The statements, “I don’t care about politics” and “I don’t keep up with the news,” are statements that I’ve heard a few too many times in my college career.
With the recent attack resulting in the death of political influencer, Charlie Kirk, I have never seen more people post on social media about a political figure than ever before. Amongst that, a school shooting occurred in Colorado, leaving two in critical condition, and one (the shooter himself) dead. Although I have seen some people post about it, there were not as many posts about the shooting as about Kirk.
I am not saying this to diminish the tragedy of one event or to weigh the importance of each against the other, but these are tragedies that should not be happening. You shouldn’t just care about these things when everyone is posting about it – you should care about it always. You shouldn’t be opening news articles only when the mass media is posting about it, you should be opening them daily.
With a constantly shifting political economy, politics is no longer something that can be simply ignored. Especially as young 20-somethings, politics is a conversation that will be brought up continuously in our future, if not every day. To be ignorant is almost more harmful than to not discuss it.
Politics and staying informed is not a passive action. To even be able to talk and share information about these events is a right that most countries do not have. We cannot just stay silent – we cannot brush these things aside because we are so desensitized to violence and destruction. We have to talk about it – to be informed is powerful, to discuss politics is a privilege.
While politics often can be overwhelming and intimidating, unfortunately that is just the state of the world we live in. We have to talk about it or else nothing will change. One conversation can change the perspective of someones life and decisions within minutes, that’s why we must stay informed, that’s why we must discuss it.
