Remember the days when the main topic of conversation at the dinner table was what you did at school that day? Or when talking to your friends consisted of “whose mom will drive you and your friends to the mall?" I hate to say it, but the simplicity of those days is long gone. Now, the conversation seems to be geared toward politics, money, race and any other types of “politically correct” ideology.
Don’t get me wrong, the more I become independent and start making my own decisions, the more I enjoy utilizing my right of free speech to talk about such things. I fully believe and support the idea that everyone has their own opinion as to what they think is right and wrong.
But when does it become too much?
As seen on TV, websites, blogs, videos, and other forms of mass media, the 2016 presidential candidates are surely adding fuel to this fire. With the opposite ideas of Trump and Sanders, college students' views on what is right or wrong with our society fall across the board. Although I’m not saying this is a bad thing, I wanted to put my two cents in on what exactly the youth of America is doing wrong in this election.
Before I start, I know I am a millennial. I know I am not completely in full swing with each candidate and what their values, ideas, and solutions to issues are. But that brings up my first point: what college student is? I’m not trying to corrupt or alter the choices on who people my age should vote for, I’m simply asking of them why they are voting for the candidate of their choice.
The problem with this sudden urge for college students to put their opinions out there is that they are probably not as educated as they might think. I realize everyone comes from different economical backgrounds and life struggles and experiences, but when were you (the 20-year-old college student) directly affected by the acts of presidency? Like I said, everyone is entitled to their own opinions, and mine is that a majority of the kids I talk to about political issues are basing their decisions off of what their parents or the internet has taught them.
Now, before people telling me that I don’t know what I’m talking about slam on me, I understand that this opinion of mine does not apply to everyone. From my own personal experiences, I have heard words come out of people’s mouths that word-for-word say what I read on a website post earlier that day. This is where I draw the line on allowing my fellow classmates to persuade me, knowing they are verbatim reciting what they read on the Internet.
Which brings me to my next point … How many times have you heard the phrase, “you can’t believe everything you read/see on the Internet?" The answer is countless. Countless times.
One would think that this phrase would stick in the minds of young adults, with the Internet being such a prominent feature in where they get a majority of their information. Nowadays, kids are too lazy to read anything that requires a flip of the page, or scroll of the mouse. They prefer to watch, while simultaneously zoning out on what they are watching, being pulled to the ding of a text message.
So back to my first question, when do the egotistic, hardheaded opinions college students have toward the election become too much? When friendships are broken. When trust with someone you once confided in starts to diminish. Sadly, I see more and more of this on my own college campus. The point of this article was not to bash on those who have a firm set of beliefs toward who the next president should be. It was to inform those who skim through articles, halfheartedly watch candidate debates, and simply recite the teachings of what their parents told them to believe.
Like it or not, one of the candidates we are so wholeheartedly fighting for is going to be the next president of the United States. So, I say it’s time we all got educated. In our own ways.
