As a political science major, I don't want to talk about politics anymore. There are times when I will find out about a breaking news event a month later because I can't be bothered to check the news. With all the political and social events that have happened in the last year and especially this summer, ignorance really has been bliss.
About a month ago, I made a Facebook status about how tired and hurt I felt from recent events, when several black lives were lost in a couple days in a row. A friend commented on the status and wrote, "Don't you just love how politics has become the saddest of all reality shows?" That line hit me hard. I re-read the phrase, "saddest of all reality shows," and realized that it was completely true. Just look toward the 2016 presidential campaign as the perfect example: GOP candidates attacking each other on superficial, personal insults, salty and aggressive Bernie supporters who don't like the direction of the Democratic party, and so many other trifling issues that can't all be generalized here.
So why did I even choose a political science major? I chose it not because I like delving into specific policies, laws, and regulations that were made, but because I like to read about political theories and philosophies and to deconstruct them, conceptually of course. I like reading about political theories because it extends my absurd view of the world. I don't like reading about politics where everything is a game where individuals dress up in suits and use petty insults on live TV.
It is hugely disappointing to watch the most popular news on TV and social media be about political spats rather than constructive, sociopolitical progress. There were times earlier in the summer when I would go to sleep with tears because of all the damage I saw on the news. I have to remind myself each time I read a news article that this is happening, in reality, and will have real impacts on me in some manner.
I'm not actually sure the extent to which I'll engage myself in political discussions once I get back on campus. This summer by far has been the most divisive I have seen this nation; it often felt as though society regressed rather than progressed. Weirdly enough, I still have a deeply-buried spot of optimism for humanity. Someday, we will get it. We will be able to put our difference aside to assess what is best for humanity as a whole. Until then, it seems that we are stuck with this joke of politics that is too painful to watch in live-time.
