I thought it was bad a few days ago but it seems like every day I hear more and more about the election: through the news, through my classmates, even through the comics I read and the email newsletters I receive in my inbox. This election has everyone up in arms and they won’t let us forget that it’s coming. I am glad for this–I hope we see record voter turnout–but at the same time I’m still deeply afraid that Bush will be reelected (properly elected for the first time, some would say) and nothing will change.
I don’t know about you all, but I’m really scared by the current state of things. This country is in a bad place, in so many ways, and yet there’s no real discussion about what’s going on. The general public tends to be apathetic and uninformed. People focus on rhetoric, or personal details of candidates’ lives, instead of on what they will bring to the presidency. Jon Stewart was spot-on (and courageous) when he blasted the media for not upholding its responsibility to the people. I’ve got a lot of respect for Stewart and I really wish I could vote for him on Tuesday, but even so it’s a sad comment on our society that it takes a comedian to finally speak the truth–or, if you won’t concede that, at least an unfiltered honest opinion–in front of a national audience. There’s so much more that’s wrong with the picture I’m seeing of our world, but I won’t get into it here.
All I hope is that this election, regardless of outcome, will be a turning point for America. I hope people will wake up and realize there are serious things going on that need to be addressed. We can’t go on the way we are. Does the whole world have to actively attack the United States before we can understand this? We can’t go on like this. We need talk, open and rational talk, not empty rhetoric and personal attacks. We need news and information that tries as hard as it can to be objective, and if no one gives it to us, we have to seek it out and demand it. We need tolerance and commitment to real change, and these are both terribly hard to come by. Whoever wins the election, I just hope all this election fever gets people to start thinking and talking about the issues that shape our lives and, increasingly, our world, so that we don’t all just wake up one morning and wonder what the hell happened to this country that used to be great.
Here’s part of the recent political bombardment: Eminem’s “Mosh” video. It’s really scary and compelling and probably very controversial, but I hope it gets people voting.
[This post was imported on 4/10/14 from my old blog at satsumabug.livejournal.com.]
satsumabug.com | Lisa Hsia 
great entry.
Thank you. That means a lot because I don’t often write such openly political entries, but this time I just felt like I had to say something.
Almost two weeks after I found out about the Jon Stewart “episode,” I still haven’t been able to watch it! But my respect for him has only increased, as he is one of the few celebrities who can back up their opinions with a sharp and informed mind. (Ashton Kutcher shooting his mouth off is hardly impressive.)
I’ve never viewed myself as a particularly political person, but these days I’m finding that once I start thinking and talking about my views, it’s difficult to stop. People around me are speaking more heatedly about their own opinions as well. I see this as a good thing, as long as people can keep political standpoints from becoming personal attacks.
You probably have seen the transcript: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0410/15/cf.01.html