Students lead up to election day with strong opinions and limited abilities to express them

It's election year. As if 2020 wasn’t already apocalyptic enough, an election exposing our divisions is exactly what we need, right? There are people that believe that every damaging event that happened during this year only occurred because it's an election year, including the global pandemic. Nonetheless, the results from November 3rd will determine the next four years for U.S. citizens. Students, most of whom are not old enough to vote, must now watch as their young adulthood is defined before their helpless eyes. 

Social media, never the epicenter for wisdom or balanced information, has been awash with red and blue propaganda with very little white for purity. Junior Claire Garton has feed fatigue from the latest rounds of campaigning.

“The big thing I’ve seen are ads on Youtube,” she said. “Most of the ads are really just the candidates bashing each other, which I think says a lot about the political atmosphere. On Instagram, I primarily see activism posts for different social issues or explaining the importance of voting.”

On platforms like Twitter and Tik Tok there is a plethora of opinions, many being anti-Trump. While Garton may tire of campaigns and activism, there is another, darker and less educated, side to social media regarding politics. 

“I don't have Twitter, which is where a lot of unfiltered opinions reside, and I do try to stay out of political Tik Tok because a lot of people don’t have adequate information, at least that's how it appears from the few videos I have seen,” she said. “For instance, someone reposted a video on Tik Tok where a guy who supported Trump had called Biden a pedophile. I found this ironic because Trump actually has more sexual assault alligations against him. There are so many uninformed people and people with the wrong information and I try to avoid them.”

No matter the opinions, beliefs, or even knowledge of the topic, voters must be 18 years old or older to cast a ballot. This leaves many high school students with their hands tied. Senior Bryce Clark is one of those students. 

“I don’t turn 18 until March 17,” he said. “I personally don’t like either but not being able to have a say in what happens despite it having a direct effect on me in the next few months is actually really frustrating.”

When looking at candidates, there are several topics to consider. Due to the pandemic and nation-wide sure of the Black Lives Matter movement, two major issues being discussed are the economy and stances on social issues regarding the BLM movement and the LGBTQ community.

“As someone who is a part of the LGBT community, I cannot bring myself to have an ounce of support for a man that has supported taking away equality from us,” Garton said. “I also cannot support a man with an article dedicated to sexist quotes and actions he has said and done throughout his entire career up to and including today.”

Considering this level of national disarray, it’s not surprising that this lack of voice has brought about for the unenfranchised.  Worse, open discourse of ideas and political platform points has become almost impossible in a radically polarized climate. While some, like Garton, see Trump as anathema, others detail his list of accomplishments while in office. Junior Ryan Butler points a few of these out.

“Trump invested a great amount of money in black communities and due to that, black unemployment has reached an all time low,” he said. “He also was able to achieve peace between three middle eastern countries, including Israel. Not to mention he brought the United States the closest it's ever been to peace with North Korea. While I don’t agree with how he handled Covid, I think that Trump will bring us closer to peace with foreign countries than Biden will.”

A former vice president with 47 years of experience in Washington D.C., Biden emerged from the Democratic primary slugfest as a moderate candidate able to pull voters under one umbrella. The first debate between Trump and Biden was anything but presidential, with Biden calling Trump a “clown” and telling him to “shut up.” Biden supporter, junior Ramsey Tangen, sees beyond the words and emotions to what she sees as the actions.  

“Personally, I feel like Biden’s actions match his words more accurately,” she said. “For example, during the latest debate, Trump claimed to be the ‘least racist person in the room.’ However, when the BLM protests resurfaced at a great rate, he was quick to call the protesters ‘thugs,’ ‘druggies,’ and other derogatory words. At the same time, groups of white supremacists were called patriotic. Trump also said he takes no blame for the virus and called it the kung flu virus, again a derogatory term towards the Chinese.”

For some students, the question isn’t who is better, but rather who is worse? Some are even looking more at the vice president candidates- current vice president Mike Pence for the Republicans and California Senator Kamala Harris for the Democrats- because of the presidential candidates' ages; Trump being 74 years old and Biden being 77. As of October 24, the polls stand with Trump having 44% of the vote and Biden having 51% according to the Gravis Marketing poll. Regardless of political persuasion, this geriatric showdown will have voters, and those just outside the fence - meaning students - on the edge of their seats.

“This year is kind of crazy and most people don’t like either candidate,” Clark said. “But it will be interesting to see how it plays out in the end and the reactions of people at school.”

Unfortunately, expressing political opinions can trigger extreme backlash, from being called ‘racist’ or ‘sexist’ for supporting Trump to being called an ‘idiot’ or ‘pedophile supporters’ for backing Biden. The inability to discuss differences of opinion in a civilized discourse, sadly, reflects the adult world that surrounds the walls of the school. This creates a chilling effect in what should be an arena of free thought and intellectual growth. 

“I do not condone bullying at all,” Garton said. “Informing and attacking are two different things and there can be fine lines. Bullying people with beliefs you find to be offensive is just fighting fire with fire. It’s also hypocritical for Biden supporters to preach about peace and equality but then bully someone for not having the same opinion. The only time I would personally be rude to another person for their beliefs is if I heard them call me, my friends, or anyone else a slur. At that point it becomes personal and I don’t think I would be able to bring myself to be tactful. However, it's not about who they support at that point either.”

As a country, and as a school, it will be impossible to be fully satisfied with the outcome in a few short days (or months, depending on recounts and litigation), but everyone does have to live with what happens for the next four years. The key to not just surviving but thriving, both as a school and as a country, will be the abilities of every individual to recognize the American identity as opposed to one grounded in the empty rhetoric of a political party.  

“I think that we need to reevaluate what is considered political and what isn’t,” Garton said. “Once we live in a society where human rights can be agreed upon, like constitutional rights, we can live in unity.”

By Sophie Burke

Oshkosh West Index Volume 117 Issue 2

October 30th 2020