Yesterday I thought, gee, maybe if I boost my last post on FB I could get a conversation going about the current craziness. It was only $10, it was late at night, and I was feeling lonely.

That is when I learned a couple of things about FB. The most startling is that you are not allowed to pick an audience for a post based on LGBTQ identities. At first I thought this was to protect us, but no. It is to keep us small and separate. 

The second thing I learned is that there is a tsunami of unrestrained cruelty and anger out there among self-identified Republicans. (You hear about this every day but, believe me, it feels different when it is leveled at you.) Out of the hundreds of comments I got, three quietly said I’m not alone.

My initial reaction to this toxicity was to withdraw and hide, as if I had done something wrong…this totally surprised me. I was being attacked and my response was to leave? Noted, warrior queen.

My second reaction was to feel sorry for the poor misguided souls that had so much hate bubbling inside themselves. Their lives must be very grim to become aggressively cruel. This whole incident was more about them than me. Noted, pious priestess.

My third reaction was to wait a minute. I am not ashamed of what I said. I am not ashamed or ambivalent about what I feel. My thoughts and feelings are an accumulation of over seventy years of being me. Just like with you, they are my gifts, my expression of talent. So why do I give a fuck about social abusers?

I don’t, actually. And I don’t want to waste time trying to enlighten them. They know what’s happening. They celebrate what’s happening. My angst is icing on their cake.

So I think it is time to stop paying attention to Trump and his Republican Party. Stop feeding their insatiable hunger for reaction. By this, I don’t mean retreat. In fact, I mean the opposite. I mean making a significant effort to seek out and connect with like-minded people—and only like-minded people. Don’t waste one more minute bemoaning or trying to reason. Go out and have fun with your people. Make joyous noise in crowded places with them. Let the room know you are Democrats, you’re having the time of your life because you know something Republicans don’t know. You know how to honor truth and decency.