2024 November 5 Election Time Manners

Hi, this is Jim Cranston from 7EveryMinute and 7EveryMinute.com, the podcast and website about reimagining your life. Thanks for joining me today to talk about election etiquette. 

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Thanks for joining me tonight to talk about behaving nicely. It’s a simple topic and we’ve talked about it before, both this year and in previous years. We’re talking about Election Day Etiquette. And it extends to the days after Election Day as well—for the rest of  your life.

Between mainstream news and various troll farms flaming the infernos on Social Media, nothing can be a topic for discussion anymore, while everything is fair game to be mortally offending and even cause claim your rights were violated because you were triggered without warning.

Similarly, everyone on both sides of the political aisle are making wild claims and preparing for Armageddon. Everyone: just stop it. Is politics important? Yes, definitely.

But so are many other things. National security, national debt, our form of government, judicial independence, having a diverse political landscape instead of two sides of the same coin, the list goes on and on. But much of the country has now been trained that not only the most important thing, but often the only thing that matters in your life, is your political leaning.

I have been called a worthless, ignorant, heartless, uncaring scum by the man whose care I was helping to pay for while he was eating dinner that I was paying for at a restaurant. How could this be?!? Because as has become so common, he was painting the evil ones in broad strokes based not upon their actions, but by their political leanings.

Generalizations, and especially dehumanizing terms, have no place in a civil society, and yet that is all we see, at all levels, by both parties, these days. Again, two sides of the same coin.

When the President, Vice President, Former President and Vice Presidential Candidate all feel comfortable calling the other half various names including terrorists, there is a real breakdown in society. And insofar as elections being stolen, have you bothered to check out Venezuela or Georgia (the country)? Both recently had elections, and the loser simply ignored the results and called out the military to attack their citizens. So no—we have never been even mildly close to having an election truly stolen. As with everything, what happens happens, but it is still up to you as to how you react to it.

Personally, except as needed for my work with this podcast, I essentially never scroll through any of the social media channels these days. I truly have better things to do with my time than listen to my friends, and potentially some soon-to-be-former friends, make fools of themselves on the world stage.

Any article or story that breathlessly starts out predicting the end of the world if this or that candidate wins is not honored by my reading past the first paragraph, and often just the headline. Conversely, any story that starts out with a fact-based statement will get my full attention, irrespective of whether it is for or against my particular viewpoints.

See the trend here? I am fanatically interested in the future of the country, and equally fanatically uninterested in a baseless accusation based upon generalizations. I have the right, and the ability, to filter the news I consume based upon quality of content. And to equally avoid opinions that are really just attacking other groups based upon baseless common knowledge and more generalizations.

Not only do I have that right and ability, so do you. If you don’t like the news you are seeing, or if there aren’t many facts and it’s just rehashed accusations, find another news source. And if you don’t like what your friends are saying, or how they are saying it, then it may be time to reconsider what is important to you in a friendship and if it’s time to level up your friendship selection criteria.

Especially as we get older, making new friends isn’t an easy choice, but living with stress, or even being emotionally attacked, is not a healthy lifestyle either. So in this needlessly heated election season, remember that it is okay to not get swept up in heated or accusatory discussions, and that you aren’t obligated to watch TV news or browse social media.

It is your life and you have the right to live it in a way that is consistent with your vision and goals. That includes NOT being a part of the partisan fighting, and finding people who also feel that there is merit in looking for commonality instead of differences. 

Good luck in navigating the needlessly hostile landscape, and don’t be put off, or excessively swayed, by the many predictions of doom if one person wins or the other. 

That's it for the evening.

Your homework (always optional) is to come up with some ways of avoiding answering someone who asks you who you voted for. It can range from simple meaningless phrases such as It was a very difficult choice to the more forward There’s a reason they are called secret ballots or even a little joke. You are under no obligation to have to share your choices and ignore when people try to pressure you.

Extra points if you also think about ways to excuse yourself from heated political discussions. Again, things like a little joke such as This sounds like my last meeting at work! to just saying that you don’t feel this is how friends should talk to each other, or any other way that you feel comfortable saying. <3

That’s it for the evening. Please remember the many wars currently active in the world—in Ukraine, the Middle East, Africa and everywhere there are disasters or suffering. If you are able and interested, the page of Ukraine donation links is still up at UKR7.com.

The other link is to World Central Kitchen, which is José Andrés’ group. They are totally humanitarian, providing meals for people in need. You can find them at WCK.org. Remember that one of the best ways to care for yourself is to care for others.

So as always, be true to yourself and live your life aligned with your true goals and feelings. As always, thank you for stopping by!  If you found something interesting or useful, please pass it along and please subscribe and hit that Like button. If not, please drop me a comment as to what you would like to hear. 

Have a great week! Remember to live the life you dreamed of because that's the path to true contentment. Love and encouragement to everyone and see you next week on 7EveryMinute and 7EveryMinute.com.