Yet that's right, y'all. Welcome to another episode of Civic Cipher. I'm your host, rams Is Jack to call me q Ward, and today we're going to have to talk about the elephant and the donkey in the room, both of them. Unless you've been living under a rock, you recognize that we are in a state of uneasiness because of our
nation's uncertain future. But you know, on this show, what we want to do is provide some context and do our best to explain or discuss or work our way through the things that we know, not to necessarily speculate on things that we don't know. And so for today's episode, obviously it's a special episode. Every single you know news show is doing special episodes based on the election. But what we're going to do is discuss some of the things that stood out to us, to me, especially about
what has happened this past week. And so we'll start at the top trump Ism, you know, the Donald Trump fanatics and his fan base. So I want to start this off by saying, I recognize that there are some people who are Democrats and there are some people who are Republicans, and if the Republican Party just happens to be the only political party that you can identify with or at least most closely aligns with your belief system. That is not bad, that's not a sin, that's not
a crime. You know, some people they have to certive conservative values and that that party speaks to those values, and that's okay. But Donald Trump has obviously and very publicly gone against many of the ideals of that party, many of the ideals of democracy. I would even take it as far as to say humanity. And what we're left with in this moment is his fanatics, the groups of people that he's galvanized to vote for him who
are passionate about him. Now that's not to say that all people who voted for Donald Trump are Donald Trump fanatics. They're not. They don't get an excuse, you know, they certainly don't get a prepass from from I think from you know, people like me, a black man who just is a little bit more sensible and just is of the persuasion that we have to share this country, this city, the state, this planet with each other. You know, those
people don't get off the hook. But I do recognize that if that if you tend to vote down ticket, you know, and you're a diehard Republican that Donald Trump is the only option that you may have had.
You're so kind. I have to set it up. I have to set it up. You're so kind, man, I gotta do.
Let me set it up. So, but there are some people who are very much on the Trump train, if you will. Those are the people that you know, they wear the Maga hats and they you know, they're proud of the person they voted for. There's a lot of Republican people who they just don't believe in democratic values. They don't want whatever they've been taught to be afraid of.
Not to not to place blame, because we're all taught fears in different ways, but you know that's what they learned, you know, growing up, and and you know that's the reality of the situation. But there are some folks h and everyone has to admit, there are some folks who are fanatics. It's almost like a cult, you know.
It's not almost like anything. He has a he has a a very pronounced zealot base.
Absolutely. So we've seen what has happened with this Trump train, this trump uh trump Ism many times over the past four years. His fanatics are willing to do whatever he says. They they found their guy. Typically they're white males, sometimes they're Karens, and they feel like they've gotten their country back and they've gotten back there. But everything that they thought they lost under the Obama administration, they have discovered a new sense of pride and a renewed sense of selfishness.
I would imagine, you know, if I'm if I'm being kind about it, and a sense of ownership in this country, you know, and and and that their belief system is the only belief system that is valid, right Ah, But I think that you know, this what we've seen in the past few days of people, you know, standing outside of ballot offices with guns, you know, people echoing his his sentiments about how the election processes rigged, the same election process that elected him and l and largely with
even without even a moticum of proof, they just will get out there, you know, one or two conspiracy theories is all they need to do to all they need to grab their gun and go out. And you know, it's it's really the definition of fasci fascism, fascian fascistism is that how you say that whatever it is, uh, you know, That's that's what it is. When you take a gun and you go and try to, you know, keep track of what's going on.
Uh.
