The episode of “Black Mirror” is very relevant to the current political climate of America with this most recent election. There is one qualified candidate who is running but is representative of everything wrong with the system, and there is a candidate who is like Waldo. Donald Trump was elected president I believe because many people were tired of these politicians who have been bought and sold by corporations. Donald Trump just said whatever he wanted when he wanted, and I think that appealed to many people who were tired of candidates who would always give the ‘safe’ answer and would never say what needed to be said. Hillary Clinton was the only bi partisan candidate that was really qualified to lead but many people questioned where her loyalty lied during the election. Waldo stated in the episode that career politicians are the reason why people don't go out and vote anymore. They are discouraged that no one who runs will ever change anything or that both candidates are so unsavory that they would rather not vote or write in a silly third party candidate like harambe. That mindset is very relevant in our culture today, I have many friends who did not vote because they despise the candidates and what they represent. If more people took the non-consequntialist approach and voted who they thought was the best candidate and not the candidate of lesser evil, many more honest politicians and third party candidates would have a better shot at winning. I know that is easier said than done, especially after many people are demoralized that Trump won the election.
Though Trump may be a lesser qualified candidate, this does not mean the world has ended. The episode ended on a dystopian world where Waldo was some global controller and the free world had ended. I highly doubt that we will end up like that by the end of his term, but these next few years could definitely hurt any progress made by president Obama. People should be more active in politics on a local level. While the president holds a lot of power, the majority of laws passed are made by state and local legislature. If the only politics people are interested are at a national level, the president elect will have a hard time passing laws in a legislative branch that does not support him.
Ultimately I believe this nation's biggest threat is apathy. People just do not care enough about the things they should care about. I believe the next candidate who can get people to care about the issues that need to be fixed will easily win the election.
3 comments:
Will, I agree with you. I believe that people are tired of the politicians being stuck in their own little world, and not caring about their constituents. That's why I think there is apathy in this country. But Americans has to change that because it is important that they are critical of who they give power to.
Hi Will,
You show a lot of wisdom in recognizing that the sky is not falling and the world will not come to an end as a result of this election. Our nation was born of freedom and was set up to have laws and governing bodies at the State level, and not so much on the Federal scale that we see so much of today. You hit the nail on the head when you said that the candidates were despised or unsavory, but we also have to hold the media at large accountable for the positioning of creating news instead of reporting it. Without the media, both commercial and social, taking so much out of context or perpetuating falsehoods, their numbers in hits, likes or reposts might not be so high, but neither would the tension be escalating here in the Land of the Free.
I agree with you, people don't really care who win the election. Therefore, Democracy loses its meaning, since people don't think about what is really good for them.
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