There is no question about it: social media is a great tool for college students to stay connected with friends and keep up to date on current events. The election of 2008 came with an explosion of social media propaganda with Obama’s Hope campaign and the (majority) outcry against Sarah Palin as a Vice Presidential pick. We are inching closer and closer to the next election and people’s opinions seem to be more persuaded by Donald Trump’s endorsements of Romney over Twitter and Jay-Z and Beyonce’s public shows of love for Obama. It seems like these days, Presidential Candidates are more celebrities than they are politicians. I was shocked to turn on my TV and find out that Obama was going to be a guest on Leno. This is the norm now-a-days, seems to me like there should be a separation in the media between politics
and talk shows.
The economic state of this country is a serious one. Everyone seems to be complaining but then seems to more concerned with Obama’s lack of eye contact during the first debate or Biden’s arrogant facial expressions during the Vice Presidential debate than the actual issues being discussed. There are spoofs on almost everything that comes out of the debates. For example, there is now a Twitter called ‘Oblivious Obama’. In addition, there are countless parody account of him and Romney. The two candidates themselves use twitter as outlet to request donations and bash their opponent. Social media was a huge aspect of this election. This represents where our real focus is.
As college students and young adults, we have the overwhelming power in numbers to swing the vote but for some reason we’re more focused on seeing Romney’s tax returns or Obama’s birth certificate. Doesn’t this all seem petty when we actually think about the issues this country is currently facing: abortion, gay marriage, equal rights, immigration policies, foreign involvement, war, the economic crisis…the list goes on. While these petty little bits of information may be amusing, please do the country and yourself a favor and…Read.The.Facts.