When we have bipartisan committees that are you know, monitoring the votes and so forth and so on, then you have these fans, these fanatics rather and my worry is that on the other side of this, we're going to have to deal with these people. Now the most the scariest thing about this is, you know, not just dealing with these people, right. I wanted to take a moment to identify that this group of people exists. But now
you know, you said I was being kind earlier. I also want to talk about the other approximately seventy million people that voted for Donald Trump. My understanding is that Joe Biden is the candidate who has received the most presidential votes in the history of this country, but the second most voted for a candidate in this country is Donald Trump. And he's had four years to show everyone exactly who he is, exactly what he stands for, exactly
what he stands against. He's insulted everybody under the sun, including people who have been sick. I'm not talking about Muslims. I'm talking I'm not talking about Mexican I'm talking about people. You know, the virus didn't discriminate against anyone, and his cavalier attitude toward you know, the deaths of so many people, and the same attitude reflected in his cabinet and in his family and so forth, has not kept any of
these people from casting a vote for him. And my worry is that we're going to have to come to terms with the fact that there was no blue wave as we expected it. You know, it came down to the come down, and that's very sad. For a while, I was very sad about that because I expected humans to human and I don't mean that to sound negative. I meant it to sound positive, like it's in our core, the core of who we are, to be social creatures, to understand that we need each other and to you know,
see the best in each other. And the fact that he has, you know, used fear and intimidation and wielded that successfully to get people to look beyond their own capacity to love and find love and find commonality with other folks and succumb to fear and cast a vote for him. Almost seventy million people's worth is very scary. Because we still have to share whole country with these people, whether or not they're waving Trump flags or blue shirts
matter flags on the back of their trucks. Q. Have you had any thoughts about these things yourself?
Yes, And that's why it's very, very difficult for me to feel any sense of accomplishment or relief. Okay, even as you know the polls, which the people who make these polls should be fired, Like this is second election in a row where the poles have made it, have made it seem like one candidate would win this thing rather easily, and it's been in you know, contentious to the very last vote for now the second election in
a row. So he makes you wonder who these people are talking to, you know, where are they collecting this data and how is it so inaccurate? But even so, even with a Joe Biden win, the second highest vote tally for any presidential candidate in history belongs to Donald Trump four years after he's been the president.
Already got impeached, got impeached, scandal after scandal, everybody's in jail at work for him.
This I've never in my lifetime, and especially in my adult life as a voter walked into the ballot box with a with a good versus evil mentality. It's always been Democrat versus Republican, and I've always been able to peacefully disagree with my countrymen who had conservative Republican principles. And in most cases it was either very very Christian or very very rich, and they could explain to you in a way that would make perfect sense to you, even if you didn't agree with it, and even if
you didn't feel the same way. When you finished hearing them speak and articulate their position, you could say, okay, understand that, and go to work and sit next to that person the next day, and go to lunch with that person, go to family gatherings and company picnics and all that stuff with that person. Because they weren't voting in direct conflict with your personal livelihood. They just shared different political views than you, and that was always okay.
There was a wave one hundred million early voters largely in favor of Joe Biden, tons of mail in ballots largely in favor of Joe Biden, but the fact that nearly seventy million people cast a vote in favor of Donald Trump is excessively disheartening, and for what it's worth, because people that I know and people that I like and care about are a part of that zealot base of his. I know because they keep messaging me, trying to educate me on all the wonderful things about their president.
The Republican Party, as we've always known it has now ceased to exist absolutely because his constituents, his colleagues, the Republican patriots that he serves with, have not stood in his way at a single turn, have not stood opposite of him on a single issue. So it is no
longer the Republican Party. It's Trump the Trump Party. And unless when he unless he loses this election and his whole family and their whole collective goes to prison, someone from his family, someone from his circle, will represent that party from now on. So please know that in four years, someone either last named Trump or that serves with him or works with him, is going to be running on the Trump ticket, not the Republican ticket, but on the
Trump ticket again. And that if one hundred and sixty million people voted, one hundred and fifty million people voted, if close to half of them voted for him, let's believe that half the country feels the way that he does.
And that's the part that's very scary.
Bro, Like, it's hard to even with a win, feel good when that's the truth.
Yeah, let me say this.
Please go ahead.
