My Automatic Attitudinal Response

I can honestly say that I have struggled to write every Well Informed and OTM post this semester. When talking about racism, democracy, or religion, I kind of just shrug these issues off because I was stubborn to express my opinions or had a tough time identifying what my standpoint was to begin with. I’m pretty sure I am the definition of a naïve citizen in this world but, if this class has taught me anything it’s that I need to be more engaged with what is going in society, be informed about all the factual aspects pertaining to these topics, and know myself well enough to be able to know where I stand.

Looking back on my posts, I feel like I’m just generalizing the situation and implying psychological, social or cultural context through research and vaguely through my own perspective. This sounds terrible, but I feel numb to all of these topics when in reality I should be educating myself especially when I’m uncertain about something. I observe Candy, who sits next to me, during class and she is always prepared to look up what we are talking about or anything she is unsure of. I feel I need to take the initiative to be better informed in order to break these cognitive barriers about controversial issues. I need to gain knowledge in all areas of society and if I’m not familiar I need to know reliable resources that will give me the facts.

I believe this fault of mine is a result of my reliance on social media as my main news source. This quote by Professor Young opened my eyes to how easily we can be persuaded to think a certain way without even knowing it, “When our own opinions and positions are bolstered by what can appear to be a majority of others, we can easily become entrenched in a skewed perspective of reality.” I clearly need to expand my resources. I am a victim of framing my perspective on society through social media when I need to be able to see past the biases that they threw at me. I have to research both sides and be neutral in order to overcome hidden assumptions, ethnocentrism, and primary certitudes.

I’m not by any mean saying that I’m not bias or prejudice in certain situations, but I think I’m naïve to it because I keep everything to myself so I’m not sure how people will react. I don’t have much feedback to fall back on, but I try my best to fight just expressing my own opinions no matter what. I respect people’s points of views, backgrounds, and cultures and allow them to be free about it too. I will say I joke a lot about stereotypes in the kindest way possible without offending anyone, but I think I do a good job of playing devil’s advocate in a discussion. The barrier that I most need to work on is be more educated and have valid reasoning behind my views while still being open to others.

OTM #3- Who Are Trump Supporters?

Donald Trump’s presidential campaign to me is unorthodox and full of questionable tactics, but it seems to be working. What started as a potential political satire has turned Trump into the front runner of the Republican Party. How is this happening and what is the makeup of his fan base? Racists, the working class, impatient citizens in need for change?

The Atlantic’s national correspondent James Fallows believes this is a complex contradictory movement. We are constantly going back and forth of who his followers actually are without coming to any permanent conclusions. Fallows illustrated the feedback of a variety of public opinions that included vile remarks about Trump or that the media doesn’t know what goes on in real America, but then he get those who understand and try to sympathize with Trump.

Fallow’s describes the “normal” person as those who stick to their political ideology and do not seem like creatures of the extreme, who like Trump’s rashness and are not that afraid of what he would do in office.

One of Fallow’ theory of Trump’s success is that main media narrative of this movement represents racial tension, economic exclusion, and inpatients with politics along with Trump himself. People don’t care about his unique performance or background, but have more of the psychological disposition with trump than probably anyone else.

Fallow’s solution for the media coverage is to ,”try to recognize number one that this is a complicated fast moving situation that we aren’t going to understand in real time. Economic realities, what are racial dimensions, do as much explanatory work on hydraulic of America 2016 and less rally coverage but more talking about the country that is making the decision and the person about whom they are choosing.” The media must focus on the task at hand which the presidential primaries rather than just the next Trump fiasco in order to give people an honest perspective on who is fit for president. 

This becomes an interesting cultural matter in politics with the identity of the Republican Party. There is an alliance of modern Republican Party between economic royalists and cultural conservatives that are having racial or religious resentment. This can cause a shift in the face of the party with Trump and those in the future.

I agree with Fallow’s when he said, “Trump expresses the views of those who feel the object of that scorn then that would be true.” Trump represents those who feel victim of what is going on in the world. This political dilemma is presumably tainted by money, biased toward privilege or welded to the status quo is unknown for now, but has the possibility of become a reality sooner rather than later. 

Democracy 2.0

The 2016 primaries have literally left me speechless and it’s easy to say that Donald Trump’s presidential campaign is one for the books.  If we can barely come to terms with Trump potentially becoming president, could you imagine the rumors about Kanye West’s run in 2020?

I’ve had a chance to watch the debates and rallies leading up to the biggest day of the primaries, Super Tuesday. 13 states will hold their elections tomorrow and Trump seems to be in control. How? The media is eating out of the palm of Trump’s hands with all the publicity his campaign has been getting. An analyst referred to Trump as a trailblazer for politics even though he has no political background. I feel like Trump’s absurd tactic and comments are meant to distract us from the real issues. If you listened to his speeches Trump just bashes other candidates, countries or people to please the crowd and then briefly goes over important issues like foreign policy or health care.

Many of my friends have expressed their opinion on social media about Trump and how this ridiculous joke has the potential to become a reality within months. 

I come across a post about Trump on my Facebook and Twitter feeds daily and with these videos or memes being constantly viewed and shared only makes Trump’s stock go up. The fact that we as a society devote some much effort to criticize or critique Trump over all the other candidates is the attention Trump has lived for his whole life, especially now on the biggest stage of them all. The funny thing is Trump degraded the media, in particular the New York Times, in his rally in Texas Friday morning. Trump wants to change laws so that the media can’t say negative things about him… ironic since they are a major factor in his success.  Also, on Friday before the announcement of the Chris Christie endorsement, Marco Rubio mocked Trump’s tweets and tried to “fight fire with fire”. I just thought to myself, “Is this what our country has come too? Who can talk sh*t the best?” I’ve gained the mindset of voting for the candidate that is going to the least amount of damage to our country for the next four years, but yet I am still dumbfounded.

Any individual who thinks they are qualified to be the most powerful person in the world should be required to have political background of some sort. I think that every candidates should hold office of an applicable political position for at least one full term before even be eligible to run for president. To me experience is essential to everything in life. You don’t get hire to become a CEO of a company with no job experience, so why are we letting a power thirsty businessman or a mediocre rapper even be in the conversation of politics let alone being the leader of the free world? There need to be stricter requirements for this office because it is so important to our nation’s future. I’ve come to idea that we have lost sight of good leaders who want the best for the American people and instead accept those politicians who say what we want to hear to get elected and then pursue their own self-interests. Was Christie’s endorsement in spite of Hilary Clinton or just to get a seat in the White House? Politics are complex and apart of the foundation of this country was built on, therefore we can’t just let anyone be president. We should have higher standards for a position of such powerful representation of the citizen of the United States.