November 9, 2016. 1AM:
Where were you when it was the end of the 2016 elections? For me, I just woke up from a nap. I did not check the polls. I did not check social media. All I checked was the time, and I somehow consciously knew who already won the 2016 election without a second thought. Questions stirred my mind, and it made me wonder, “Is this really happening? Is this my new reality? So, what now?” Since election day, nothing but pain and heavy hearts have appeared in the media and within the communities I am a part of. Entering my usual places, such as school, it felt eerie and gloomy, not only because of the weather changing abruptly but due to fear and curiosity. The way people reacted and how the media portrayed the protests, within the forty eight hours since the election, made me wonder if it would have been different if someone else had won. Believe me, seeing our nation stand together and speak up for ourselves rather than sitting on the sidelines made my heart happy; however, seeing the violent protests weighed more on my back and cancelled out that happiness.
We live in a world where technology is dominant in our lives. Whether we believe it or not, we use it as a pastime or a voice for what we believe in. Within the episode of Black Mirror’s, The Waldo Movement, Waldo the Bear uses technology as a way to get votes and demonize his opponents. Although the person behind the bear, actor Daniel Rigby, did not see a reason to vote for a cartoon character, many others did due to the amusement and belief that the bear is a more honest candidate in comparison to the other candidates. Yet, voting for Waldo the Bear would have been a joke. The similarity between Waldo the Bear and who our nation refused to believe is our elected president, is uncanny. Although Waldo did not win in the episode, the person who is perceived as a joke to the media, in our real world, did. A joke can only be taken so far, and when hearing about the 2016 elected president being our reality, it did not seem funny anymore. It is easy to conform and be swayed by the beliefs of others, but we all have to remember that we have a voice for ourselves too. We have a voice to stand up for what we believe in. We have a voice to educate others. We have a voice to show we are not afraid. We may have heavy hearts now, but we should always remember not to act on our emotions and past experiences. If we are to stand as a nation together, we should remember to promote love and not stoop down to the levels of hatred. Sometimes our emotions can get the best of us, but we should reasonably and rationally educate the people around us and the people who aren’t affected. Whether or not it affects you, it is still a reality. If we are to stand as a nation together, we should remember to promote love and not stoop down to the levels of hatred.
Where were you when it was the end of the 2016 elections? For me, I just woke up from a nap. I did not check the polls. I did not check social media. All I checked was the time, and I somehow consciously knew who already won the 2016 election without a second thought. Questions stirred my mind, and it made me wonder, “Is this really happening? Is this my new reality? So, what now?” Since election day, nothing but pain and heavy hearts have appeared in the media and within the communities I am a part of. Entering my usual places, such as school, it felt eerie and gloomy, not only because of the weather changing abruptly but due to fear and curiosity. The way people reacted and how the media portrayed the protests, within the forty eight hours since the election, made me wonder if it would have been different if someone else had won. Believe me, seeing our nation stand together and speak up for ourselves rather than sitting on the sidelines made my heart happy; however, seeing the violent protests weighed more on my back and cancelled out that happiness.
We live in a world where technology is dominant in our lives. Whether we believe it or not, we use it as a pastime or a voice for what we believe in. Within the episode of Black Mirror’s, The Waldo Movement, Waldo the Bear uses technology as a way to get votes and demonize his opponents. Although the person behind the bear, actor Daniel Rigby, did not see a reason to vote for a cartoon character, many others did due to the amusement and belief that the bear is a more honest candidate in comparison to the other candidates. Yet, voting for Waldo the Bear would have been a joke. The similarity between Waldo the Bear and who our nation refused to believe is our elected president, is uncanny. Although Waldo did not win in the episode, the person who is perceived as a joke to the media, in our real world, did. A joke can only be taken so far, and when hearing about the 2016 elected president being our reality, it did not seem funny anymore. It is easy to conform and be swayed by the beliefs of others, but we all have to remember that we have a voice for ourselves too. We have a voice to stand up for what we believe in. We have a voice to educate others. We have a voice to show we are not afraid. We may have heavy hearts now, but we should always remember not to act on our emotions and past experiences. If we are to stand as a nation together, we should remember to promote love and not stoop down to the levels of hatred. Sometimes our emotions can get the best of us, but we should reasonably and rationally educate the people around us and the people who aren’t affected. Whether or not it affects you, it is still a reality. If we are to stand as a nation together, we should remember to promote love and not stoop down to the levels of hatred.
P.S. I just wanted to end with a positive note by leaving positive quotes for you all at the end of this. Be positive, and be true to yourself. Thank you.
2 comments:
Kristine, I think that a lot of people can sympathize with you on the fact that many of our friends are very upset over the election. We see it on the news and in our lives, however, not too far we can see happiness over the same reason. I think it is important now to just accept everyone as they are, regardless of political views. I do know that is hard, because of one of the candidates views on many people. Now more than ever the people in the United States need to unite to make sure that this discriminatory behavior does not perpetuate itself.
Kristine,
I must agree with you that sometimes it feels like this past election was just a joke gone too far. South Park released an episode a few months ago, where Trump won the election. In it, the citizens said people started voting for Trump at first to be funny, but by the time everyone wanted to find a serious candidate for president, Trump had already won. This episode seems eerily familiar to the situation we are in now, unfortunately.
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