I interviewed students at BVNW who are known for having strong political opinions. I asked them about specific laws, bills and policies the presidential candidates plan to pass to better serious issues in our country like the economy, corruption within government and public policy. The responses from each view are nothing short of comical.
“Economy, what’s that?” said a 15-year-old Kamala Harris supporter.
“I just don’t want a female president,” said a 16-year-old Donald Trump supporter.
Despite being strongly opinionated on the subject, these responses clearly show that they didn’t know what they were talking about. They both casually discussed abortion, racism, sexism, illegal immigration and crime rates like they are not real problems. At some point in the interview, both of the students said points that contradicted something they said just before.
The fabricated world of social media has changed people’s views on politics, not only at my high school but every high school in the U.S. Instead of teenagers’ opinions being educated by debates or rallies, they are formed by social media personalities like Charlie Kirk and Dean Withers.
Charlie Kirk and Dean Withers are social media political activists. They are featured on YouTube videos, TikToks and Instagram reels, and their content consists of them interviewing opinionated, uneducated people and getting them to argue about scandalous government issues.
The editors and directors of their videos take 15-second clips of someone saying something controversial or brainless and make them out to represent an entire political party. Other channels will make edits of politicians, presidents and government officials making a good point, or beating someone in an argument with cool music and effects in the background, but these clips don’t show their sexual assault charges, substance abuse cases and criminal records. Frankly, profiting off of these videos is an embarrassment of a profession and is simply taking advantage of U.S. citizens while getting paid copious amounts of money to do so.
Because of the appeal and accessibility that social media and these content creators bring, some teenagers are naive enough to fall for their channels. According to Pew Research Center one in five U.S. adults say they get their political news primarily through social media, so imagine how suspectable adolescents would be to disinformation attempts. Videos like this deceive and construct propaganda that is appealing for kids in my generation to buy into.
False news in the media is a term that skyrocketed in popularity after the 2016 ballot, and now with the upcoming election, it has become a part of everyday life. Not even considering intentional disinformation attacks, 38.2 percent of Americans have admitted to accidentally sharing fake news according to Statista. This is a problem that is increasing every day because American people are being told lies and fake news and then sharing it. Wake up people, you are being conditioned to support a movement powered by conspiracy theories and lies.
If politics is something that truly interests you great; however I would recommend doing research with an open mind instead of making yourself a diehard supporter of one political candidate or party. I’m not saying that you can’t have opinions or that you can’t talk about them, but if you are going to do so, do yourself a favor and go to accredited sources and find out both the good and the bad for each candidate because truthfully, neither of them are perfect. Find bits and pieces you agree with for each side morally and have respectful, constructive conversations.
Instead of speaking out of line disrespectfully to each other, we should go back to the simple rule my parents taught me that some people so desperately need to learn; don’t speak if you don’t know what you’re talking about.
