It’s fairly evident that in America there’s a grave divide between political ideals. Notably Republicans and Democrats as the prominence. It’s a sad time to see that people are getting offended by someone else just thinking differently than them. Throughout the ages it seems that by each generation, the mindsets and reactions to most things have significantly regressed in maturity. It’s unfortunate really. I personally enjoy looking at the often Facebook “brawls” between Aunt Linda and Cousin Owen arguing over whether or not Donald Trump said this or that. My real question here is why? Why are there so many people dividing themselves, ruining personal relationships, and disrespecting others on public platforms just to express a political opinion. 

First things first: It is not a political statement to fervently force an opinion down someone’s throat. It is not a political statement to refuse to see your friends or family members because they voted for Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. It isn’t a political statement to feel as if one news story is the ruin of your personal year. People are too far-flung into the adrenaline of their minds when it comes to fighting with someone, to realize how immature they perceive. Like i mentioned earlier; social media is an extreme source for people to kindle their disputes. We live in a technological era, a metropolis of iPhones and Online Shopping. Social Media has grown to such a monstrous size that a great deal of people use it as their news source. There are ads, political ads that run on platforms for children or susceptible people to influence their opinion. Every news source is bias and that’s factual. It’s important to acknowledge that opinion is not reliable news and vice versa, which is failed by the mainstream media today. Years ago, it was considered rude and ill-mannered to discuss politics in a public setting, no matter the size. However, now, Facebook, Twitter, etc… are completely capable to reach masses amounts of people by just simply utilizing the shares, retweets, and comments they provide. If one person shares a fake news source and say- 100 people- see it, and say -10 of them share the news story, and depending on the amount of friends or followers that have on the platform then this unfortunate chain of demise and treachery will be ingrained into the minds of people. So what happens after that?

Many news sources hope to write about their disagreements. In society, it is so easy to hate on someone rather than like them. If someone does 100 good things, saintly things, charitable things, and 2 minor mess-ups, 9 times out of 10, people will associate that person with how much they’ve failed. So how about modern day Democrats and Republicans? Where do they stand on this scale of hate and compromise? Well, I ponder that it is not good. When having a disagreement with someone, it is easily elevated into rage and hatred. People are constantly shouting and sharing and ripping each other to shreds about what someone chooses to believe and it is not okay. Both sides see each other as malevolent prestidigitators that need to be shut down. Society in terms of Republicans and Democrats is like an intense Marvel movie, while it may be entertaining, it should be left to fiction because the people can’t handle too much more of this hostility. 

It seems that as adults are able to exercise political control, considering their age and legalization, they are acting more immature than children and teenagers are. In the news it’s a constant battle of ‘who said what’ and ‘that person is lying about this’, rather than ‘How can we fix this?’. There are arguments flaring the whole of America while Europe watches us like reality television, which, may I say, is perfectly understandable. There needs to be more empathy, there needs to be more knowledge of subjects, and overall, there needs to be more consideration and maybe that in itself is the start to mend what trivial labels the American society has created around opinion.