The Battles of Government

As American citizens, we are tasked with many responsibilities, including voting, remaining knowledgeable on current events, and knowing ourselves and where we stand within our government’s system. This requires a balance of knowing what we believe in, and fighting for justice, while being able to articulate our beliefs in a respectful discourse with those that may not agree with us.

In beginning, we must know where we are coming from- where we lie on the political spectrum- and become informed. In class, we watched Eli Pariser’s Ted Talk on the “Filter Bubble,” or as I like to call it, the “echo chamber”. I like using this term, because it reminds me that when I exist in a space that is of my own creation, or a space that is formulated to bar me from insight, that I will only hear my own thoughts echoed back at me. This introduces the struggle against information hoarding: The Battle for Knowledge. The Filter Bubble emphasizes the need for a thirst for education, and a desire to act on our discoveries. If we sit back and watch things happen to us, and to our country, our apathy is just as detrimental as agreement to negative movements. It is always important to remain strong in our beliefs, but it is almost more important to be flexible enough that when a better explanation or solution comes along, we are able to change our behavior and thoughts to follow the path of progress.

Once we see where our limits in awareness are, we can start making corrective actions to be more informed on a variety of topics, from an assortment of different outlooks. It’s difficult though, because we live in a largely ignorant society. This ignorance can sometimes be against our will, enacted by outside forces (i.e. the Filter Bubble), but also sometimes imposed by ourselves, and our own lack of effort. This introduces another battle: the Battle Against Ignorance.  This battle is shown through the popularity of tobacco and cigarettes in the 1930s. Many citizens would smoke casually, like drinking water, and even Doctors would prescribe cigarettes to help patients. But now we know how harmful tobacco and nicotine is to our bodies and minds. This is just one example of how fighting ignorance and remaining informed allows us to be more in tuned to where we fall on a variety of topics, including on the political spectrum. Using the Pew Research Center’s Political Typology Quiz, our class was able to see more accurately where our beliefs lie in relation to our classmates, and in broader political terms. Understanding our stance allows us to then become an activist for our viewpoint. And it is our responsibility as citizens to advocate for those who cannot, and to speak our truths when justice is being trampled on.

To balance activism with acceptance remains one of the toughest struggles in political discourse today. It requires a knowing of ourselves, our system, and our passions, while still being able to accept and listen to those who may be different than us. As we traverse the governmental spectrum, and our political world, we only have each other, and must rely on our differences to encourage innovation. And without the differences of those around us, or awareness of our standing, we would be stuck in the same spot. Looking throughout history, change only comes after something has been challenged. The etymology of the word change comes from Old French “to reciprocate.” If we do not reciprocate the same allowance of others’ opinions that we want of ours, we will never have advancement. We must fight the good fights for knowledge, and against ignorance. And hopefully, in fighting our weaknesses, we will stop fighting each other, and work together, using our strength, to move our country in the direction of progress.