I Am Afraid

• As a woman, I am afraid. 
• As a person of colour, I am afraid.
• As an undocumented alien, I am afraid. 
• As a member of the LGBTQ community, I am afraid.

When we were told who are candidates would be this time around, last year, people did not take Donald Trump seriously. His remarks, all too inappropriate for someone campaigning and running for president, or someone in general, sparked controversy. "I'm going to build a wall," quickly became a statement repeated by people, mostly out of humour. 

This election legitimately made me worry these last few weeks. It started becoming more and more real with each passing day that Trump had an actual chance of winning, and to the shock and dismay of many, he did on November 8, 2016. 
That night I was concerned with my own safety as well as the safety of all the other people discriminated against by Donald Trump and his supporters either because of the colour of their skin, their sexuality, or their religion. On election night, a woman tweeted out, "My mom literally just texted me "don't wear the Hijab please" and she's the most religious person in our family...."
But hers wasn't the only heartbreaking response. It hasn't even been a week since the results of this election were announced and all over the country there have been hate crimes (or should I say "Trump Pride" crimes against minorities. Hispanics told that if they don't like the results to just go back to their home countries, or that, better yet, Trump would take them out soon enough. Even Middle Schoolers joining in by chanting "Build A Wall," repeatedly to their classmates. African-Americans being harassed and called the "N" word repeatedly. Nazi-themed graffiti displayed. 

At this point all we can do is make one another feel safe. The bright side of this election is that it made me realise that Christian Brothers University is a school who truly values each individual student regardless of their physical appearance or their background. In the words of Brother Ryan "CBU is a place everyone is welcome at, a place where you as students are welcome and valued, where peace prevails, and where love exists."

The Waldo Moment And Today's Society

After watching the Waldo Moment, it has opened my eyes to how much it relates to modern day society. Through the advancement of technology, social media has become apart of every day life. The Waldo Moment shows how the people turn to social media to for anything including politics. In the recent presidential elections, social media played a huge part.  The Waldo Moment also showed how the politicians that actually mean well and want to make a better change for the people always get over looked. While there is that one politician that the people know and support who is wealthy and actually doing more harm than good for the people and the communities. Then there is Waldo, a blue bear, that is not afraid to speak the truth no matter how it comes out even though it is only a cartoon character on a screen. To me, Waldo is the symbol for social media. The people looked forward to seeing Waldo every day on the screen or on the phones. Even though Waldo was used as a joke, the blue bear was also speaking out on the truth that goes on with the elections. In today's society, the people turn to social media daily. The presidential election was ran by social media. That is what the people turned to, to know what was going on and find out about who our candidates really were. Whether it be to dig up dirt on the candidates or find out their beliefs and how they felt on major problems and issues. The Waldo Moment shows how social media can sway the opinions and votes of the people. Since Waldo was faithfully on social media every day and continued to entertain the people, it kept them interested and tuned in. Social media in today's society can definitely sway the people and has been shown through the presidential elections. I saw certain social media sites that you can tell were definitely in support of Donald Trump because they would constantly post and show Trump in a better light than Hillary Clinton. These sites would make sure to dig up the dirt on Hillary Clinton like her email scam that she has going on and other negative things to persuade the people to turn towards Donald Trump. There were also certain sites that did the same thing but in vice versa.
During the discussion during class, there was a lot of talk on how people were really scared after finding out that Donald Trump had won for president.  In the beginning when Donald Trump started out running for president, it was taken as a joke. Trump has had no previous political experience. This reminds me of The Waldo Moment seeing that Waldo was something that was to entertain the people and had no previous political experience. With all of the racist, sexist, homophobic comments and plans from Trump has the people on edge since now he is president and has the power to actually make some changes. At the end of The Waldo Moment, you would be punished and attacked if you talked against and was not for Waldo. In today's society, the people really do not have a voice and could possibly get attacked and or punished for going against who's in charge. Also, when Jack got attacked by the cops in the end of The Waldo Moment, it made me think about the Trump rallies during the presidential election. If someone was against Trump, they would get attacked physically and or verbally and then kicked out.

