Why Are People Still Supporting Trump? Blame the Bubbles.

There are a lot of different theories about who supports Trump and why. Generally these theories range from "They're all evil bigots who wear Klan hoods and swastikas," to "They're all misguided bigots who are okay with Klan hoods and swastikas." I don't see a lot of deep thoughts coming out of the Left-leaning thought-o-sphere about the multilayered and dynamic reasons why someone would support Trump, and that kind of makes me sad. Mostly because the Left tends to hold themselves out as the deeply intelligent, thoughtful, and wise sages of our political system. As much as they decry the pigeon-holing of women, LGBT people, racial minorities, and so forth, it seems that so many have constructed a series of world views and philosophies that make it incredibly easy to put conservatives and their supporters into nice little boxes. Oh I know, I know, you have some article to share with me, or some brilliant insight from your college class you took 10 years ago, but that doesn't change the way we talk about them. It's almost like you're kind of like them in a way, unexposed to the differences, multitudes, and variety of people different than you.

You see, a recent study came out, that said that more white people who live in their childhood hometown support Trump, as opposed to the ones who moved away. Of course the article that cites it immediately says, "Well, throw in the fact that many never finished high school or went to college helps explain that!" Yes, because we all know that having a college degree instantly bestows enlightenment to the plight of the underclass and discriminated against. Unless you know, you're ever Republican member of Congress, every conservative Supreme Court Justice, every Republican governor, economist, doctor, lawyer, on and on and on. Sure, keep up with the idea that getting a college degree makes you wise and empathetic and I'll remind you that most of the highest ranking members of the Nazi Party had college degrees. It's not education that opens your mind, nor is it making more money, it's getting outside your little bubble; the same one the Left loves to sit in too sometimes.

I've mentioned before that I grew up in the South, and until I was 18, all my friends were white, mostly Protestant Christian, etc. I grew up in a bubble. What helped pop it, was when I joined the Army. Crazy, I know, but hear me out. You see, in the Army, you get exposed to just about every class, race, religion, and personality out there. Rich kids proving they don't need daddy's money are in the same unit as an immigrant from Sierra Leone who sends his money back to Africa to help his extended family. Dominicans from the Bronx, Puerto Ricans who barely speak English, black kids that grew up on a farm, and black kids who grew up on the south side of Chicago, all in the same place. Honestly, if you come out of your time in the service hating someone because they have different skin or religion than you, then you weren't paying any attention to the people around you. No, these folks aren't quoting the latest think pieces from popular blogs and probably wouldn't know the words micro-aggression from problematic, but they're usually pretty tolerant and fair-minded folks.

Most people don't know that because only about 7 percent of Americans have ever served, which means most people only know how soldiers think from the media. Sounds familiar doesn't it? When a lot of these people who have stayed in their childhood hometowns and rarely leave watch television or read Facebook that becomes their understanding of the world. Just like how you think soldiers are all one way because that's what the media you consume and the people around you tells you. Same goes for them. Their peers reinforce what they see in the media, and they reinforce their peers with what they see. They travel in the same small circles and see the same things every day, and eventually, that's their bubble. Just like yours is. Sure, you think yours is better in some way because what you read isn't biased or reinforcing, just like what they think what they read and get told isn't biased or reinforcing. It's a case of my bubble is better than your bubble, and it goes both ways.

Yes, I will give credit to the Left where it's due, for a lot of what they think or believe it is right and true, at least in my opinion. A lot of that does come from being exposed to the world and the people in it, but they're often the people you want to be exposed to; you want to get to know. Sometimes, we have to meet the people we don't like. No, I'm not telling you to go down to the jail and make friends with a serial rapist or murderer; I'm talking about those conservatives that post #MAGA in their Twitter or Facebook. It's just as easy for you to think that they're all racist ignorant rednecks as it is for them to think you're all elitist snobs who want to take away their guns and God. For us, we don't have the excuse of living in our childhood towns and lack of education to excuse our little echo chambers we live in. So why do we get a pass on living in ours? Calling a "safe space" only goes so far before you're just hiding.

AMANDA KERRI is a writer and comedian based in Oklahoma City. Follow her on Twitter @EternalKerri.