This weekend (March 28th/29th) my spouse posted an article on Facebook refuting claims made by the President in defense of the company where they works. Quickly this devolved into a back-and-forth comment argument between supporters and opposers to the current administration. I am not proud to admit that I participated in the heated textual exchange. Over the rest of the weekend and into the early part of the week I saw many posts either attacking or supporting President Trump.
As I read through the various posts from my connections on the social media platform I realized that we’ve reached a point where both sides have aligned themselves so tightly with their beliefs that the middle ground has eroded. NO ONE on either side seems to be willing to concede a point. People that oppose the President refuse to credit anything good that he does; just as much as those that support him refuse to criticize his missteps. Our social media presence has devolved into a binary opinion where it’s either “all good” or “all bad.”
Moving into the early part of the week I started thinking about how our United States are filled with such divided citizens. Republicans are racist, hate mongers; Democrats are terrorist-loving socialists. It saddens me when I look at how polarized we’ve become in America. Maybe these are just the loudest voices. Maybe these are only the ultimate extremes that I’m hearing and . But it even feels like our news outlets have joined into the politically charged climate to an extent I’ve never seen before. The “right” says that CNN is the Democratic mouth-piece who produces nothing but fake news undermine this President at every turn. The “left” says that Fox News is nothing more than a propaganda arm of an authoritarian regime who deals more in rhetoric than reality.
It made me think about how we all need to take a break from the argument. That doesn’t mean that you should not have your opinion about what you like or don’t like about the current President. Maybe instead of devoting the time and energy into negative posts about the President or the opposing side, we should devote that time toward the cause we believe in. If you want to express your opinion, find out how you can support your candidate. Volunteer to stuff fliers in mailboxes, campaign door-to-door, donate your time to a local campaign headquarters, and encourage people to not just register to vote, but to actually get out on Tuesday, November 3rd to have their voice heard.
According to data, the 2016 election only had 55.7% of registered voters turn out - the lowest in two decades. Some may argue that was a result of voter apathy, or worse, voter suppression. The US Census bureau shows results of percentage turnout by age and race https://www.census.gov/newsroom/blogs/random-samplings/2017/05/voting-in-america.html and the numbers are startling. Almost two-thirds of registered white voters turned out in 2016. Not quite 60% of African-American voters turned out to the poles. And less that half of all other registered minority voters participated in the election.
Regardless of the candidate you support, you should encourage people to get out and vote. If they don’t like either of the major party candidates they can select a third-party candidate or even write-in their vote! This is an important time for everyone to exercise one of the greatest rights granted to us under our constitution. Many people have fought and died for this right - either in support of our democracy in a military role or as a civilian-soldier on the front lines of racial or gender equality.
I’ve decided that instead of utilizing my energy to post negative things on social media that only succeed in whipping up those that disagree, I’m going to channel my energies into more productive efforts that can insight real change. Even if it is a small change. I am not going to spread the hate, but rather put positivity out into the world. I invite you to think about your habits. Decide what you want for this world. Be a positive force in what you do. Have your voice heard and help bring people on the outside in.
I’ve tried not to indicate my political leanings too much so as to influence or bias people to my opinion. I want to be crystal clear that I think EVERYONE should get out and vote regardless of which candidate you support. My point is that arguments online over who is right and who is wrong with no middle ground being given are unproductive in moving us forward as a people. As we fracture and divide we only succeed in destroying the word “United” in the United States of America.
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