The Waldo Moment: An Oversimplification

The most important thing to accept about this election is that none of us know how this will go. Trump may prove to be a great president, with his non-political background being exactly what our country needed to break away from “tradition” and another four years of doing the same cycle of failing to work together in the name of “party politics”. Moreover, his experience in business, as opposed to the capital, may provide a much different, fresh perspective that - while perhaps unsatisfactory alone - may be capable of inspiring different thinking from our current politicians. On the other hand, maybe Trump is very much like Waldo, being a mere puppet to creative masterminds operating behind the scenes, in which case it is entirely possible that we will see another cycle that is controlled by party power struggles, leading to Congress’s continued inability to overcome their differences to move legislation to benefit the American people. While it does not seem like Trump is the kind of person that would allow this to happen, it did occur to me that he sent a starkly different message in his victory speech than he did on the campaign trail.

However, this is not to say Hillary would have been an unquestionably better choice, as she had shortcomings of her own. Though I don’t want to go into it too much because I know it has been covered extensively elsewhere, the email situation does hint that she maybe issued with information security, which is important for a president. Additionally, I think many people had a hard time rallying behind her because she did not come across as being terribly warm (which I suspect may be due to her time as a lawyer, but I’m not certain). Even beyond this, she is the very definition of a lifelong politician. It’s rather unfortunate, in a way; in another election, she would stand apart for her ample experience and qualifications. However, one of the most prevalent themes in this election cycle was that people are frustrated and, more importantly, tired of Washington as usual. While I don’t know that trump is the right alternative, he certainly does present an intriguing break from the stereotypical politicians we see all too often.

With all of this said, I found “The Waldo Moment” interesting, though a bit too heavy-handed. Yes, it’s easy to point out the similarities to Trump’s campaign: the brash, highly abrasive speeches and debates, the constant attacks on other candidates, the calls to violence at rallies, and so forth. However, I think the most interesting thing they presented was the idea of Trump’s personal struggles behind the character he played on the campaign trail (behind his Waldo, if you will). However, I feel this was overshadowed by the ending. I think explicitly depicting Waldo/Trump as an entertainment piece grossly oversimplifies things. Additionally, if Monroe is supposed to be representative of Clinton, I think they seriously diminished just how much people disagreed with and/or disliked her. 

In sum, this election has certainly been an interesting one, and “The Waldo Moment” echoed some of its wildest aspects. However, despite my own feelings on Trump, I believe simplifying him to a mere cartoon doesn’t quite do it justice, just as I think saying people didn't want Clinton just because she's a more stereotypical politician also doesn't give the full scope of people's argument. I appreciate "The Waldo Moment" for its comparisons, but I think it simply becomes too heavy-handed to be taken seriously. It will not be an easy road, but I do believe our society will find a way through this, and come out better for the lessons we are learning..

Trump Bans Preshredded Cheese: Makes America Grate Again

     This election and it's outcome have been an incredibly divisive topic in this nation, primarily because of the incredible lack of charisma demonstrated by either of the two parties political candidates. Indeed, approximately 2/3rds of voters, when polled, had indicated that they would prefer any candidate besides Hillary or Trump. However, due to the well established notion that voting third party was a "waste of your vote," no other option was available to the American people. A friend commented on the election results and made the assertion that while not every individual who voted for Trump was a racist, sexist, homophobic bigot who wanted to see all liberal progress over the past 8 years undone, but the majority of them must have had racist, sexist, homophobic, bigoted tendencies to have voted for him. I disagree with his assessment; from my perspective much of the presidential selection came down to establishment vs. anti-establishment. To many Americans, Hillary represented everything that was wrong with the government; when the phrase 'Clinton scandal" is used, the first question asked is "which one?" With notable examples including Bill's sexual indiscretions while in office and Hillary's email fad, the Clinton name is associated with corruption and exploitation of the system. Trump, however, did not have this stigma attached to his campaign. His primary selling point was that he was an outsider to this system and was running not because he was a career politician but because he felt America had issues that needed to be addressed. Regardless of the validity of his views or his labeling of minority groups as the source of these problems, at the very least Trump aspired to something, aspired to 'Make America Great Again," whereas Clinton seemed to only be interested in furthering her career. The only candidate who could have stood a reasonable chance of defeating Trump was Bernie Sanders, another outsider who proposed a radical cleanup of the existing system and was also deemed too extreme by his own party. I would argue that the scandal of Clinton and the DNC conspiring to cheat Sanders out of the nomination was the crippling blow to her campaign, as it demonstrated her disregard for the interests of the democratic constituents. This sentiment, this deep- seated resentment of the corrupt established authority is also clearly demonstrated in the 'Waldo Moment" episode of Black Mirror. Waldo ran for a position on parliament and came in second on the popular vote by running on a similar platform as Trump's. The previously established party had their stronghold rocked by scandal just as the democratic party had, and Waldo carried no position other than the message that the existing corruption was unacceptable. The primary distinction between Waldo's campaign and Trump's is that Trump had substance to his position. While his views are sexist and racist, Trump made concrete, albeit poorly-defined, assertions as to what needed to be fixed. Waldo contrarily had no position, no argument beyond accusations of corruption.

