The purpose of this blog for the past few months has been both a way of discussing the election amongst college-age voters, and a call to action for the youth vote. Well, the day has come and gone. The day our country decided on keeping an old president over gaining a new, the day when Democrats and Republicans were more at war than any other day of the year. Apparently, the day when Twitter and Facebook come alive with political rhetoric, breaking news, and witty commentary – whether welcomed or not.
Let’s face it – we’ve had an eventful week. With Hurricane Sandy, the final few days of election anticipation, and the announcement of a Boy Meets World spin off in the works, our generation has had more than enough to talk about. But this didn’t stop us from transforming Facebook into an outlet for expressing political opinion, and didn’t stop thousands of us (both politically active and politically uninterested) from tweeting in support of one team or the other.
There were the uplifiting I don’t care who you vote for, just VOTE statuses, the irritating Anyone who votes for Candidate B is an idiot statuses, and then there were these: I can’t wait for the election to be over. Or the sarcastic, biting remarks that make fun of a political status by saying something like Insert political rant here (not far off base), or I plan to avoid Facebook for the next week until this stops (and then they don’t.)
As the first generation to really experience Facebook and Twitter, it feels almost like we have the ability to shape or mold them as we see fit. As a way of communicating political information and opinion, social media couldn’t have been developed in a more perfect way. But this election makes me wonder if social media really is an appropriate place for political discussion. To be honest, even for someone interested in politics, reading post after post of often ignorant or disrespectful commentary is exhausting, and certainly not enjoyable.
In ’08, President Obama used social media in a way that no presidential candidate had done before. In his efforts to mobilize the youth population, he used the one tool he knew would excite and provide access to almost every single youth voter – and it worked. Not only did he utilize social media in an unprecedented fashion, but he rallied young voters like never before. This year, Obama easily matched ‘08’s success with youth voters. Surprisingly, we may even have seen an increase in the youth vote, despite the fact that his campaign wasn’t nearly as social media heavy as in the last election. So has our generation taken on the initiative ourselves? Have incessant Facebook posts and tweets become the new campaign for youth mobilization?
In years past, Rock the Vote has been the most successful youth initiative in politics. Started in 1992, Rock the Vote has used influential music artists to empower young voters with the slogan, “Building political power for young people.” Nevertheless, the era of social media may be taking over.
While people whine and complain about the incessant flow of political word vomit online (not pointing fingers, I complained too), I guess it comes with the territory. Facebook is coined as a way of expressing oneself to our peers – expressing our thoughts, our interests, our daily lives, so why not this too? You can say it’s not the place, it’s unwarranted behavior for a site that’s made for liking photos and writing on friends’ timelines, but at the end of the day, we should be thankful that Facebook and twitter didn’t turn into the mind-numbing wastes of time that our parents and older peers proclaimed them to be.
So whether you voted or you didn’t (I hope you did!), whether you’re thankful the election is over, or itching for more political sparring, whether you’re the person posting on Facebook or the one begging for it to stop, let’s at least be thankful for one thing: in the land of the free and the brave, we not only have the ability and the right to vote, but the opportunity to express our opinions frankly and unashamedly with the only consequence of annoying some of our followers, and maybe starting an unwelcome debate with a friend. I’m thankful that I could contribute to the election of a world leader, that I could read others’ opinions and have the ability to respond even if I chose not to, and I’m thankful that all of this occurred peacefully and (most of the time) respectfully. I’m even thankful for the comments I didn’t agree with, and for Facebook for bringing them to my attention. I’m thankful…are you? (If not, direct your attention to the top right hand corner of the screen where it says “Log Out.”)
