The Dangers of Blind Followership 

Introduction and Thesis:  

A commonality taught to us as children is the idea of following adults’ decisions, usually without a moment’s hesitation. This teaching later dissipates as we grow older and are expected to form our own opinions. However, no matter how old we get, our opinions that we are forming will always somehow be attributed to what we were taught as children. The irony of this is that the evolution of creating our own choices still resides in what we were told to do when this opportunity was not afforded to us. This is not to say that parental influences are harmful, however the danger arises when generational misinformation leads to continuing issues as the years progress. A prime example of this is the continued use of the Confederate Flag today. Although we are no longer in Civil Wartime, this symbol of racism and intolerance has pervaded not only social norms, but people’s attempts at creating a safer and more equal society in America.  

Many new symbols arose during recent social movements, such as the Black Lives Matter movement. Through this, protesters raised their fists and held signs illustrating their fight for equality and their desire to end violence against minorities. As this movement progressed, counter organizations continued their own protests, however with a not-so-new symbol for their cause. The Confederate Flag was seen being wielded by members of domestic extremism organizations, most notably, the Proud Boys. The Proud Boys contributed to one of the largest and most shocking events in our history, which was laced with the continued spread of hatred and discrimination through that of the Confederate Flag and other racist symbols being paraded on our nation’s capital. The events and words leading up to this unprecedented attack highlight the danger that blind followership and misinformation continue to pose to our democracy. There is no longer a place for outdated and hateful opinions, fueled by inherited bias and lack of education, to take such a grasp over our legislation and the safety of our citizens.  

Body Paragraphs:  

• Background and phrases said during the speech initiating the capital insurrection 
• Details behind how these phrases were misinformation 
• The negative effects behind the widespread misinformation seen prior, during, and after January 6th 
• Call to action 

• The audience will remain the same as my first artifact 
• Young voters who will be voting for the first time, students in this class