Make America Waldo Again

In “The Waldo Moment,” the protagonist, James Salter, jokingly competes in a by-election as an animated bear named Waldo in a comedy T.V. series that regularly mocks authoritative figures. Although their campaigns were similar, Waldo and Donald Trump are not fully comparable. In both political scenarios, Waldo and Trump lack experience, but Trump carries a more decorated past as a successful and influential businessman, whereas Waldo is a character in a comedy series whose goal is to mock and humilate authoritative figures regularly. Trump has wrongfully insulted and humiliated people in the past, but so has the majority of people living in America, including President Barack Obama. For example, at the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Dinner, he humiliated Trump, a guest at the event, to which the televised audience roared in laughter. Obama was not labeled as a “bully” and was largely given a pass, while Trump sat and smirked and after five years, now has Obama’s job. The mentality by many before Trump’s victory, was that his insults and humiliating efforts of the past made him unsuitable to be president despite his history of charity work, military support, etc. and business credentials.

The team’s goal behind Waldo was to increase his popularity by attacking his opponents, but failed to provide any details on how he would perform his duty if he actually won the position. Donald Trump’s focus was not to insult his opponents for popularity. He presented a genuine a desire to help America and stated the steps he would take to fulfill them if elected. His policies are aligned to fulfill his way of protecting the interests and respect for America and do not directly target people because of race, but for reasons of hijacked religious ideals and illegal actions.  Obviously the presidency has increased his popularity, but Trump already carried high societal status at his age.The public in the “The Waldo Moment” loves the overly-exaggerated rudeness and arrogance of Waldo and seem to be totally unconcerned with his policies and experience. This reaction by the public represents the exact opposite of today’s media-displayed public mentality towards Trump’s campaign, in which he received many attacks by the news, celebrities, social medias, both the democratic and republican parties.These attacks against Trump began during his campaign and sought to villainize him, while categorizing him with ideology that he had never supported. Many of the accusations thrown towards Trump were non-existent before the election and were created to influence the public.

The violence displayed by Waldo’s supporters at the end of the election represent the hate displayed towards Trump at his rallies and after the announcement of his victory in which protesters created violence and disruption against both Trump and his supporters. The general public in “The Waldo Moment,” supported a non-political cartoon and were ready to move on from the corruption of the “artificial” politicians. The general public, as displayed by the media today, lack the ability to forgive and offer acknowledgement in a fair victory. They also seemed to support the politician, Hillary Clinton, who unfairly navigated her way to winning the Democratic nomination and had a history of unreliability and law-breaking. Many of Trump’s supporters believed he offered a strong plan for America and were willing to move away from his past by giving him a chance.

Media: The People's Messenger

     Media, today, seems to be the most popular source of information, whether it be for something as simple as what the weather will be like for that day or something as big as violent crimes that have been committed throughout the country. During the 2016 election, the media played its most important role on giving out the information on various aspects of the candidates as well as what their plans were for our nation. Because of the media's multiple coverages of Donald Trump, the people of the nation were given the view of a radical, out-of-the-blue candidate that was so absurd people went along with the idea of him as president. 

     

     The idea of a president that talked of extreme change rather than anything politically important changed the people's mindset on how they view the presidential election. They realized they wanted someone who would break away from the political background of our past candidates and vote for someone who could relate to the people as someone with no political background. This can also be said about Waldo in "The Waldo Moment." Just like Donald Trump, Waldo also came from nowhere and became the poster child of the people who were against the idea of government that they were used to. Because of his portrayal around the city and his multiple appearances on the media, the people were backing up this dark horse candidate to take charge, even if he was not the best fit for the people. The people still wanted Waldo to govern them just because the thought of a total rejection to politics was a smart idea to them. They would receive some type of a higher standing figure to speak for the citizens that could not speak for themselves. The people that run these campaigns who have no background in politics attract the citizens of the nation because of the nature of politicians who are portrayed by the media as secretive and able to get passed the medias attention before they reveal the next big scandal on these politicians. The people cannot trust these corrupted politicians because of the way the media bashes them and always has something to uncover in order to have the citizens who elect these officials go against these figureheads of our government. This quality of politicians that is portrayed by the media is exactly why the people follow behind and support these radical people who run for political positions. The media feeds off of this fact and closely follows the figures running for the people which drastically sways votes away from those who are more qualified to hold important offices. The media's portrayal of Trump and Clinton perfectly captures the mindsets of the people during this election year. The people loved the idea of radical change and we eventually elected the person who stood behind this quality.

