Today I decided to conduct a highly scientific experiment.
I Googled Donald Trump hair, and I got “About 50,100,000 results."
When I Googled Donald Trump education plan, I got “About 28,500,000 results." Similarly, when I Googled Hillary Clinton style, I got “About 64,000,000 results.” When I Googled Hillary Clinton education plan I got “About 26,500,000 results.” Washington, we have a problem here.
Hi America, it’s me, one of your many citizens. I am currently unfit to be president. First of all, I am definitely not 35, I am definitely not someone with experience running any sort of real government or industry and I do not know enough about many of the issues facing our country to put any programs into place to fix them. That being said, when I turn on the TV, I would like to learn. I would like to hear what the candidates are doing, not what they’re saying about each other. I would like to hear about their policies, not their hair or their Twitter feuds. I would like to hear about their plans, not about the image that the media has given them.
I will be up front about my biases. I think Donald Trump is a bigoted jerk who has no place running our country. Based on his racist speeches, his unacceptable treatment and speech about women and his lack of experience in politics, I do not think that he is in any way an acceptable candidate for president. However, instead of turning on the TV and seeing a (very entertaining) montage of Trump saying the word “China,” I would like to hear about his actual plans. Instead of turning on CNN and hearing all about Trump and Clinton's latest Twitter feud, I would like to hear about what steps they are actually going to take in regards to national healthcare. I don’t think that Clinton is perfect in any way either, but that doesn’t mean that I want to hear all about how she looked during her latest rally, or about the five seconds of the debate that she missed when she went to the bathroom.
It’s no national secret that we need to get our priorities in order. It’s sad that we base our opinions on whoever has the best Twitter comeback. It’s sad that we care more about the insults that candidates hurl at each other than about the issues. The truth is, gimmicks, insults and petty fights are way more fun than the actual issues. I would rather look at 50 memes about Donald Trump looking like raw chicken than watch CSPAN. It is so much easier and so much more entertaining to watch funny snapshots of our candidates, to watch short SNL skits to get our fix of politics or to skim a quick Buzzfeed article about Hillary Clinton’s rainbow of pantsuits. Thanks, media, for making it so easy to indulge in these guilty pleasures. Thanks, self, for being too lazy to try to figure things out yourself. Thanks, “politicians,” for going along with this.
The more Trump and Clinton snap at each other, the more the media sensationalizes it. The more the media sensationalizes it, the more we eat it up. The more we eat it up, the more we are polarized to different parties or people, and thus the cycle repeats itself. We are currently facing an election that feels less about the actual issues than ever before, in a time with more issues than ever before. I say this to myself as much as anyone else out there: We need to educate ourselves on the actual issues, regardless or our parties or beliefs. We need to focus on what is being said, not what is being snapped. America’s future is not a joke, no matter how much it may seem like one right now.