So in Arizona, where we live, we made news for the state going blue, which felt good. You know, wasn't
something that we were necessarily expecting or counting on. Certainly when I was watching the polls, I didn't believe anything until the last second, you know, But when I found that that Arizona had gone blue, I thought to myself, like, wow, you know what, maybe at least here in this you know, the state that's close to California, that's in between you know, New Mexico and California, you know, there's some compassion, some decency, some humanity, and some moral standards that are being upheld
by the people out here for that office. And I'm not kidding myself. I do recognize that Arizona is a red state. Next election, fully expect Arizona to keep voting Republican. But at least where we lived, there was a rebuke. The majority of folks, you know, stood up and said, no,
we don't want to do this. Anymore. But the fact that it came down to I think somewhere around eighty thousand ballots one way or the other, when there's I'm not sure exactly how many voters there are, registered voters there are, but it's a very small number of millions for relative to population, suggests that there's a lot of people out here who look past all of the things that you mentioned and still cast a ballot for that man who has made life very difficult and traumatic for
people who are not rich, or maybe people who are not Christian, and you know, and a lot of folks really feel like this is a Christian country. But this country was founded by folks who escaped religious persecution. But they wrote it into the laws. And if you believe in this this country and this democracy, then you'll recognize that there is no state religion. You know, you're free
to practice. There's freedom of religion in the Constitution. And so these two things, it's very difficult for me to reconcile it. And then knowing that I have to get out and take a walk. And I know which neighbors put those Trump signs in.
Their yards, not just in their yards, look at the six foot flags they put in the back of their trucks.
Too, you know. But there's a distinction there. There's some people who are like, look, I'm a Republican, as I said earlier, and then there's some people who are like, I'm a Trumper, you know, and the Trumpers are the ones with the flags. In my opinion, by and large, Republicans are people that support you know, they got you know, the Senate person they want, and the congressmen or women that they want, and then they have the president that
they want who reflects their belief system. And I've done my best to try to get to a point where I can understand that if the world stayed the way that it is right now, it wouldn't affect them negatively and they would be fine. And they just don't care. Not that they're actively trying to harm me with their vote or you know, disenfranchise me with their vote, but
that it's not on their radar. And that's again a kind way of putting it, extremely kind, but that's you know, you have to get to that point in order to have this sort of a conversation with a platform like this.
Now, you guys see why Rams is going to heaven. That type of grace. Well, that's very and that type of understanding is what the good Book would have us do. And that's the way that the good Book would have us think. I wish I could say I agree with you, brother.
Well, you know, sometimes you have to be diplomatic, and of course this is one of those times, because no matter what, I still have to live with not just the million and a half or so people in the state where I live, but also those seventy million people that I share this less than seventy million, but approximately
seventy million people that I share the country with. And if I carry the anger and the fear and the you know, or any anything that's this basic, any basic emotion with me moving for it, I can remember, I can certainly insulate myself from further.
And please know, I don't want you to be aggressive or angry or afraid. I do want you to be aware, though, I don't want you to extend so much grace that you're not paying attention.
Yeah. Yeah, and that's it. That's a fair that's what I'm saying. Yeah, that's a fair thing to float. But you know, I think that you know this this actual show. Civic Cipher was founded It was created by me stepping away from an old radio station and creating a new platform because the old radio station did not want to give a voice to black and brown folks that were on the streets protesting the murder of George Floyd. And
when I stepped away, I wrote an open letter. A lot of folks know about this, but I wrote an open letter resignation, and built into that letter was forgiveness because I recognized that some people they just can't see the forest from the trees. Some people they are extremely afraid of what could go wrong, and they don't focus on what can go right. This is the problem that socialism has. You know, people don't think, Okay, we have the best minds in the world, in this country. We
can engineer our way through all these problems. Socialism at its core, the essence of what it is, the thrust, the spirit of it makes perfect sense, you know what I mean. The mechanics are things that we have to work our way through. Capitalism isn't perfect. Socialism may not be perfect too, but we can certainly work the angles. And if the philosophy behind the system is sound, then I think that it's worth an investment of our engineering
talents to work our way through the problems. The same holds true with, you know, kind of dealing with folks who cast a ballot in the other direction, cast a ballot for a man who really did not value anybody that didn't look like him or have his amount of money, but certainly lied his way through four years to just that he did, you know, all the things that he made people afraid of, he didn't even do anything like I think he has eight miles of that wall and
he's been president for four years, you understand, And there's two thousand plus miles that he had to build, and Mexico was supposed to pay for that, and I think he paid for those eight miles or we did or something.
I know he Yeah, he didn't pay for anything.
