By Hailey Rogenski
The elections are almost over, but that doesn’t mean political discussions are. Political conversations are everywhere — in the news, on TV and coming from the mouths of friends and relatives.
It’s inescapable and it seems as if that’s all everyone wants to talk about, but it’s the last thing I want to talk about.
Although I dislike talking about politics, it’s necessary to discuss it because of the anger and violence conflicts over politics brings.
The physical attack on Pelosi’s husband was heartbreaking and completely unnecessary. Her husband was attacked in his home while his wife wasn’t there. This event set a negative precedent for the future of political protesting because it may result in more physical assaults in the future.
I’ve experienced political hostility when talking to my family. I’ve never been to a family gathering where there wasn’t a screaming match over politics. Everytime this happens, I can never diffuse the situation, no matter how hard I try. This only makes me upset and causes everyone else around to become visibly irritated.
When I’m talking to someone older, they will usually defend their party to extremes, even if it ruins their relationship with others. People who read or watch news that doesn’t support their political views deem it as “fake news.” One political party is not better than another because politicians are only human and capable of making mistakes.
According to Ashley Lopez from NPR, “the amount of voters under the age of 30 was higher this year.” This evidence proves that the younger generation is becoming more politically active, which begs the question, will the younger generation become more hostile over politics as older generations have?
I’ve witnessed some of my friends who were big into politics stress out over election results and they all grew up in very political families.
The worry of increasing political defensiveness is always among us, whether an election is about to occur or not. Pew Research Center writes that “members of political parties on both sides view the members of the opposing party as unintelligent, closed-minded, dishonest and immoral.” This could cause some to use their political views for superiority.
This has even affected celebrities. Back in 2020, I witnessed a political argument via Twitter between Paul Wesley and Matt Davis, who were both stars in the “Vampire Diaries.” Wesley is known for his lead role as Stefan Salvatore and Davis for his role as Alaric Saltzman. It was fueled by a political opinion Davis posted about Mike Pence being interrupted which resulted in Wesley giving his opposing view. Davis responded by saying that Wesley voted for “criminals and losers.” On the tabloid, girlfriend.com, there is more information on this argument.
These stars, who have such a high influence on others, going on Twitter and publicly arguing over politics doesn’t help the political situation as it is today, and it may even contribute to an increase in political hostility.
I would like to see peace between political parties. I can never understand the reason for the political drama and this has caused me to only see political parties as a way to divide the people of America. Despite being unsupportive of politics, the separation of friends and families due to political drama angers me.
This unnecessary war between political parties is far from over. America is still fueled by political drama and I worry that one day, this political war will turn the U.S. into an America no longer united.
