Seattleites take great pride in how politically correct and egalitarian they are but actually, this is the least tolerant place I've ever lived. My husband and I have lived all across the United States as well as Europe and Africa, returning to the west coast to be closer to my mother after her stroke. Similar to the far-right, the majority of people in Seattle have an extremely narrow viewpoint and immediately dismiss anyone who doesn't agree with them, isn't like them, doesn't appear to be like them or doesn't waste their time virtue signaling. My husband is a combat veteran. He was studying at one of our military academies when 9/11 happened and was sent to war. He did multiple tours of duty and did his level best, every day, to keep his men alive.

We are all entitled to have our own viewpoints. The only thing we can hope for is that people are respectful of others when expressing those viewpoints. People here in Seattle make ignorant assumptions about my husband and treat him with a level of disrespect that sickens me on account of his veteran status. He has been a civilian for many years now but we proudly fly an American flag for his brothers and sisters in arms that can't. If you pass by our home and our garage door happens to be open you might see other flags from his units. People make assumptions about him based on this, putting nasty notes in our mailbox or throwing laminated notes (seriously, what the hell?!) over our fence.

So I'd like to remind my community that if you are purporting to be egalitarian you need to be respectful and courteous of everyone. Besides, political viewpoints don't always line up the way you'd think based on someone's gender, ethnicity, religion, or veteran status. That's called stereotyping...


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