You knew that before you said it wasn't a go for me, a gofund me at any event. It's this energy that I feel is very important to kind of keep at the center of a conversation or at the center of my being when dealing with these folks. And I admit that that is a very difficult thing to do, because never before has an election felt so personally disrespectful to me To my family, to my family's future, to my children, to my friends, white, black, Hispanic, Native, Asian,
pick a country, Muslim, Buddhist. It never for It's like America and everybody else can die. And that's what the vote is because that's who the guy is. And there's no there's nothing there.
That's the thing that he did that's so brilliant, however, is that it's not even America. It's not even go America, and forget everybody else, it's go him.
Yeah.
And it's not just people that look like him that have his that are in his tax bracket, no, very person. It's far more personal than that, him and his friends. And then that's it, his family, his friends, and him. If it benefits them, sure, if it just so happens to benefit you. Please know that you were just collateral. Yeah, you were just adjacent to right. He put out a he put out a building of his that's on fire, and you lived there. He was not saving your life.
He was protecting his investment. So please don't think that there's anything that he's doing with anyone's interest in mind, beside his self or besides his own. He's not in it for you. And I mean that to everyone who can hear this. No matter what you look like, no matter how much money you make, He's not in it for you. He's in it for him.
So let me suggest this, Okay, that brings me the thought. I think it was like ninety of Republicans cast a ballot for Donald Trump in twenty sixteen. Then he had his presidency, complete with impeachment and thousands of lies, hundreds of thousands of deaths, scandal after scandal for years, and
everyone saw it. It was in full view of everyone. And then ninety three percent of Republicans voted for him, And there was an increase in black mail voters voting for Donald Trump, and there was an increase in Hispanic voters for Donald Trump. And I want to make sure that that's said here because I don't think it's fair just
to put this on one group of people. And granted, those folks, those black male voters and those Hispanic voters, certainly weren't the majority of folks voting for him, and they obviously didn't make that big of a difference, you know, in his campaign. But the fact that there was an increase suggests to me that there's some deep seated psychological issues.
It's called brainwashing. Yeah, there you go right upwards of upwards, right ninety and I think higher than ninety percent of black women voted against him. I think over ninety percent.
A couple of things that are glaring is that any minority can support him when he's so outwardly and openly on camera in front of everyone, speaks down on every ethnicity, on every migrant group, all immigrants, all, the fact that he tries to align himself with Christians and evangelicals, this comedy, when we've seen the way that he actually thinks, the way that he speaks when he doesn't think anybody's paying attention,
you know, grab him by the you know what. That came out while he was trying to be elected, and he was still elected. So we're not wondering how this country feels and thinks, right, You often hear people wondering out loud, how specifically Hispanic and more specifically Mexican people can vote for this man when his entire campaign the first time around was based on building a wall to make sure Mexicans could not come into this country. The ideology, the brainwashing.
And a lot of folks they I think they think that they are like him.
Oh no, no, no, there's no, Yes, that's absolutely it.
They think that they're white.
You ever seen you ever seen a nerdy kid turn cool and then start treating other nerdy kids like crap? It's that.
Yeah, that's not me.
I'm not I'm not that he's talking to them.
Yeah.
Oh yeah, all you did was take your glasses off.
My dude, you're still you. You still you come down. That's how it looks.
And all your cool new friends still look at you the same way. Right, you benefit them in some way now because there's a Yeah, there's a reason you're you're you're that they let you into the club. But yes, you know, millions of people who come from these whole countries, as he calls them, into this country, and who have made a life for themselves and who have accumulated some wealth and tasted this American dream now look back and
down on their own people. How about that, because they're now a part of this thing that they're now trying to protect from the vent whoever they are. They're gonna protect what they have now from any outsiders.
Yeah, So we just want y'all to know that we see you, all right, So let's talk about some good news.
We got some good news.
Wolf See.
I was about to say, talk to me. I need it. So I'm anxious.
This past week, one of the big winners was marijuana. Marijuana has been made legal, either recreationally or medicinally, and however, many more states, but the number of states is growing. Every single marijuana build that was on every ballot in the country past, and I think it might have been Mississippi that had two ballots and the more liberal ballot was the one that was uh was that won in their election. And so here in Arizona there is now
recreational marijuana that people will be able to use. Now, let me first start off, I think people are able to grow now too personally, if it's a small amount. Perhaps Now let me start by saying that in my lifetime, I've never smoked marijuana. I don't intend to. I've never drank alcohol, I've never done any drug, never smoked anything likewise in my whole life likewise, So this is not a you know, yeah, finally we can all smoke wheat.
