When you read someone asks you what President Donald Trump's biggest offense is, what comes to mind first? I bet your answer would be different than your neighbor’s.
Due to the bombastic nature of Trump’s words and actions, this title could convey one of many things. It could mean his regular communication with Russia. It could call to mind the threat of nuclear conflict with North Korea, threatening the fragile nuclear security dilemma. Or, it could highlight the discrimination and alienation millions of Americans have felt as he has attacked women, the LGBTQ+ community, people of color and more.
But no. To me, a 19-year-old woman pursuing a college education, the most offensive thing Trump has done is prematurely cultivate a spirit of exhaustion when it comes to politics for people my age. I cannot even begin to count how many peers I have heard on both sides of the aisle say they can’t look at the news. I find myself wanting to succumb to this seemingly blissful ignorance. Watching the actions of the Trump administration continually frightens and disappoints me. However, our generation possessing this distaste for politics is dangerous to the future of our nation.
In the 2016 presidential election, about 50 percent of voters 18-29 years old voted. In primary, state and local elections, those numbers were lower. Additionally, our age category’s trust in news media fell at or below 20 percent for every racial demographic. It disheartens me that at the inception of my political involvement, I find our generation is already so hypercritical and disappointed in the reality of our nation’s federal politics.
The fact that our news sources can be difficult to sift through adds to our generation’s desire to tune out. This is due to a large quantity and variance in quality in regards to information. However, using the difficult navigation of media as an excuse to be passive in our nation’s politics frankly sends a message we take our democracy for granted.
We already seem completely disenchanted with the beauty of our nation’s political construction and are finding it easier to just let someone else worry about it all. This is where the danger lies. If we all turn a blind eye to what is currently happening in our government, our political choices will negatively impact not only our futures but also our children’s in ways we cannot reverse.
The recent disastrous Pepsi commercial highlights a struggle our generation faces to connect our social media usage to producing meaningful change. We must recognize it is our responsibility to transcend ignorance and use our unprecedented access to information to impact real results. We must actively participate in shaping our politics on all levels.
The Washington Post boasts the phrase, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” at the top of its webpage. The American political process doesn’t just involve us as citizens for a few months every four years. It is our responsibility as the newest generation of voters to step up and persist in times of uncertainty, not cower from the truth. If we don’t like the result of our recent elections, we need to improve our involvement in the process.
This takes hard work and determination in times when the news seems to be mostly negative. But isn’t that what this country is all about? Americans don’t shy away from conflict, and we do not succumb to ignorance.
