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Last week we wrote about a sign outside a coffee shop that seemed to sum up London's feelings towards President-elect Donald Trump.
This week, we present to you a sign that seems to sum up the entire world in 2016...
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A photo of the sign was posted by Massachusetts-based bookshop The Bookloft, on Wednesday morning.
Zazu Galdos-Shapiro, responsible for marketing and for writing the sign, tells indy100: "I'm not going to pretend the sign wasn't referencing the election results, but it's important to note that this is not really about who won or lost an election."
Over the past year, and even more so over this past week, the curtain has been steadily pulled back on the dark underbelly of the US, revealing a deeply problematic and disturbing rash of racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia, and Islamophobia.
Our bookstore does not promote a particular political agenda or party, rather, we advocate for human rights and freedom of expression. Those ideals are fundamental to every bookstore and every book-lover.
Yes, we're a retail business, but more than that, we are a harbor for every diverse voice and story of the human experience.
Many of those sharing the photo are also presenting the sign as a summation of this entire year.
It's been retweeted and liked on Twitter and Facebook by various outlets, more than 60,000 times - often with embellishment.
Galdos-Shapiro was surprised by how viral the sign has gone, but considers the response of customers to be more important.
"Every day, people have been coming in and saying “thank you” and stopping outside to laugh. We've even had people from all across the country email and call to personally thank us for the signs."
Being able to provide laughter (even if it is about something so sad), comfort, and a safe space for every kind of person is more important than ever these days.
Just to recap 2016:
- An allegedly fraudulent, openly racist, sexist and misogynistic reality TV star billionaire who admitted to avoiding tax is President-elect of the United States of America.
- His cabinet could include climate change deniers in environmental positions, lobbyists whose position in politics Trump has previously scorned, former editor of Breitbart as chief strategist - and Sarah Palin.
- Britain voted to leave the EU partly on the back of widely-debunked lies and Brexit is now set to cost more than membership to the EU ever did.
- The Prime Minister of the Philippines urged his own population to engage in illegal vigilantism and murder drug addicts and traffickers. He also called the current US president Barack Obama a "son of a bitch".
- A failed coup in Turkey resulted in mass arrests, detentions and sackings of around 100,000 people, amidst allegations that the President had full knowledge of the event beforehand - or even that he was responsible.
- The Daily Mail openly declared war on elected judges doing their job, with some bizarrely anachronistic homophobia.
- Central Italy is in rubble.
- Prince and Bowie are dead.
- Ed Balls is on Strictly Come Dancing doing Gangnam style.
- The whole country lost its mind over Marmite.
Oh and, 'post-truth' is the official Word of the Year.
Hello, dystopia.
But this heroic bookshop is striking back with heartwarming messages of hope...
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We are not activists, or lawyers, but we can offer one service: books. By reading, we allow ourselves to sink into others' shoes, to learn about and empathize with people we may not know or understand.
I hope that the more people we get reading, especially children, the more accepting this country will become.
More: This young protester went to an anti-Donald Trump rally with an amazing sign
More: Watching Ed Balls dance to Gangnam Style is a tonic for every bad thing that's happened in 2016
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