The Ultimate Political Weapon

     Waldo the Blue Bear, an animated cartoon character on a comedy show one day, then one of the most attention grabbing, political up-roaring figures the next. After sticking his toe in the politicians' pool when he angered the runner-up Monroe, Waldo took a head first dive when he continued to linger around Monroe, angering the hot headed politician even more and drawing up more attention among the public. Turning the heads of not just fans of the comedy show, but also that of political parties and citizens involved in politics, Waldo has become the highlight in all of the news. This growing attention fed Jamie Salter's character even more power and fame, turning Waldo into a dangerous obstacle for any politician easy enough to make fun of. With the majority of the public opposition held towards Monroe, and the appeal for Waldo's crude commentary, Waldo's new political power began to form. This development can even be seen by the US, in which an agent was sent overseas to convince Jamie and his boss, Jack, to use Waldo for the US's benefit. As the agent explains, Waldo, in this case (could be any figure or symbol), is the ultimate political weapon. With the ability to send out any political message towards a crowd without the use of a human messenger, Waldo is untouchable. But why does this simple fact make Waldo so powerful?

      Firstly, Waldo is a cartoon. If any politician or political group attempts to speak down to this bear, the group is only seen as foolish or silly, arguing and getting worked up by a cartoon figure. Yet, on the flip side, Waldo's words against the same group is held with the utmost power and seriousness, even though unnecessary comedy and comments are included, which actually add onto the public's liking of him. Secondly, there is no 'visible' human being speaking the part, which again, makes Waldo invincible to attacks and insults, and also strips any bias a person could normally hold towards a politician, e.g Monroe. Waldo will also have access to any and all answers to any questions, even if asked on the spot. Since no one is able to see the speaker, one can 'Google' or look up the information needed to answer the given question. Lastly, Waldo's primary goal is to insult, or "piss", on someone else. With that in mind, anything brought up by Waldo that is about the opposing side will automatically be given total validity, and be accepted by any viewing fans. Waldo is not taken seriously by any politician, but that's not to say the public won't; Waldo stands for really is what the public wants (not to confuse with what is needed). With the seriousness in Waldo's character diminished, but his word steadily becoming more powerful, fans of this silly character will even perform out-of-line favors, as seen near the end of the film (Monroe being hit with a shoe, and Jamie being attacked). This power that Waldo holds is extremely intimidating, which only explains why so many people feared Trump when he began to blow up. Even though Trump is still a human messenger, the character he made for himself is more than human, it's a joke.

It's Trump Time!!

In the world today, technology one way or the other holds a major role in our lives. Technology can be a way for the whole world to unite about a certain thing. In this case, the 2016 election was a viral hit worldwide. I feel like people outside of the United States see Trump’s win as a joke despite its reality. I honestly see it as a joke. For one, Trump is a business man not a politician. Some may say this is a good thing because this is something outside the box, but what if it isn’t? What if he only worries about himself and the elite rich people like him? Well, that’s besides the point.

This election was a turning point for many people, but in particular, for Hispanics. I say this, because Trump has said the worse about us and threaten to build a wall. Of course, building a wall and making Mexico pay for it is so unrealistic. The thing is, the Hispanic population that are undocumented is still afraid. I am afraid with them. I have loved ones that are undocumented and the thought of them being deported is heart breaking. He is already gunning at us one way or the other. It does not matter that he does not build a wall, what matters is that he caused more anxiety in our community. Undocumented people already live in the shadows, afraid of doing something out of line that can cause them to get deported. Now, they are more scared than ever. This is very unfortunate for us.

