Seeing other people as toxic.

I'm reading a piece in The Paris Review that was published in June 2017 because I was looking for a David Sedaris thing that had the word "horse" in it. Read the previous post to see what I was looking for, but this June 2017 piece does have "horse" in it. David Sedaris's father calls him "Horse's ass." But it's a great piece. I just want to show you the ending. The whole thing is worth reading — it's about Sedaris's very negative reaction to the election of Donald Trump — but this is the part I want to talk about:

On Inauguration Day, I am in Seattle. Late in the afternoon, my old friend Lyn sends me a photo of an anti-Trump sticker someone found in Japan. It’s cleverly designed: three peaks that on second glance turn out to be Trump sandwiched between two Klansmen. I want to write back and say, Ha, but instead, as a joke, I respond, “Dear Lyn, I’m sorry you’re so opposed to change, or too small-minded to move past your narrow assumptions. In the future, I’d appreciate your keeping things like this to yourself. David”

A minute later, I send a follow-up email that says, “Just kidding.” And it bounces back, as do the next three emails I send. She’s blocked me! I realize. After thirty-eight years of friendship!

I go to bed that night and lie awake, worried that she’s telling everyone I’m a Trump supporter. The news will spread and by morning I’ll be ruined. But it was just a joke, I say to myself in the dark room. A horrible, horrible joke.

Of course, Sedaris is completely anti-Trump, and he doesn't deserve to be excluded by those who are doing this kind of excluding. But he's taking on the position of a person who is rendered a nonperson because he's a Trump supporter. I don't know if his story is true, because "Lyn" must have known him enough to know he's capable of deadpan humor and because how could anyone not want to maintain a direct line to David Sedaris? But whether it's true or made up, he chose in the end to highlight the problem of interpersonal alienation, and I think it's important when even those who hate Trump can see how much of a problem that is.

I know people in Madison who would say some things about Trump that are not entirely hostile but they feel that they can't, because they'd become pariahs. They'd lose all their friends. So, they go along and do the censorship they think their life depends on.