Aaron Parecki

In flight: civil & rational discussion with a white woman who voted for Trump. #nofilter #RESISTtl;dr: Better message for change. (Hillary = status quo)She believes in him as an experienced business leader. She’s worried about growing federal debt, about lack of opportunity and progress for anyone below upper middle class (echoing Occupy messages). She saw no hope in Hillary, nothing she stood for, no believable plan for progress, for change.This is someone who is fit. Who runs on trails and goes bicycling. She rides road & mountain bikes with mostly men, has heard, constantly hears locker room like talk and has just come to expect that from men, even friends. She’s long past tired of it, expects it, accepts it, perhaps as fundamental to men driven by an evolutionary imperative to procreate. Life pursuing its continued existence. Her words.She thus found it easy to excuse, even dismiss Trump’s sexist & misogynist rhetoric.She’s not on Facebook. Nor Twitter. Sees them as unhealthy wastes of time, makes no excuses for Trump’s words there.She reads NYT & WSJ, questions and dislikes their biases, reads them anyway. Listens to NPR. Asked if I knew the show Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! She said I sounded like Peter, one of the hosts.Talk to people. Ask questions rather than making assumptions. Find out how they came to think and believe what they do. Everybody has a background, everybody has context. Find out what you have in common as well as your differences. Accept that it’s ok to have both.We discussed and debated many things: eating healthier vs acquired diabetes and cancer treatments, personal choice & responsibility, healthcare systems in various countries, double standards, false equivalences in the media, political correctness, bullying, political contribution corruption, PEOTUS cabinet nominations from big money, women’s health and women’s rights. She’s convinced Roe v. Wade is solid, that states’s efforts are a bigger threat. “Don’t mess with Texas? No, Texas is a *mess*!” in reference to their recent anti-choice legislation.We talked about Obama commuting Chelsea Manning’s sentence. We discussed the ethics of whistleblowing. She wasn’t familiar with the details about Snowden. I suggested she check out the film. Apparently it was available on the in-flight entertainment system. So she started watching it as I watched Mr. Robot. Small steps.Respect. Communicate. Question. Listen. Suggest. Resist.