For as long as I can remember I have had an healthy interest in Politics & was like most of us spoon fed party lines & media hype, from the left & the right, from Republican's & Democrats alike. In my brain Republicans were haters & hated gays & didn't want them to have any rights & only wanted you to see their point of view & party perspective. None were ever willing to sit down & dialogue, preferring to quote party lines & throw spin at me, so I gave up trying. I instead like a sheep followed & questioned not enough.I love the TV Show The View & would watch Elisabeth Hasselbeck go back & forth with Joy Behar. I always agreed with Joy & began to hate Elisabeth for her Republican perspective on life, yes I said hate! I gradually became ashamed of the fact that I hated someone for their political beliefs', yes me, Xander Gibb the tireless fighter for Equality & Understanding hated a Woman I had never met because she was a Republican. We are indoctrinated by the media to show disdain for those who disagree with us entirely & that never the twain shall meet. My shame made me a little more tolerant of people in general, regardless of their political leanings, even Hasslelbeck. That's not to say her digs at Obama didn't rub me up the wrong way from time to time. Obama in my opinion was the best thing to happen to America. He was honest, he cared & was a new hope for a failing America. For his first term of office he could do no wrong in my eyes. I had all of the party line excuses for him, including "He inherited a bad situation" "Republicans never gave assistance" "It's because Republicans are Racist" "He was never given a chance" "You can't fix 8 yrs of bad management in 4" Whilst some of the above where true it became increasing hard to use them to defend the Administrations failures, untruths & lack of transparency. I was never a fan of Bush, either Daddy or Baby & I felt like he oppressed me & mine & he clearly did. I was convinced that all Republicans would support Republican ideologies to the death & lots of them would. I longed to meet just one Republican who would at least look & some of my ideologies, & enter into civil discourse, but alas I was fully convince that they didn't exist & I would never find them. One night I was watching an episode of Wife Swap where two families swapped the Mom of the house for a week & the families couldn't have been more different. One was a Conservative family & the Mom was a Conservative Talk Show host & Christian, married to a former Missouri Senator. The other was a Polygamist Family with 2 Moms who tried to sell there lifestyle as being no different from being gay & that it should be accepted by society. I really couldn't identify with either family in the beginning & in typical TV fashion, the show was edited in a way that portrayed the Conservative Mom as homophobic. Having worked in television, I should have known better, but gave no thought to the editing process & how it can be used to sculpt comments in an out of context way. Ever willing to point out any kind of discrimination, I took to the internet & flexed my Social media muscles & promptly attacked the Conservative Mom, undeservedly. I think the comment was something along the lines of "You may dress like a Christian, but that is where the similarity ends" Anyone else would have blocked me, ignored me but no not this Conservative Republican, not Dr. Gina Loudon. Dr. Gina Loudon was the very first republican that entered into civil discourse with me. She didn't toe the party line, or defend every single thing that the Republicans had ever done. Though highly principled Dr.Gina took the chance over a long period of time to enter into that "Civil Discourse" which quite honestly changed my whole thinking on Republicans. We built a friendship based upon not having to agree on every single hotbed issue that came between most Democrats & Republicans based on respect & a mutual desire & love for this great country. You see regardless of what we ticked in the ballot box or what we saw as right & wrong or acceptable, we bonded on the things we did agree on which paved the way for an honest to God bond. We continue to be friends & appear on one another's shows. Xander Gibb friends with Conservative Republicans & actually making a difference to effect change across party lines, who ever would have thought? Certainly not me & certainly not her I am sure. We have both been criticized by our peers & I have even been called a traitor for dialoguing with Republicans as a Democrat. I am no longer a Democrat, so that fixes that & I now choose to call myself a Libertarian My political evolution grows & with that my message has evolved too. I question & research every point. Can you imagine the immense difference that would be effected in this country if we all stopped judging, quoting party lines, apportioning blame & actually began by looking at the things we agree on, the things that unite us? Our love of America should be stronger than our dislike of those who disagree with us Socially or Politically. I am genuinely convinced & not from any Utopian Ideology perspective that this will bring us all together & unite us in making this great land the greatest once again. America is in trouble & most Politicians will not sell you unity, or joint working or any message of this kind. We need to work together for left & right to effect the urgent change required to get us through these dark times. Let's celebrate that which unites us & quiten the political scoffers by becoming true agents of change. God Bless America. What will you do?? For bookings, general information, or questions regarding the artist or this site contact: info@xandergibb.com ©2014 xandergibb.com All rights reserved.
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May 2020
AuthorXander Gibb has written for many publications and writes with an unapologetic response to the world around. |