I’ve never considered myself to be a political person. Whenever conversations were brought up, I promptly kept my mouth shut. I’ve been taught from a very young age to refrain from speaking about things I’m uneducated in, things I don’t understand enough to speak on. It’s better to stay silent than to spread potential misinformation due to my own ignorance. Even so, I know politics plays a massive role in our everyday lives.
With that being said, I figured I should try to find out more, not to argue with people or join a side but just to know what’s actually going on. I thought it would be as simple as completing a few Google searches and reading up on the latest articles. I was sorely mistaken.
It’s not that the information isn’t available. In fact, it’s everywhere from YouTube to news channels on the TV and articles on Facebook. The problem lies in the content itself. When I tried to educate myself more, I only felt myself falling into another pit of confusion and differing information. Instead of clarity, I found chaos. One source calls something a success while another describes it as an outright disaster.
For people like me, the bias in the media makes understanding politics better feel almost impossible. Headlines are made for clicks and views, political stories are designed to support one side or criticize the other. The facts feel like they’re buried within a sea of hatred and personal beliefs.
As someone who didn’t grow up with talks about politics, it’s overwhelming. This kind of media environment makes it hard for new voters, students and people like me to learn. I’m not asking for perfect, unbiased journalism. I know how complicated that can be. I’m also not asking for perfect answers, just a better path to understanding what’s going on. If politics affects us all, then it should be something we can all understand. Politics is complicated enough, the way we talk about it doesn’t have to be.
