Earlier this week, President Donald Trump put a social media gag on government agencies like The National Parks, NASA, and the EPA. This gag prevents these organizations from posting anything online regarding climate changes and the scientific facts around it. Obviously, this caused a lot of outrage, as this country is built on free speech, and never before has a government official in this country silenced the people. Luckily, these organizations weren't having it, which led to Badlands National Park tweeting out climate change facts. These facts were taken down shortly after, but it led to further resistance. Twitter accounts like @ALTUSNPS, @NotAltWorld, @RogueNASA appeared, sharing the facts that the organizations they stood for are unable to share. This then led to The Scientists' March on Washington, an event in DC dedicated to show the government that the truth will not remain silent.
This attempt to silence the truth was one of many this week. Steve Bannon, Trump's strategist was quoted as telling the media to "keep its mouth shut", and calling it the opposition party. As a journalism student, and member of the media, this quote both scared and angered me. Much like the freedom of speech, the freedom of the press is a constitutional right, yet now in 2017 we are being told to be silent. Like the National Parks and NASA, they are attempting to silence us, and that is not ok. Whatever your political views, you have to understand that the media and the press are in no way the enemy. We are simply here to tell the facts as best as we can, yet we are being painted as the bad guys.
The terrors of the past week came to a head with an unconstitutional muslim ban. People who have never done anything wrong in their life have been left stranded in multiple airports, being told that they can't enter the country, solely due to their religion. Furthermore, the countries being banned aren't the main source of terror attacks on our country. And even if they were, innocent people are being treated as threats simply based on their religion. I have personally known people of the Muslim religion and they are wonderful kind people who deserve to be treated just like everyone else in this country.
I've always been iffy about being a journalist. Fiction writing has always been my strong point and passion. However, after participating in my first march, and after all of the terrible things that were said and implemented this week (don't even get me started on the border wall, as at the grand-daughter of mexican immigrants, and someone who lived in mexico for a while, I have a lot of thoughts on that), I am determined to use my writing to fight back. I want to follow the path of the rogue social media accounts, and of the rest of the media that is pushing onward with telling the truth, despite being painted as evil for doing so. I believe that writing, whether it be through an online article, or a simple tweet, can change the world.
