How political are we, really? No, seriously, I implore you, take a second to stop and think. Ask yourself what it is that you really believe in, underneath the clamor and din of the discourse you hear online. When it comes down to it, do you have a core set of beliefs you fall back on?
I am not immune to the ever-shifting landscape of online political discourse. I am fully aware that the majority of the news I am consuming comes to me from biased sources. The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal… I know these outlets suffer from a severe political bent even on their best days.
To consume news in the modern era is to remain constantly vigilant — but how many of us actually remember to scrutinize the information being poured into our mugs alongside our morning coffee?
If major news outlets are bad, social media is far worse. With never-ending rabbit holes and algorithms designed to suck us down, it is all too easy to get lost in the extremes of one idea, one cause, placed on a digital pedestal above all the rest.
How can we be so involved yet so detached? We claim to be invested in the lives of other people, but really I think that as the years have gone by, we have become increasingly self-centered. For the vast majority of Generation Z, activism and involvement have become little more than a hot new trend.
In the wake of George Floyd’s murder in 2020, I watched as people flooded the streets and Instagram profile pictures flipped one by one from cheesy selfies to tiny black circles emblazoned with the letters “BLM.”
And, the further Floyd faded into the past, I watched those tiny black circles disappear like dark ash scattering on the breeze.
When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, an eerie similarity washed over the digital sphere. GoFundMe pages calling for aid to family, friends and strangers in Ukraine flooded my timeline, but as the war raged on, those petitions grew few and far between.
Yet again, the same story unfolded with the Israel-Hamas war in 2023.
More often than not, we discard our politics with the same carelessness we do the clothes that clutter up our closets. It’s infuriating.
Even if you feel that the issues in the spotlight have passed their prime or that they no longer affect you, that doesn’t mean they are not still relevant to somebody. So many people face the repercussions of policies we let fade out of the public eye and pass behind closed doors every single day.
Sometimes it isn’t even a matter of awareness. Sometimes, the public is fully aware of what is happening, even aware of the consequences it will have, and simply decides to stop fighting. “What’s the point?” they — the ambiguous general public — may say. “There’s nothing we can do.”
Well, allow me to let you in on a little secret. There is always something we can do. As stupid and lame as it may sound, the easiest thing you can do is care.
I am not asking you to keep up with everything going on in the world at all times; that would be impossible! However, finding an issue you’re honest-to-goodness actually passionate about, no matter how small you think it might be, and holding fast to that despite everything else traveling at a whirlwind pace around you will make a world of difference.
Politics is not a passing phase. It’s an ever-changing landscape that has the potential to chew us up and spit us out the other side if we let it. It’s all we can do to just keep fighting.
We must keep our passion burning, in order to stay afloat, even if everyone else is telling us to move onto a newer, shinier political trend. Remaining resolute in the face of change is perhaps the most powerful weapon of all.
