representative government. And that's what I was starting to see increasingly with all the lies, the corruption, and the deception that is coming out of the government, as well as the corporate side. And I'm just worried that we won't be able to take back this country as a representative constitutional republic, which is what this country was founded on. And that's what I think this battle is all about right now, is maintaining the Constitution that we've all, over most of my life, have aligned with, even the Democrats, and not been pro-war, pro-censorship, pro-trying to moderate people's views. Because what that is, is that's putting a thumb on the American people saying you don't have a say. And what happened here at this election is the American people saying, yeah, we do have a say and we vote for this guy because this guy is fighting for us. Now you may disagree with that view, but that's how it came across to me as I was watching both parties and look at their policies and look at their direction that they were on, which was the better path to go that was more constitutionally based, was more American values based, more based on how I was brought up in this country. To expect from the government. And so, like I said, I went off the rails, and I thank you for watching this, and I appreciate you. And please subscribe to my channel. I'll keep it up to date with a variety of shows that I'm doing on that platform, and I do a bunch of podcasts too. But I'm trying to get involved a little bit in the political commentary to help people see the world from more of a balanced view. Now granted, you may walk away from this seeing me as being biased towards the right, and that would probably be somewhat accurate, but I spent most of my life as a Democrat. So I put myself in the same shoes as like a Tulsi Gabbard or any of these folks that decided to move from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party because of all the things that I've talked about in this video. And I think all of us need to just reevaluate the positions that we're taking and how we're treating others and maybe choose a little bit of a different path, because I'm trying to. So have a wonderful day or wonderful evening wherever you are watching this, and thank you so much, and I'll talk to you again soon. Thanks, bye-bye.