Contributed by Ashley Wirgau, foster mom, newspaper columnist, and Ottawa Dems member
Never could I have imagined that as America is ripped apart at the hands of obscenely wealthy men, the dinner table discussions and phone calls held with some of our closest friends and family would carry on as usual. Family stops by and we gather in the kitchen. We chat about upcoming travel plans, school fundraisers, and how the dog is doing.
As the legislative and judicial branches of government are eagerly devoured by the executive arm, as cabinet members move confidential communications to insecure messaging channels, as our enemies become our allies and our allies become estranged, we carry on as usual.
As the American president floats ideas about third terms and the annexation of sovereign nations, as we ignore due process to detain and deport individuals without evidence, we talk about the weather.
As domestic and international safety nets disappear, as prices climb, as access to medical care and social security payments lie in limbo, we go on with our days as if that spring thaw and bit of sunshine promised for next week is the most pressing thing on our mind, as if the undoing of American decency and democracy is all quite normal.
None of this is normal, but it is strategic.
The division that has been sown has left us so disconnected from one another that some of our most sacred relationships have been rendered paper thin, shuttering back and forth with the slightest breeze, one honest conversation away from dissolving completely.
Republicans, rendered impotent by the President and his mega-rich campaign donor and DOGE director, have their marching orders to defund all manner of public support, extending their vise grip to colleges, universities, and non-profits that rely on federal funds, threatening to cut those funds should organizations not comply with their attack on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, along with any other words they find frightening.
The folks who just months ago screamed about cancel culture, took zero time enacting an all-out war on language the minute they snatched power. It is suddenly very patriotic to delete words like Black, climate science, disability, injustice, and racism, from the American lexicon. According to the New York Times, there are 285 more of these scary words flagged or already erased from government materials. And the attack on words has rapidly filtered down from government websites to our kitchen tables.
Empty chatter and surface-level civility with our closest companions, the people we thought we knew, who knew us, who raised us, is what so many of us are facing these days. We had enough conversations in the days leading up to the election to know how far we can push that line. Now, in an attempt to salvage whatever relationship remains, friends and families all across America have either relegated all discussion to trivial topics or have stopped talking altogether.
As I scroll through glossy Facebook stories or pick up the phone for another watered-down conversation, while the nation smolders in the background, I wonder if they have succeeded in their most sinister of goals; making us afraid to speak to one another.
