I was doing a YouTube live stream when a thought came to me.
What would happen if a bunch of people wore Make America Great Again (MAGA)
hats without going to a protest or march but just in their everyday lives?
Often times a story will make the rounds in the media that
someone in a MAGA hat did something bad. Sometimes these stories are pure
fabrication, such as the instance of the Covington kids, drummed up by big
media companies desperate to stay relevant. Other times they are legitimate people
doing bad things while wearing a MAGA hat.
On the other side you will also see stories of people being
harassed, assaulted, or discriminated against for simply wearing a MAGA hat. It
is these stories, about the fringe people in our society, that forms most people’s
opinions of someone wearing a MAGA hat.
This realization led me to ask the question, what if regular
people wear MAGA hats and go about their lives as normal? What if people have
regular everyday interaction with someone in a MAGA hat that is not only calm
and peaceful but pleasant?
What would happen if regular people wore MAGA hats for a
whole month?
The Idea
I first pitched the idea to a group engaged in spreading the
ideas of liberty. It was received well but ultimately turned down due to
requirements around their non-profit status. Next I spoke with individuals
within that group who would be interested in working on this project on the
side.
My idea was to promote the idea of getting people to wear
MAGA hats for a whole month and just go about their daily lives. After some discussion
we thought it would be a good idea to include an activity that each individual
could do to Make America Great Again. This could be anything from improving
your own personal life (stop smoking, clean your room) to volunteering at or
organizing a charitable event.
The reasoning behind this idea was that if you want America
to be Great than you need to adopt the responsibility of making it so. These
acts could be shared (but don’t have to be) under the #makingamericagreatagain.
The Problem
The problem with this idea was that my friends and I had no
real way of promoting it to a wide audience nor did we have the time necessary
to get everything rolling. I wrote a blog post outlining the general rules and
ideas and encouraged engagement but it got lost in the internet shuffle.
I created a few memes but they did not take off. We came up
with the name March MAGAness (a play on March Madness) but decided that we
needed more time to generate interest in the idea and participation. We moved
it to May and came up with the name MayAGA.
Again we all had full time jobs as well as other obligations
(family, non-profits, and live streams) that we had to attend to. The idea did
not catch on. People thought it was either an interesting idea or a
crazy idea. I was told that it was stupid because it opens you up to being
assaulted or that it put you in danger.
I took those criticisms to heart and almost gave up the idea
at that time. It was then that I made a choice. I admitted to myself that I did
not have a big reach and that I might not be able to promote this idea well but
there was one thing that I could do.
I could do it myself.
My Experiment
I have made the choice that I will wear my MAGA hat for the
month of May. I will wear it around the house, when I go around town, and while
at work. Part of me is worried about what will happen but I did not come to
this choice improperly.
I asked myself hard questions and gave myself honest
answers. Am I just wearing the MAGA hat to trigger people? No, while the hat
may upset some people that is not my reasoning behind wearing it. I am wearing
it because I want to say that I will not be intimidated into keeping silent. I
will not be told what I can and cannot wear or what I have to say.
Will I take the hat off? No. I will not be hostile about it
but I will refuse to take it off unless I make the choice to do so. I will not
allow the government nor the mob to intimidate me into doing something that I
don’t want to do.
I asked myself these and other questions but ultimately I
made the choice to wear my MAGA hat for the month of May. I live in Oregon,
near ‘Progressive Portland’ and I know that I will face challenges for doing
this. I also have confronted the idea that this might either be foolhardy or courageous.
But I have determined to try and walk that line.
Happy MayAGA everyone, I’ll let you know how it goes.
