Trumped: Why the election is a symptom of a bigger problem

Right now you are probably thinking that I am going to unleash some poorly thought out diatribe about president elect Trump. No, that is not going to happen. It is not going to happen because he is not the problem, you are the problem, I am the problem, and we are the problem. That goes for those of you who are atheists, Catholics, Muslims, conservatives and liberals, or anything in-between.

America has been home to amazing and terrifying feats of technological innovation. We are the birthplace of the megalithic destructive power that is the atomic and hydrogen bombs. We have sent probes outside our own solar system. Voyager has gone distances larger than you or I could ever remotely conceive and we have planted our flag on the moon. To paraphrase JFK, we did these things not because they are easy, but because they are hard.

Along the way, we have lost sight of those accomplishments. We have sat back and said that we are the best, end of story, full stop. We claimed victory in a race that had barely even got underway, turned around, and walked back towards the starting line. I understand, I mean in the grand scheme of things we are pretentious monkeys; we beat our chests and try to claim our superiority.

We create divisions where there are not any, create metrics or systems to belittle and subjugate people, but for what? To make us feel better about our infinitesimal and brief existence on this tiny rock, in our tiny solar system, in our tiny galaxy? I can see the appeal, we want to feel like we mean something and if we can look down, point, and say, “We’re better than you,” it gives us a sense of stability, a sense of purpose.

This is our home, where are these divisions? Where does your country start and mine end?

We have stopped teaching our children; it has become “cool” to be uneducated. People we look up to, we want to emulate, most of them lack a basic education, and have a complete disregard for science or facts. This has given us generation after generation of people who are getting a progressively less complete and less substantial education that has led to the rise of pseudoscience marketed as actual science.

Do you believe in homeopathy, naturopathy, reiki, acupuncture, organic food? Do you fear GMO’s, vaccines; believe that the earth is only 6000 years, or that we have never reached the moon? Do you feel like you have the right and need to push your views of religion on people who disagree or do not believe what you do?

Your education has failed you, you are part of the problem, and I am sorry because you will more than likely take offence to me saying this instead of trying to change. From a purely scientific view, homeopathy, naturopathy, chiropracticy, acupuncture… you get the idea, it is all garbage. People prey on these undereducated generations for money and because people want hope, they want to believe.

Furthermore, your religion ends where I begin. I will not stop you from praying to your god, gods, goddesses, pasta monster, whatever you pray to in your own time. However, if you are discriminating against another person because of your religious beliefs, then how does that make you a good person? How does that make your god happy? More importantly, why, why would that make your god happy? Do you and frankly should you be worshiping a god that would discriminate like that?

We let our educational system slowly dissolve to the point where people are not learning about evolution or other basic tenets of biology, physics, and mathematics. The rise of the term sheeple is funny, because the people spouting it the loudest are usually the ones following the wrong flock and are not educated enough to think critically.

We have stopped teaching people how to think, how to reason, how to research and discover. Donald Trump is not the problem; he is a symptom that we have not even begun to try to fix.

This is our planet, our home. You are not black, you are not white, you are not Christian or Muslim; you are a human. The international space station is international because we could not build it alone; we can do more united than we could ever do separated. If we could look past our differences and look up at the stars, we could grow and accomplish so much more. We could be a space faring race; we could explore distant planets, and create things so amazing you could never imagine them, even in your wildest dreams.

It is easier to hate, it is easier to judge, it is easier to force your religious beliefs on people, and it is easier not to think.

However, we should chose to go to other planets, choose to become better educated, choose to stop fighting each other, and start loving each other. Let us raise up with one, united voice, not as Americans, Europeans, or other countries, but as earthlings.

We should choose to do these things not because they are easy, but because they are hard.