But I do recognize that that has been used by police and by the prison industrial complex to hold black and brown bodies and exploit them for profit labor and criminalize people and give them records and limit their you know, prospects for you know, making a life.
And to keep the prison industrial complex full and thriving.
Sure, exactly. And so there's I want to say all these things because there's two schools of thought behind this proposition two seven. Now, a lot of folks didn't know myself included that there's a big company that sponsored this bill, right, and this company, I forget the name of the company, but it's basically a big medical marijuana monopoly whatever that is. If you google it, it's them. They authored the bill.
And the bill does not come with expungement or exoneration or whatever for folks who have already arrested for having possession of marijuana small amounts, but they can't apply for it. And then it because of the people who authored the bill, obviously it serves their interests and it limits you know, mom and pop sorts entering into the marketplace. So people who have in the past made the living selling drugs, selling marijuana at least now cannot easily move into a
legitimate practice. But these guys with their money are going to be able to sell marijuana, no problem, right. And also I think thirty one percent of the profits from the sales of the of the marijuana will go to police pensions. And the reason why that is particularly offensive is because there is a significant amount of black folks who are disproportionately affected by marijuana charges and brown folks as well, and a significant amount of those populations that
also support defunding the police. And so the bill on its face goes to support police pensions. It's not buying tanks or anything like that. But I think that all those things deserve to be mentioned because there are some
folks who don't like the way that this has come about. Now, I am of the persuasion that it's a baby step, and any step in the right direction is good because even if no one is getting released from prison, you know, even if this money is going to a a monopoly and it's going to police or whatever, what happens also is that no one else will be arrested for you know, think like young people when they're experimenting, which I know it's only for twenty one or older, but you know,
who cares. Whatever. This has been something that's been used against black folks and brown folks, and largely when it's not black or brown folks, you know, you get a slap on the wrist or you just get to go home, you know. And so in my opinion, I think that it's still good even though it wasn't as good as it could be. And so for that, I think that at least where I stand right now, I'll call it some progress anything any.
Thoughts, let me first start with where I agree. Okay, any step in the right direction, I'm with it.
Okay.
To ever get to the point where people's records are being expunged and people are being let out of prison for nonviolent drug related sentences or charges has to start with this, sure like, you have to start here, no matter who it benefits. You've got to make this stuff legal before we're letting people back on the streets for having done it. Sure, so one hundred percent with that. I also want to say, and this has been said before, but it's just been said at a time that was
insensitive and tone death. Not all cops are bad. That's actual fact. I know some people that love me, that have fought for me literally and you know morally, that are police officers. They do have a very very difficult, very dangerous job. The idea that something's going to go to their pensions for you know, they make it to the end of their career and they get to retire, they didn't die. You know, that's not something that I'm
against either. Like you said, it's not going to let's get the drones with the missile launchers on them or the tanks so we can ride through the streets and intimidate people. You know, I'm not, on its face against that part either. The thing that's funny. Also in the news this week, Oregon decriminalized some much harder drugs, all
of them. And all of this speaks to what typically needs to happen for people's basic humanity and empathy and just regular common sense logic to kick in is that the people being victimized by something have to look like them. So when I was a kid, I'm from Detroit, Michigan. My partner here, ramses Jah Civic Cipher is from Compton, California. We are from communities that were hit the absolute hardest, where the riots happened, where black people were taken to
prison in droves on drug related charges. In the eighties, that was not seen as a health issue.
Talk to them.
That was seen as a criminal issue. So the war on drugs turned our communities into factories to keep the prison industrial system full and flourishing. And they told us just say no. What's the problem. Say no to drugs, go to school, be a good citizen. And then about twenty five thirty years later, that drug pandemic started to hit people that looked a little different. And then all of a sudden, we saw drugs as a sickness. We saw addiction as a sickness instead of as a crime.
And now it's not just say no, it's how do we get these people help?
Specifically, he's talking about the opioid UH crisis.
Very specifically. But at their at their core, the same types of drugs, right, they're they're they're concocted differently, sold to a different subgroup.
