When a red heart represents a broken culture
Adding partisan leanings to a symbol that has represented love for several hundred years before this country even existed is both absurd and dangerous.
Taylor Lorenz was widely mocked when she wrote about how the red heart - which has been a symbol of love for several hundred years - is now being eschewed by liberal Democrats because it represents the "MAGA" movement. The red heart, you see, has the same color as the red hat worn by the Orange Man. As everyone knows, Orange Man Bad! (The Orange Man is Donald Trump, for those of you not up on your Internet lingo.)
Obviously, the reason that the heart symbol is red is because blood is red, and the heart pumps blood through our body to deliver oxygen and nutrition. It does not represent "red states" or the red "MAGA" hat. Red hearts were all over Valentine's Day cards before everyone started separating Republicans and Democrats into red and blue. It was not until after the 2000 election that the colors solidified instead of flipping back and forth on television news' Electoral College maps.
This is pure Clown World, yes. It deserves to be mercilessly mocked and ridiculed. But this actually represents something far more sinister and dangerous than a few snowflakes online choosing a different color heart because of their hatred for Donald Trump: The continued Balkanization of our culture. When we are so deeply divided that we cannot even share the same emojis, something is seriously wrong. This does not bode well for the future of our country.
One of the things that used to unite us as Americans was our culture. Republicans and Democrats would watch the same television shows, go to the same movies, watch the same sporting events, and listen to the same music. We may have profound differences on matters of public policy, but we shared a culture. Now, we increasingly do not share the same culture. It has gotten so bad that we do not even use the same emojis when we send texts to each other.
People, this needs to stop. The fact that we are adding partisan leanings to a symbol that has represented love (especially romantic love) for several hundred years before this country even existed is both absurd and dangerous. We have to stop looking at every single thing through the lens of war and enmity. And while this particular controversy can be blamed on the radical Left, conservatives can be just as tribal and divisive. All of you, grow up and stop seeking every opportunity to divide us. We also need to have the integrity to rebuke and shame our own side when our allies start acting like this. If we do not draw a line soon, we will not have a country to save.