Month: January 2020

There are two major political parties in America. The democrats and the republicans are widely known as the two parties that compete in political elections, but what about other parties like the green party that also have more candidates that run for office? This article is going to show how third-parties are crushed beneath the boot of the main two.

Source: Ozean Media

Let’s talk about funding and how the other two parties usually do not have any problems with it. Since the two other parties are more well known and popular, they have the people to donate money. The third-parties are smaller and do not have the number of people to assist them in their campaigns. Even if their party’s ideas are way better than the other two parties’ intentions, their voice won’t be heard because of how small they are. Corporate funding is also a large part of campaigns. This is usually followed up with a quid pro quo, which means “this for that,” because then the companies expect that if that politician gets elected, then they will make decisions that will benefit their donators because they helped them get there. Third-parties do not usually get this type of funding because they already do not have a high chance of winning, so why would they fund them in the first place?

Third-parties sometimes have their own money to self-fund their campaigns, but a lot of the public is already sided with their political party and is hesitant to switch after all these years. But where does the funding go? It goes to ads on television, billboards, traveling to other states in the case of running for president, etc.. The fact of the matter is that the odds are stacked against them in every type of election.

Source: NW Local Paper

Something would have to go very wrong in both parties for people to turn away from them. Either the candidates are awful, or the opinions are different from theirs, that would be some of the only reasons to turn elsewhere. But some of these third-parties do not care because no matter what, their opinions are being heard and appreciated by other people, no matter how small the audience is. Some of them think that if they change just one person’s mind, then they have succeeded. The principle of putting another view out there is enough for them. Hopefully, something can change in the future so that we can have more parties competing in elections, but by the look of it, it does not look good.

Sources:

TED

The New York Times

Everyone who participates in politics knows that there are two major political parties in America. The democrats are referred to as the left, and the republicans are known as the right. They hold very different views and sometimes get too heated in their debates. This article is going to show that respecting each other’s opinions can lead to a much better discussion.

Source: The Huffington Post

Everyone knows how it feels to have someone tell you that you are wrong, but let’s go into further detail. It’s almost like someone is attacking you and your pride. You feel that you know best, and so do they. For example, you might be debating an extremely controversial topic like abortion, and the moment someone differs in their opinion, someone will attack them and try to prove them wrong. It can be challenging to accept the views of others when they have only been around people who agree with them.

What needs to be understood is that even though some conversations can get pretty out of hand, one needs to have still the same respect for the person that they had before the conversation started. What a person believes does not have to mean that they are any different from a person than they were five minutes ago.

People fail to see that the differences are what cause intellectual gain. Maybe the opposing side had presented an argument or a way of viewing the topic that you had not considered before. How did they come to that conclusion? Where did they get their information from? Being immature and treating them as ignorant won’t get you anywhere.

Source: KQED News

I would much rather prefer to listen to debates about the issue and not have to listen to people insult each other instead. So many discussions turn towards the people speaking because they either have run out of things to say or they have been proven wrong and are trying to change the subject. For example, the 2016 presidential debate involved both candidates talking about the issues in the Middle East and how they plan to solve them. This resulted in the two candidates coming at each other’s throats over money being taken from them or business being done there, avoiding how to solve the conflicts that were going on then and how they would answer them if they were to become president.

What needs to be taken away from this is that a different opinion is not always wrong; rather, it could be a different correct way of viewing the issue. A lot of news articles like CNN and Fox News say the complete opposite, unfortunately.

Sources: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/respecting-political-diff_b_5500406?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAALzhCfTCr_AlusOVSgvlse3qxyGX4W1n1mnGbY0bkKFaBN3QN52BSKVrApbJwhLLe6Cs4e57L2rj1pxaHHZhh8zzhYXfY-cyjI63EBCdJ2NCsN4gnrfYyF79Hv3UygDzAmVrm9ECiBSfKmDaK0I4-x5IOPrusp4CHs9PEepOV_rL

TED: A look into American Politics

Obviously, since people cannot make phone calls and be in each other’s presence at all times, social media is where most of the world turns to in order to voice their opinions. Usually, sites like Twitter are only useful for celebrities and athletes, whereas more personal platforms like Snapchat and Instagram are where ordinary people can have their opinions listened to.

Source: the balance small business

During Elections

Candidates and people supporting them can create ads or posts to help boost their popularity. The same can go for people who are trying to sabotage them. Nonetheless, social media is the place for both of these parties (no pun intended). Whether it is true or not, the Senate Intelligence Committee had released a pair of reports that had shown how the Russians had used social media as their weapon to support Donald Trump in the election. It is entirely possible that they played a role in the election by using ads, but it’s not just them. Other countries are using social media to their advantage.

Plain Banter

Source: Psychology Today

Anyone knows that reading a post that insults them is something that would spark controversy, but when it turns political and starts to insult their beliefs, then it becomes dangerous. Say a hard left brings up a very controversial topic like abortion and tries to insult the right side’s view. That is only asking for trouble. The worst part is that this could be targetted at someone. Something called keyboard courage is when someone says something that they would not say if the person were right in front of them. The problem with this is that so many people have pride that they have to protect, and when that pride gets attacked, they must defend.

Taking Information

Another aspect of social media influencing politics is when they take your information without you even knowing it. That is how they create targetted ads. Say you have been looking at the president’s current foreign policy on the internet. The social media platform might direct you to similar areas. Some bills have been introduced to try and create additional transparency between ad providers and users, but they have gone nowhere. Facebook had been busted for this type of thing, and that was the massive spark in targetted ads. As users, we do not even know what is going on behind the screen as we surf the web for our interests and our common political beliefs. We can only hope that nothing will change our true thoughts on current events.

Sources:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/shame-nation/201810/the-attraction-incivility-and-online-bullying

TED: Where are our digital ads really going?