Political polarization has gotten so bad in this country that there’s a spreading mentality evidenced on social media and real life that some are openly unsympathetic to the victims of Hurricane Harvey because the states it hit voted for Donald Trump.
That’s right. After the category 4 hurricane hit the city of Houston and the entire Gulf Coast of Texas, which wiped out power, caused massive inland flooding, and has, so far, killed 16 people (15 in the U.S.), people are still having a tough time helping out because the state’s 36 electoral votes went to Trump during the 2016 election.
Coverage of the hurricane’s aftermath has been so heart-wrenching that many feel obligated to help in any way that they can. Most people looking from other parts of the country have opened their wallets and donated to disaster relief efforts, while others are donating clothes or food.
In a letter to Slate’s Mallory Ortberg (a.k.a. Dear Prudence), a person wrote that his girlfriend matched their $250 donation to send to Harvey victims. However, instead of donating to the Red Cross, she gave it to the Humane Society (an animal shelter) “to avoid the possibility of giving money to someone who voted for Trump.”
The letter writer wrote, “I think that’s awful, and we’ve been fighting about it ever since. She thinks as a gay woman I should see her side, but I just can’t. There are good people everywhere, and she went out of her way to avoid helping. We’ve been fighting about this ever since.”
Other users on social media have had similar reactions to the hurricane and are unwilling to help the millions of people who are suffering right now in Texas.
In case you’re interested in the backtrack @PolitiBunny pic.twitter.com/GtPeVQwYXu
— (((I Can’t Even))) (@szysgt) August 27, 2017
Presented without comment. pic.twitter.com/Z4JLkUB06s
— Schadenfreudelish (@aggierican) August 27, 2017
There are a lot of Christians in Texas, so any of you want to explain your god doing this? pic.twitter.com/7PXg2PpM6Z
— Onision (@Onision) August 27, 2017
Remember when you vote, the left wants you dead and are OK with resources being diverted from you in a crisis pic.twitter.com/gocKEGBH1S
— PollySpin (@PollySpin) August 28, 2017
Ha.Ha. You Trump loving Rednecks deserved it. Screw Houston. #PrayForHouston
— SeahawksRule12Gaming (@DavariGaming) August 27, 2017
Luckily, for every person who feels this way, there are 10-20 people who are condemning them. While Slate is typically a left-leaning publication that has written scathing articles about President Trump, Ortberg wouldn’t stoop so low as to agree that it’s morally right to not help out flood and hurricane victims because of who they voted for.
“[It] is nonsensical and unconscionable,” Ortberg wrote to the questioner. “‘As a society, we should help victims of natural disasters’ is a complete sentence that does not require additional clauses, addenda, or stipulations. This is worth fighting with your girlfriend about, and you should strongly oppose her bizarre moral calculus.”
If you want to donate to the victims of Hurricane Harvey, you can go to the Red Cross, Americares, or GlobalGiving.