In addition to the Hispanic population being afraid, Trump is basically a Waldo. I feel like many people saw Trump as the comedian in the ballot, just like Waldo. Many people did not take Trump seriously and thought he was just a joke. Also, Trump and his absurd comments made him go viral. The same way we can see at the end of the movie when Waldo was all over the billboards and social media. Waldo’s and Trump’s absurd comments made the world interest as some of them found the comments amusing. Trump is just like Waldo in the way that they really do not know about Politicians. Once again, Trump is a businessman and actor, not a politician. However, Trump did not let this stop him from actually running and winning. Trump has also created violence. In many of Trump’s rallies, non-Trump supporters were physically abused by supporters. Trump brings out the worse of many people. To top it all off, Trump’s election as president, to me, makes the United States government seem absurd. I just do not know what these Trump supporters were thinking. However, this is just my opinion. I cannot help to not be biased because I am hurt by his election. I just hope and pray these four years are not as painful as I anticipate them to be.

Trump in the movie The Little Rascals

The Moment of Trump

Unfortunately, our present time in the United States greatly resembles that of the times in "The Waldo Moment." People are tired of politics, tired of the falsity of politician's words, and tired of the lack of change. The people of the United States have been perpetually promised, each major election, that a candidate will fix their problems, and push for laws to be passed (or not be passed) to improve the American people's lives. Much is expected of the U.S. president, but little is given in return.

A major issue with this sort of perspective is that no single president has as much power as one would think. The power of the government is spread out over far more people than just one. Frustration lies in the fact that it takes an incredible amount of time to get tasks done and to get laws passed, but it safeguards the American people from too much power in one or a few people’s hands.

The issue faced in “The Waldo Moment” is people are exhausted and callous towards the candidates presented to them in a specific election, but the novelty of Waldo gives the people a voice to express their frustration. Waldo is a manifestation of their anger. He is a character and bears none of the perspective of a real person; he takes on the opinion of the people who support him most.

In some ways, Trump serves that same purpose. He is a person but he presents himself as a sort of character, saying outlandish things and causing ripples in all people. He serves as a conversation topic regardless of your feelings towards him. For people who support him, he gives voice to their anger felt towards the changing American society and economy. For those who protest him, he gives voice to the people whom they find the most fearful.

This time for the country is obviously disheartening, and it causes much unrest among many demographics. Thankfully, the power of the president is limited, but that does mean he cannot push his agenda, and perhaps succeed. But then again, he is notorious for being volatile and saying hateful and racist things, but then the next moment, he seeks to assuage those same people that he has spoken so terribly about. Honestly, no one can say what he will do, we can only hope that it all turns out for the best, and if not that, perhaps just not the worst.   

The Power of the Media

        Today we live in world where technology is taking control of our lives. Almost everyday, we can't go on with our lives without the help of technologies because technology makes our lives easier. It gets things done simply and quickly. Technology plays a key role in our everyday work. Like social media, it helps us spread a word in just seconds, and reach all over the world.

        Technology played a big part in the media during the presidential race. The media could be an effective tool but sometimes it can go in a different direction. According to Garth Kant, an WND Washington new editor, Donald Trump won the election because the media help him win the election. During the presidential campaign, the media stream was seemingly trying to elect Hillary Clinton as the president, but how did Trump won the presidential election when most people think he was not fit to be a president because of his bad personality. On the other hand, the media was making Hillary appealing towards the people.

       However, the 2016 presidential race specified that the media was their enemy, because it could give out personal things about the candidates, and it did! Donald Trump was accused of sexual misconduct and he was not paying taxes. Hillary had deleted over 33,000 controversial emails. Furthermore, Trump found a way to win over the media by harassing them through his social media and it became his media. An Emmy-Award winning reporter, Sharyl Attkisson stated that, "Trump was elected because there was so many media against him." Attkisson also pointed out that Trump won the election by simply proclaiming the media is a liar. Fox Media critic Howard Kurtz told Attkisson, "There was a different level of distrust towards the press." As a result, people didn't have full trust towards the media, so they didn't pay much attention to the media.

        Donald Trump's vast numbers of followers on social media circulated his messages that allowed him to distract the people away from his embarrassing past. The media kept calling Trump a liar, but it wasn't enough to get people's attention. The media kept showing all these accusations towards trump and the outcome was not what they imagined. Therefore, Donald Trump won the election thanks to the media. In contrast, if people disagree that the media help trump win the election, then there is only two answers. Either people don't want to have a female president or people are just racist towards other people.