But and the dealers are corporations, correct, But the human beings are addicted. But the victims are going through the same challenges and changes, except they look different, their parents look different. So their illness gets the attention in the service, the empathy that it deserves, not imprisonment. How about that?
So you know, eventually all of these things seem to get where they need to be. It's just that we keep saying black lives matter because so many different instances, not just being killed by police, but the entire way that our countrymen are law enforcement and all of our branches of government have viewed us historically, keeps reminding us that our lives don't matter. So we just saying it
as a reminder. And I'm not trying to move walk back to other topics, but imagine for hundreds of years us never taking up in arms seeking any sort of revenge for the way that we've been treated by this country. But we keep fighting for this country, right because we talked about Arizona being a surprise and having you know, at least for now, even if just for a day turning blue. But again, I'm from a small city in the Midwest. May heard of it called Detroit, Michigan. Wayne
County showed up yesterday. Detroit, Michigan showed up yesterday. And if the count is final and Biden takes Michigan, you can think a bunch of people that look like us as well. We fight so hard and love this country so much, regardless of how it fights against us and how our peril seems to at times be the goal. So back to the topic. Great first step, but I had to speak to some history and to some deeper feelings than just what the what the headline will read.
Absolutely, and I do want to diggle deeper in uh in Oregon, with their decriminalizing all small amounts of hard drugs, right, a lot of folks will listen to that, think what they decriminalized hard drugs and wonder, like, Okay, their community is going to be overrun with hard drugs, right.
Just like the community here is going to be over run with marijuana.
Now, So watch this. We take a step in Arizona, they take a step a little further in Oregon. Right in five ten years, will recognize that the way they did it was the right way. And how it works is if you're caught with a small amount of marijuana, they treat it like a ticket. You pay a fine. The money from that fine goes to drug rehabilitation programs, or you can go to a drug rehabilitation program if
you can't afford the ticket. And the idea there is not to treat these people like their criminals, but to treat them like they have an addiction. They have a sickness. They have an illness the same as any other illness. They're not harming anyone, you know, and obviously larger amounts if you're doing something nefarious and trying to make money or profit off of it. You know, it's regulated the
same way alcohol is regulated, you know. But the idea there is it puts a lot of these folks out of business and empowers like the alcohol companies that make alcohols and now the marijuana companies that do that. And so we're going to be able to watch this experiment unfold and take the parts of it that work, leave
the parts that don't work. And this is what I was speaking to earlier about everyone's fear of socialism and the fact that we can actually engineer our way through some of the shortcomings or whatever and find a balance, strike a balance where everyone has because I think that if everyone studies what socialism is and really understands it at its essence, it's not a horrible thing.
At its essence, it's not a bad thing at all. It's like saying it's not horrible. It's like it's kind of bad, but it's not horrible. No, it's not even kind of bad. And certain people in this country, to protect their own interest, have made that word on its face negative. People hear it and they think that it's a bad word, having no understanding at all of what it means. Capitalism has massive shortcomings.
Oh, it's so much blood on the hands of capitalism.
But it has a wonderful pr department. It has the greatest marketing campaign in history. So even people who don't benefit from capitalism fight for it. And not just people that don't not just people that don't benefit from it, but people who are crushed under it, are smashed under.
It, fight for it. There's a there's a good chance that I make enough money to where I don't have to worry about these sorts of things. And because I'm a human being, I still recognize the value of my brothers and sisters who are also human beings, and in my family of course, but you know, my whole human family. And again I employ if you don't know much about capitalism, just Google is free. But I do want to talk about something else. We're talking about brothers and sisters and family.
And you know, this past week has presented some challenges, some some challenges that I thought I was done with. Turns out. I wasn't, But I want to start with you, should we block people from our social media maybe our life too, with different political beliefs?
Absolutely not?
Oh okay, explain.
I went to college in Bowling Green, Ohio, Wood County. Right, the town name of it, wood Wood County.
How about that?
