Mr. Trump,
I’ve been following your campaign closely. While it’s true that I disagree with you on almost every political position you’ve put forth, I believe that it’s important to listen to both sides of an issue before making a decision.
I suppose it’s the way I was raised.
I was taught that we learn by listening and that we learn most from those people who think differently than we do.
That’s why I encourage my children to listen too.
I have five children, and in the not-too-distant future they will be responsible for running families, and businesses, and yes, even deciding the direction of our country. With five kids, the chances that they will ALL grow up to think as I do are pretty slim, and that’s ok with me. My job isn’t to indoctrinate them, but rather to teach them to gather information and make their own decisions.
But my job is also to protect them, and this is where my problem lies.
Lately, the thing that I’ve had to protect them from the most, is you.
I’m used to monitoring the language of the music my kids listen to. I’m used to looking up movies to make sure they are appropriate for children to watch and filtering the Internet so my kiddos don’t stumble across something gruesome or pornographic.
What I’m not accustomed to is watching a presidential candidate speak, all the while keeping my finger on the mute button.
Make no mistake; I am not a prude. I’m a writer. Abhorring censorship is pretty much a job requirement.
But you’ve turned me into a censor, Mr. Trump. And that’s saying something.
People learn by listening, Mr. Trump. Here’s what my kids learn when they listen to you:
- They learn that it’s okay to make fun of people with disabilities.
- They learn that it’s okay to beat up people who disagree with you.
- They learn that it’s fine, admirable even, to cheat people out of money you owe them if you can possibly get away with it.
- They learn to judge people by the color of their skin, that people like their great-grandfather, a Mexican-American, are probably rapists, that black people are thugs, that Middle Eastern people want to blow us up.
- They learn that they should become rich, not so they can provide a good life for their children, and help their communities, but so that they can afford to hire attorneys to sue anyone that says something they don’t like.
- They learn that a woman’s value is dependent upon how thin and beautiful she is. No, scratch that. That it depends on how hot she is. They then have to learn that hot means someone people want to have sex with.
- They learn that when you are caught in a mistake, the thing to do is to start a campaign on social media to bully and demean the person who caught you.
- They learn that if you are rich enough, or powerful enough, you can do anything you like to anyone you choose.
- My girls learn that men stand around in locker rooms talking about grabbing women’s pussies and laughing. Of course, I then have to explain that “pussy” is a demeaning word for vagina. This is alarming for them on a couple levels. First, that the part of their body that makes them girls can be used as an insult, and second that some random man may walk up one day and grab that part.
- My son learns that if he wants to be a real man, a powerful man, he should stand around in locker rooms talking about grabbing women’s pussies, that if other boys talk that way he should laugh, congratulate them, and avoid remembering that those boys could be talking about his sisters.
In short, when my children listen to you, they unlearn nearly everything they were taught by the time they entered kindergarten – plus a few choice words I’d prefer they were never taught.
It really doesn’t matter what a “great guy” you are, or how the people who know you know you don’t mean half the things you say. Most of us don’t know you. All we have to go on are the words you use.
Choose them carefully, Mr. Trump. Children are listening.
Glen Alan Graham
Jen, you are such an excellent writer! This must be the very best of all the great blog postings of yours I have read.
And your topic is so timely. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Oh, and I liked this so much that I shared it on Facebook.
Charlene Ross
This is so well-written and just dead-on. I couldn’t agree with you more.
Especially this… “It really doesn’t matter what a “great guy” you are, or how the people who know you know you don’t mean half the things you say. Most of us don’t know you. All we have to go on are the words you use.” Why can’t more people see that?