This essay does not lean towards any political bias. These are my own personal experiences in the past year since the 2016 election…

 

November 9, 2016: The Day After the Election

As I headed to the area where many of my friends and I would gather in the mornings, I heard chanting. It went on for about five minutes until one of the administrators got a hold of the group that was leading the chant. Apparently, a group of students who supported Hillary Clinton had gotten in what is commonly known as a “twitter fight” with a group of Donald Trump supporters the previous night and had told the Trump supporters to meet them in the main rotunda the following day. They then began to chant vulgar comments towards the then-president-elect. After the events unfolded, the chanters got back on Twitter and then began to tweet about how they were proud of their fellow peers for producing such a movement. But in my view, it was a movement that represented the proliferating prejudices of a specific group towards those who do not meet our ideals. And yes, although the election was not only about political agendas, but also morals, strengths, and weaknesses, the argument that erupted was regarding political beliefs. And with those differing beliefs, instead of choosing to listen and understand one another, we chose to yell and point fingers. And this type of occurrence was only the beginning of what was to ensue...

 

After I got home from school that day, like many, I got on social media, and in my case, Twitter and Facebook. Both social media outlets were filled with posts that involved the deprecating of the American people for electing their preferred candidate. Such posts were delivered from my friends, family, and esteemed celebrities stating how they “were not proud to be an American” or that “America deserves all of what is to follow.” And such statements disgustingly shamed Americans for getting involved in our great democratic process.

 

Now, in all honesty, I too was shocked by the outcome of the election, but I also knew that if we as a people truly believed in the progress that was made in the past years, then as members of this great nation, it was up to us to not just only preserve its ideals, but most importantly, listen to one another. And we must not just acknowledge that there are good people on both sides, but rather, one side, which is the American side. A side that promotes democracy, and a side that quickly grasps strangers in their hands in moments of peril. A side that does not identify each other by whom they voted for in the last election, but rather a side that acknowledges each other’s political differences and moves on to play a round of golf with one another. And ultimately, that is what makes this country great, and that is what has always made this country great--differing ideals that lead to innovative ideas, that moves the American society forward. A society that was built on perseverance, sacrifice, and comradery...

 

 

Social Media and its Impacts

Through social media, we are able to express our joy, frustration, sadness, and anger of an individual, topic, or problem. And one of the most significant applications to help us express those feelings has been the decade-old microblogging service, Twitter. In the pastcouple of years, individuals who use this application on a daily basis have come to rely on it as a hub to promote their ideas in a more but also less active fashion. More in the sense that we are able to get our message out to millions of people within seconds and spark a movement, and less, in the sense that instead of getting on our two feet and fighting for a cause, we tend to simply retweet to so we feel a sense of satisfaction that “I too am in support.” And whether we like to admit it or not, the material on our Twitter feed can sway our mood to how we feel about a certain topic. If the material on our feed is of a saddening nature, then we tend to think that our world is unstable where threats are abundant. On the other hand, if the material on our feed is of a joyous nature, then we feel that our world is stable in terms of peace, and this then results in our ultimate happiness. So are we unconsciously choosing whether we should be happy or not? In cases like these, we must acknowledge what is in front of us, but also go beyond what we are told so we can unravel the ultimate truth. Whatever political side we lean towards, we should challenge all of our elected officials to gauge whether they are truly representative of the people voted by the people, or are more engaged in their own self-interests. Even those we deem as the greatest of figures, we must challenge.

 

Now, from observing the general Twitter population in the past year, debates like these, involving political agenda, rarely even emerge. We are more focused on the belittlement of particular figures instead of promoting our own ideas and beliefs. Ultimately, it is saddening to see that it is the hateful opposition that gets promoted more by their peers instead of those who actually propose solutions to the problem. And if we disagree on those said solutions and problems, then we must address those differences in a calm manner rather than trying to show our followers we were correct the entire time for public reputation points. Ultimately with social media, we must use it to our advantagebut also be wary of its power and influence. Seeking out facts beyond a said opinion, and communicating with others in a calm and personal manner in moments of disagreement is what will move us forward rather than those who seek the spotlight by constantly belittling their representatives. We must also acknowledge what is a known fact and move forward to better our America. Donald J. Trump is the American president. Movements such as #NotMyPresident and stating that blue states are the true United States of America are what have further divided us. Movements that say that a certain state deserves a natural disaster because they went red in the previous election is disgusting. And by promoting these statements, we are not acknowledging the American choice, and we will not be able to move forward if we constantly neglect reality. And thusly, movements like these belittle the American voter who made their choice based on the livelihood of their family...

 

 

A Brief Aside on News Media

There is famous saying  that “good news is not news.” And like social media, news has the ability to sway our mood towards how we feel about a certain topic or the world as a whole. Nowadays, news tends to promote stagnation rather than innovation. Breakthroughs in science and technology are frequently overshadowed by repetitive news cycles, and as a result, our sense of progress is constantly worn down by negative media coverage. And yes, news coverage that challenges our elected leaders is crucial to informing the public, however, it is the frequency of which the story is repeated which creates an eventual sense of hopelessness. Now if anything, our world is accomplishing technological feats beyond our belief. Technological feats that were not predicted to occur for another hundred to two hundred years are happening at this very moment. Yet we feel this sense of stagnation because there is a lack of support for those who choose to innovate. And by doing this, we are failing to inspire the next generation. A generation that can be smarter and abler than us, a generation that can bring forth change at even more rapid speeds, a generation of scientists, artists, and public servants...aren’t we doing them a disservice if we choose to only promote the imperfections of our society? And yes, by exposing imperfections, we then choose to perfect our flaws. But once we do make those improvements, we should also celebrate them, and show society what we can do when we come together to bring forth change...

 

 

 

Forward

So, in the past year, instead of involving myself in political debates, I have chosen to listen and observe. And in that time, arguments have erupted amongst my peers in almost every class. Nowadays, we are incredibly focused on demonstrating our expertise on an issue and raising our voices above each other to win an argument that we have forgotten to listen. We have forgotten the very essence of what brought America forward. We tend to get so engrossed in our principles that we have forgotten what our allegiance is to, and why we believe in these ideas in the first place. On social media, we separate states that voted for our preferred candidate and label it as “our country” when in reality our country is the United States of America with fifty states and sixteen territories, not thirty red and twenty blue. If we as Americans believe that a separation within our country exists, and our elected officials are failing to bring us together, then it is our job to unite. And in order to unite each other, we have to listen to one another to bring forth change that not only benefits but also inspires future generations to come. We have to promote ideals in a knowledgeable but cool manner and also acknowledge innovation. And by doing so, we will have taken one step closer to a more perfect union, and thus, we will have gone forward in this ever growing nation of opportunity...