The town twelve blocks long, twelve blocks wide. Maybe maybe right? The total population of Bowling Green during the school year when I was there about twenty two thousand. Twenty thousand of those were students at the university, So when school was in a session, you're talking about a town with about twenty twenty five hundred people. And my first Ethnic studies, Black Studies was the class I had a classmate who I was the first black person he'd ever seen in
real life. So he did not have a specific or personal disdain for black people. We just didn't exist or matter in a way that was tangible and literal. Our issues, our problems did not exist in his world, so there were things that he didn't understand about me, and vice versa.
He's the first white classmate i'd had, just based on where we were born in the world, we thought and believed differently, but we became after a very very heated argument in from the class that we later had to restage for the university because our professor, doctor Jack Taylor, thought it was so profound that people needed to see it, and he actually made us take the opposite position when we reperformed this argument in front of people.
How about that?
And both of us grew, as you can imagine, tremendously from this experience. If he and his family voted differently than my family, it would have been very very easy to understand why. Right, none of our personal interests were even similar, except you know, we were both Christians. But that's an entirely separate conversation. To have most people I've learned vote different than me, well, i'll say, prior to this,
prior to this goddess in office. Now, the understanding for me had always been that most people voted different for fiscal or religious reasons because they felt the Republican Party spoke more to the Christian in them or the business owner in them, and it was very very easy for them to justify having different beliefs when it came to the conservative versus liberal approach to politics. Smaller government, less taxes,
less regulation, you know, anti abortion, huge huge topic. Anti abortion. Yeah, I learned even people who don't have a actual care in the world about it either way, they understand how to pour gasoline on their base by standing on that topic. So different political beliefs have never been an issue. I worked with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation after college. When I was living in Baltimore. I went to the Republican National Convention every year for three years, and I was so
ignorant at the time. When I saw black people there, I was blown away. I didn't know a black I didn't know that there was a such thing as a black Republican. But I met a bunch of wonderful people there. They just voted different than me. So no, we shouldn't block in real life or on social media people that have different political views than we do.
All right, I'm glad you said that, because I feel like we absolutely should block people given the right set of circumstances. Allow me to explain.
I'm paying attention.
I think that I recognize that other people have different value systems, values, belief systems, et cetera. And for the most part, everyone is entitled to you know, the way the world feels to them. You know they are entitled to a mechanism to make sense of it that you know helps them, you know, through whatever they're going through. Right. But it would be easy for me to say that your politics are your beliefs and leave it there. But I think that your politics are more than just your
belief especially in an election like this past one. I think that your politics are a reflection of your morals, and they're a reflection of your character, and again especially in this past election. And if our friendship is based on your morals and your character, then I don't have to be friends with you. If I believe that your politics are a reflection of your morals and your character.
Now you can pretend to be whoever you want to be in front of me, or you might even genuinely think that you're my friend because I'm one of the good ones, or I'm one of the ones you can get along with, etc. But make no mistake, if your politics harm Hispanic people, and I would have been born Hispanic, the same person, but I would have, you know, been you know, born on a you know, with the different genetic code or whatever, but the same consciousness, the same heart,
the same whatever it is that makes me me essence and you would cast a vote or champion uh an idea or whatever. However your politics are manifested in your social media, that would harm me if I look different, or if I worship different or whatever. I believe. Again, that's a reflection of your morals and your character, and I don't. There's no law that says I have to
associate with you at all. And if I have the freedom to create the world that I would like to see, I recognize that I, you know, run the risk of creating an echo chamber for yourself, you know, by blocking these people and whatever with different views, and it's very difficult to grow, you know, by not seeing other people's perspective. But I also do recognize that there's a certain peace of mind that comes with knowing that I can be
me in a safe space. I can express myself. And if your ideas are you know, inclusive, you know, loving, you know, et cetera, on and on, then there should be no issue with that. Now the reason that I have to add some some conditions is because I also recognize that on the other side, that could also be the case now in the real world where we live. Trump folks don't really get you know, No one's making a big deal out of trump people blocking you know,
non Trumpers, because it's not a thing. But non Trumpers
definitely block Trumpers. It's a thing that happens just because again, their fanatics are kind of way out there, the conspiracy theories, etc. So I will say this whenever I do end up in a discussion with someone who has a different political belief system, subscribes to a different political ideology, what I will do is, instead of speaking to them about the issue itself, I will speak to them about the human component underlying that underscores the issue, the human component, and
if in fact we can find some common ground on the human component, then we're fine. We've established that there's a baseline. It doesn't get fall below this level. Okay, you might think pro life, you know, I might think pro choice or whatever it is. But at the end of the day, we do recognize that life is precious and sometimes it looks like this, and sometimes it looks like that, that's what you believe, this is what I believe,
and we're fine. But if there is no floor and you're like, uh, you know, you know whatever, you're celebrating the fact that this hasn't happened, and so I don't want to freak anyone out, but you're cele grading the fact that, you know, one of the Trump trucks ran into an abortion clinic smashed up the glass, and you're reposting it and saying, yeah, this is mega country or something like that. You know, then we have a different appreciation for what that baseline should be. You obviously have
gone below it. I feel like there's a minimum standard of decency there. A great example is when Donald Trump, if he was a friend of mine, reposted that those trucks trying to run off the Biden Harris truck in Texas. There was all a Trump Trump train is what they call it. They were trying to get this Biden Harris van to crash and tell us bus, okay, you're trying to get these people to crash their staff. Joe Biden was not on that bus and Kamala Harris was not
on that bus. They were just normal people happen to be democratic. So Donald Trump reposts this and says.
