Sady Speaks to Imaginary Teens: Or, on Decisions
Well. That went over better than expected!
My long Hillary likability thing is all around the Internet now. Some people hate it, some people like it, but, given that I expected literally everyone to tell me to shut my hole, the kind and thoughtful responses it’s received are really great.
Some people also have questions. One of them – maybe the best, or most thought-provoking, I guess – was one I answered on Facebook. Someone asked me to make my answer a blog post, and (while withholding the questioner’s name, because I don’t know that they want it shared, and while expanding considerably from my FB answer) I thought I might as well. Anyway, the question was as follows:
what would you say to a fierce teenage feminist who says, “people have ABSOLUTELY treated hillary clinton with horrible sexism. but bernie sanders is more liberal on the causes you care about. so he’s the one you should vote for”?
If I knew that 18-year-old (and let’s assume she’s 18, and therefore able to vote)* I’d want to avoid the mistake of suggesting she owes Hillary her vote for any reason. Even if I absolutely disagreed with her final decision, I’d assume she’s a serious person, thinking deeply, and that she’s more than capable of making it. That said, there’s a decision I’m making, that I’ve thought deeply about, and I’d try to tell her why.
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