This being the first Presidential Race that many of my friends can vote in —
myself included — we have all been quickly introduced to the world of political posts. We all have been submerged in political conversations, facebook posts and arguments. It's fascinating to see the ways in which the political race has affected people.The posts include sharing articles, supporting candidates, debating issues and debating the government in general. It's not just the posts themselves because then people start commenting. It's in the comments that stuff starts to get interesting. Reading the comments you are able to piece together a map of who feels comfortable talking about which topics. In one way I love these posts. I love getting to see what my friends think of certain political issues and candidates. On the other hand, sometimes I feel like these Facebook arguments are ruining friendships. Technology has given us the ability to communicate instantly from different places but it has yet to allow us to accurately distinguish the tone and emotion behind a comment. This affects Facebook arguments especially because they usually seem very aggressive and bossy even if that was not the desired tone. I feel like this is turning people away from debating and as well as keeping them from respecting each other's opinions.
Even without the debates in the comments, the posts themselves are interesting. It is always surprising to see who posts what. We are all finding out the political views of the people we grew up with and it can be a little terrifying. Part of me wants to de-friend the people whose political views are so far from my own that I have trouble respecting any of their beliefs, but the other part of me wants to stay and watch because I want to know how people can vote for the aggressively disrespectful and mean business man that has gained hundreds and hundreds of votes across the country. I'm worried about surrounding myself with only like-minded people but also with staying friends with someone with views so unlike my own. It comes right down to which views and rights are nonnegotiable beliefs. This presidential election has allowed us all to see the views of our friends and social media has made it so we don't even have to talk to them to know about their views.