I believe that that was their staff in a route to one of their events that had to be canceled.
Sure, sure, because of that, yes, But Donald Trump reposting that, and so I think that there is a level at which you can say to yourself, you know what, this is not good for my mental health, This is not good for me spiritually. This is not a person that I would ever want to associate with if this is their character and a reflection of their morals, which I do believe your politics is. And for me, that block
button comes very easily at that point. I usually can be very patient with folks prior to that, but at that point, I think that if I'm able to create a world where I'm friends with the people that I like, I'm friends with good people, people that have similar values, people that you know, whatever, then and if I have a mechanism to do it, I eat the block button. And I think that that is the way to go. I'll shoot that shot all day.
So the question that you asked me was should we block people on social media or in real life I that have different politics than we do? Right? If you think Amazon should be taxed at a higher percentage than unlucky weirdos, okay, and I don't. I don't think I should block you for that. You're yeah, You're right, right, absolutely.
If you think that Muslims should not be allowed in this country, and that all Mexican people are criminals and rapists that are storming our borders, and that black lives don't matter. We're not talking about a difference political beliefs anymore. Okay, we're not talking about a difference in politics anymore. We're talking about a difference in the type of human beings that we are. And in that case, you should be
blocked and reported and deleted in whatever else. Right, James ball once said we can disagree and still love each other. A lot of people post that part of the quote. A lot of people on the other side of this post that part of the quote. No matter how this election turns out, we can still be friends. Right, But if you voted for him, our disagreement is rooted in the oppression of my people and in the denial of
our humanity and our right to exist. And that's the part of ball one's quote that they leave off in this case, if you support that man. And I have to always bring this to my children. My son and daughter's mother is not an American citizen. She is a Mexican woman. Now she's a green card carrying permanent resident. But either way, my son and daughter have cousins, aunts, uncles, great grandparents that are not American citizens or permanent residents.
So even if you guys try to make it like well, look at Lebron James, look at all the look at Barack Obama, look at all the progress that black people have had and made in this country, we're so past that chapter, right because he doesn't say build that wall with regards to Africa, but trust me, if we shared a border, he would. But I'm speaking about my children, who, up to him, would not be allowed to be here. So if you support him, you directly support the oppression
of me and mine. I won't even make it so broad as our people, me and you are with the swiftest of left thumbs be blocked and removed. Please understand that.
Well, that'll work for me, but obviously that's not the first choice. Usually you talk to folks, you try to dig a little deeper, and you know that's the process, but you know, ultimately you decide what's best for you. Uh. These are just our thoughts and as always we appreciate you tuning into civic cipher. I'm your host, Ramsey's Jah.
They call me Qward and that just so happens to be my name.
Be sure to keep up with us at Ramsey's jaw at I Amqward on social media. Of course, you can also follow the show at Civic Cipher and hit the website civiccipher dot com to submit questions, topics and of course to donate. We appreciate all your donations. We'll see next week, same time, same channel. Praise will then peace