Friday, September 16, 2016

Do you know who you are going to vote for? Because I don’t.

Talk of the 2016 election has been going on since Barack Obama stepped in to the presidential seat for the second time. Since then many candidates have stepped forward to succeed the 44th president of the United States with intentions to “Make America Great Again” or help us “Feel the Bern.” With November just around the corner, two candidates remain. As U.S citizens we are stuck with the tough decision of either choosing our first women president or let a business man run our nation. Two candidates that have mastered the art of stirring the political pot, and left a nation in uncertainty and irritation. As a millennial who catches up with politics through Facebook and will have my first chance to vote for a president, I can firmly say that I have no idea who I am going to vote for.

Like most millennials, we find ourselves sucked in to the world of social media and the internet. Scrolling through posts, pictures, videos, articles, etc. paying attention to other people’s lives. Articles crossing our page about Hilary Clinton’s next fraud email or Donald Trump kicking out another Muslim at a rally. Social media provides millennials with a connection to the political world, but the wrong political world.

Even as a Democrat myself, I could not be able to tell you the important policies Hilary Clinton wants to establish if she gets in to office. But being nineteen with an iPhone in my hand 90% of the time I do know that she can dab (trendy Hip Hop dance move that supposed to mimic “sneezing.”)  If I am supposed to vote for the next American president, I should not be basing it after how well she can pretend to sneeze. Our political world is involved in the same circle as our social media world. Somehow these two worlds have collided in one for the millennials, and somehow that is how we are going to choose our next U.S president.


I do believe that this next generation, known as millennials, will not be able to properly vote for our next president because we don’t know our candidates on a political level, but rather a social level. Being socially connected to our presidential candidates restricts us from knowing the qualities that are needed to become the 45th president. Politically, I do not know who I am going to vote for. Socially, I go with the one who dabbed with Ellen Degeneres, seems reasonable right?

6 comments:

  1. Why do you self-identify as a Democrat?

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  2. Pineapple Express,

    I too am a Millennial and a democrat who will be voting in the next presidential election. I agree with you that social media plays a big and sometimes crucial role influencing voters (usually but not only the younger generations). Whether you like Hilary, Trump, or some independent third party we find ourselves with copious amounts of information to process and sift through. While it is easy to let Facebook, The Huffington Post, or Twitter guide us it is our responsibility to go one step further.

    Being a Millennial also means that we have the know how to find anything we need on the internet within minutes if not seconds. It then becomes our responsibility to do the work that many refuse to do. Not because they are millennials but because it is all too easy to let social media, family, our others opinions guide us.

    As a Millennial who checks her Facebook on a regular basis I can vouch for the many millennials that have not only done their homework when it comes to this next presidential election but who also use their Facebook to voice their opinions. Whether it's making social commentary, reposting a video, or commenting on a status I frequently see people of this generation getting involved. I see them actively engaging their peers and even family members, oftentimes questioning them and responding to questions with facts.

    Like any group, millennials include people who are involved in politics, those who follow the news loosely, and those who don't bother to get involved. It simply depends on the individual.

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  3. Is your argument meant to focus on a millennial inability to "properly vote", or is it it meant to point out that millennials, who base their vote upon a candidate's ability to properly execute the latest dance craze, have no business voting in this upcoming election/serious nation altering event?

    I think your argument has better moves than Clinton, because you are bouncing all over the place. You do seem to have a repeated idea/theme of millennials being inept, especially in regards to politics and the upcoming election, but it seems like you're trying very hard to connect the idea/theme of being a millennial to that of the world of politics and voting. I guess in that regard your argument is successful, as you are more than likely trying to convince your audience that the generation referred to as "millennials" is not in any way connected to politics and/or to the reality of the seriousness of this upcoming election.

    I have to say that you have successfully informed me of how much more terrified I should be about the outcome of this upcoming election.

    About how many under/ill-informed millennials would you say are voting this November, and if we can somehow can get Hillary to dance some more do you think more of those millennials will vote for her?

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    Replies
    1. If Hillary has Parkinsons' Disease during the debates, will that count as dancing?

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  4. That was an interesting post. I was wondering something. If you are sort of politically connected as you seem to suggest, then are you a democrat in the same way many people are Catholics: born that way?

    I thought as I was reading how connectedness to social media and the like could actually result in your having a thumb on the political goings on in the country. I am not sure if you'd care to do that or not, but, for me, I consider my phone and the various other digital devices I have to be essential learning tools for that I simply could not live without.

    Finally, I thought your Trump/Clinton structure was interesting. I also found the fact that you are still unsure about who to vote for (and for good reasons as you are not alone) an opportunity to make a little suggestions.

    I personally am disappointed with our nominees as many others, to be sure. However, I do not need to know much about anyone to know that there are certain things about a candidate that would result in my eliminating them from my choice for president. For instance, if candidate A believed it was just to deny an LGBT person the right to marry, I would not vote for that candidate. Or, if a candidate believed that protecting large corporations equated to protecting ordinary working citizens, then that candidate would not get my vote.

    So, the point in all this is to say that you do not need to know everything--or even very much--about a candidate to know whether or not you would vote for him or her. If you simply use one, two, or even three issues that you know that candidate supports, then you have just found the infallible guide to casting the right vote!

    Good post. I enjoyed reading it!

    Truthis

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