Did you know there is an election coming up? Did you? I wasn’t sure if you saw the thousands, perhaps millions, of Facebook posts talking about why orange man and pantsuit woman are terrible, awful people. If you haven’t, or even if you have, I have three reasons why Politics provokes my inmost anger.
1. There really is no good or right answer.
People are flawed. SURPRISE! As soon as humans put themselves in charge of one another, we automatically corrupted ourselves. Translation: there will never be a perfect leader among humans. We all have issues -- things that we deal with on a daily basis. We have to remember that when we are lashing out at others and saying things like, “I’ll listen to you, when you’ll listen to me,” we are being immature and not considering what people are going through behind the elephant or donkey mask. Politics keep us from being humble and remembering that we are all going through struggles. Consider others, and just accept that fact that no matter which candidate you like or dislike, there will never be a perfect leader for our country.
2. Facebook politic-posting (ranting) is probably the most passive-aggressive thing you could do with your time.
Yeah, sure -- people say, “Well, people need to be informed, and I’M INFORMING THEM!” With thousands and millions of opinionated posts, are we actually informing one another or just lashing out on the people who disagree with our opinions. Our generation is losing our communication skills. The more you combat people by talking through your fingers instead of your mouth, the more humanity you forget to consider before lashing out. I am so sad because some of the people who consider themselves great communicators are the ones lashing out on Facebook. Shhhh…do you hear that? It’s the sound of a contradiction.
If you feel the need to inform your Facebook “friends” how you feel about the election, then inform them. I just request you don’t act surprised when one of your “friends” disagrees with you on your post. If I say that I think chocolate milkshakes are the best in the world “and here’s why…” someone who likes something else is going to disagree with me. Pleeeeease stop acting surprised that someone doesn’t think you are the be all end all. Most political posts and articles are from an angled approach anyway. I’m not telling you to stop sharing what you think -- just please, use common sense. I am a student-teacher, and I deal with enough of a lack of that from my students.
3. Our government isn’t founded on what it used to be founded on.
One nation, under God. Say what you want about the latter part of that statement; however, that is what the nation was founded under. No amount of erasers can get rid of the fact that the statement was one of the beginnings of America becoming what it is. People came here to have religious freedom first. The pride we have in America is really hard to define anymore. The thing about tolerance is that it is intolerant. The thing about freedom is that is isn’t free. The thing about debt is that we still owe it, no matter how big the number gets and how helpless we feel.
We as humans are corrupt. Our ways of fixing things have flaws. No matter whom you support, you are going to disagree with someone. Please keep in mind the above three reasons why all of this politics talk is driving me insane. In reality, there is no right answer -- we are humans and, frankly, we suck. Facebook ranting and lashing out does no one any good -- it also proves that you are maybe not as good of a communicator as you thought. If you do truly want to respect others, call them up, see them in person, and say what you want to say to their face. Bring back some of the humanity that we are losing.
Ultimately, remember this nation makes mistakes, people make mistakes, and we are really hard to define as we move further and further from our nation’s beginning and founding principles. As glad as I am to be a citizen in a free country, remember America is nowhere near perfect. Please be polite with your politics -- those of you who haven’t been, please feel called out. No matter what happens, someone will be elected, and that will do what it will -- you aren’t super in control of that. You ARE in control of your actions, so please, think before you politic.
