Dear Shep, Is it possible for me to not look like a dirty douche-nozzle the day after the election?

20201026 Shep as Author 

We've all seen a pathetic, weak-minded woman fall for men unattainable and uninterested in her.  Hybristophilia is an extreme form of this pathology.  Sufferers of milder forms of related paraphilias may exhibit irrational attachments to figures in politics, sports, and popular culture.  Some have even been known to become fixated on popular figures in social media.  The following unsolicited Email text is likely from a middle-aged, paraphilia-afflicted, sexually frustrated woman stuck in a low-paying, dead-end, barely-skilled line of work.

Dear Shep,

I am so tired of wrecking relationships with my friends and family.  You see, I have this compulsion to inject politics into every interaction I ever have with another person.  To allow a person to have a strong opinion that differs from mine is impossible.  I always screw everything up when someone I love disagrees with me.  When Trump was elected I was so upset that I drove all of my sane friends away.  You are such a strong man with so many friends.  Can you help me?  I can't control myself and I just don't understand how people who don't vote like me can still be friends after an election.  

                                                                                        Your Secret Admirer

                                                                                        MUAH!

Y.S.A., I am a married man and not interested in having a secret admirer.  Still I may be able to help you with your interpersonal problems.  Understand that this will never be any more than an arm's length relationship.  I've made a few notes over the past four years involving a woman who appears to be in your exact situation.  I hope you'll find my advice helpful.  The parallels between this poor soul's life and what you've described are uncanny.  Most of the comments below pertain to the 2016 Presidential Election.

I hope you can use the example of this woman whose life is...um...remarkably similar to yours... to draw a few conclusions about things you need to change.

Don't make wild predictions before election night, especially if you don't plan on voting yourself.

This woman has tacitly admitted to not voting.  

She would also have been more persuasive had she elected to avoid the safety-pin intersectional virtue signaling.

Your guys will win some and lose some.  Don't let your anger get the better of you.

Just the tip?

Really?  

Subsequent comments from this mentally ill woman will indicate deep-seated rage issues.

If you can't say something nice...

That the curse-laced rage sounded better in her head than it did to her readers.  

Don't recruit other people to do your dirty work for you.

This means one really shouldn't proffer sex to a man in return for hurting people with whom one does not agree politically.

It also means one shouldn't send pictures of one's bare breasts to a redneck hillbilly for the same purpose.  

Just accept the fact that some people don't see the political landscape the same way.  Diversity of thought is just as important as diversity of skin color.

If your degree is in Womyn's Studies or Art, please leave predictions about the election's effect on the markets to the professionals.

Who judges a politician's effect on the capital markets less than a week after an election?

Stupid people do.  That's who.

Don't say things you'll regret after you sober up.  Better still don't post while under the influence.

America is a civilized country.  

Civilized people don't wish for their political opponents to be shot.

Be mature enough to handle a little good-natured ribbing.

Epo is one of the nicest commenters on disqus.

This was totally uncalled for.  He was very upbeat and kind in his comments.

This nasty comment was in response to Epo's advice on how this mentally ill woman could lift her spirits.

It's just an election.  You'll get another shot next cycle.

There is just no point in becoming angry.  Focus on what can be done to promote one's political ideas until the next election.

Don't make wild dystopian predictions.

Didn't most people gain weight during the Trump administration?

Who was suffering?  This mentally ill woman continued working at the state funded job she chose.  

Outside of the high crime areas where the police have been defunded, and outside of the places where BLM/ANTIFA are staging riots, most people are not suffering.  Before the Wu-Hu-Flu we were enjoying record growth and prosperity.

The Belle Isle Walmart in Oklahoma City is filled with even more smiling Moslems than it was four years ago.  The Native Americans I know seem to be doing about the same as they were in 2016.  Women seem to be doing even better than they were in 2016.   Any commenter capable of introspection would be a bit embarrassed after making this irrational outburst.

Abortion is still legal, isn't it?  This reads like paranoia and virtue signaling rolled into a emotional speedball designed to enhance her sense of self-pity..

Don't lie to enhance your standing in an argument.

Labeling everyone on the right as an "Alt" is disingenuous, especially considering this mentally ill woman completely overlooks the extreme "Alt" characteristics of her favorite disqus-dirty-pic pen-pal.

If you didn't vote, you probably should keep your opinions to yourself.

This mentally ill woman did not vote in the election she is complaining about.  She had not voted for a minimum of four years prior to that election either. 

If you have power over the other person, it is not OK to use it to "win" the argument.

This mentally ill woman is noted for coordinating mass spamming attacks that occurred across 5 blogs simultaneously.  The net effect was to drive the disqus rep scores of people with whom she disagreed politically so low that the commenters were no longer able to comment on most of disqus.  The comments spammed were in most instances over a year old.  This stunt was very likely part of the impetus behind the closure of the disqus channel system.  

In the example above one can see that she also was in the habit of deleting individual posts of commenters with whom she disagreed.  In this mentally ill woman's world, she was winning the argument by silencing the other side.

Don't use magical thinking to create some sort of a "win" fantasy.

One has to ask, how did that work out for her?  One has to wonder if this mentally ill woman has the ability to look back, see the curse didn't work, and realize that casting spells is too silly for a normal sixth grader to accept as real. 

Remember, we're all Americans.

When the election is over and she sobers up, her countrymen will still be her countrymen.  Is she no longer interested in being an American just because the wrong party came to power?

For Heaven's sake, don't wish harm on people who didn't vote the way you wanted.

The best advice that can be offered to this poor mentally ill woman is to refrain from posting while drinking, crossfading, or even while angry.  Surely she must be embarrassed to look back at her behaviour in 2016.  

Y.S.A, the best advice I can offer is that you accept people for who they are.  Disappointment is understandable if your side fails to prevail in an election.  Hatred is not.  Just remember we are all still Americans and we are all still in this together.  I really hope this helped you to think about your problem in a way that will help you to move past it.

                                                                                Shep