It has been a very long time since my last post on The Overleaf. Life has been very busy of late. I started a new job about eight months ago and blogging was put on the back burner.
I have come out of hibernation and back to the world of blog because this week brought up many things which cannot be ignored.
As you all know by now, Donald Trump is now President-elect of the United Stated of America. When I woke to read this news the other morning I was dismayed. I could not believe that the country which currently holds the most power in the Western world had elected such a clown. This man has spent the entirety of his campaign slating women, muslims, people of colour, Mexicans and the LGBT community.
2015 and 2016 have been years which saw so much progress across the globe. With marriage equality being granted both here and in the US as well as other counties, feminism becoming something acceptable to mention again, parental leave becoming a feature in leading global companies such as Facebook and social media being used to unite people for all of these causes and harvest the power of the people.
I was so saddened to think of how all of these steps forward could be erased once Trump takes office. He election shows how much hate and discrimination still lives in the hearts of some people and made me fearful.
The letter issued by our leader here in Ireland congratulating Trump and his right hand man, Mike Pence made be furious. Enda Kenny has made many mistakes in his time as Taoiseach and I was so annoyed to read the letter which sent a message that portrayed Ireland as an island which accepted Trump and Pence (which is most definitely not true!). Today on Facebook I see that the County of Sligo is going to extend an invite to Pence to visit our fair Isle to celebrate his Irish ancestry. I was bothered by this as Pence is a big advocate for conversion therapy for homosexuals and personally I would be ashamed to say that he has anything to do with Ireland.
This week in work we took our worry at Trump's election and tried to see the silver lining. From this came jokes about such things as these conversion camps and the wall which Trump plans to build between the States and Mexico. We laughed as I told my manager not to worry if myself and my wife didn't return from our holiday to the US next year, we more than likely had been placed in a conversion camp, or maybe she had been put back over the wall into Mexico. I laughed and made this joke to mask the actual fear which I was feeling. I would hate to think that the opinions held by Trump and Pence about Mexicans, women, homosexuals and people of different religions and colour would diffuse across the globe. I would hate to see this world we have all played a part in creating and bettering become nothing but a battle ground for Mr Trump and his republican playmates.
I realise I have gone on an absolute rant here but I needed to express my fears in the hope that by saying all of these things it might take the power out of them. Maybe if enough people say these things out loud and express their opposition the universe might hear us and do us favour, not wishing any harm to Trump or Pence, obviously.
#yesequality #lovetrumpshate #stillwithher #loveislove #iloveagoodrant
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