Being Politically Active

So often I think about what it would be like if I went along with the crowd. Yesterday, for the first time in my life, I went to a rally. I rallied for David Letterman to be fired in response to his sexual, inappropriate "joke" about Sarah Palin's daughter. That's right, folks. I, a twenty-one year old female, stood up for another young woman who was the brunt of a 62 year old man's disgusting joke. Shocking, isn't it?! If not, then why weren’t more people there? And why, most importantly, were other women with young daughters standing outside the group formed to support the Palins, rallying against us?

I thought about it, and I believe the comments were made as a despicable ploy to attract ratings during a time he was threatened of loosing even more ratings—approximately the same time his competitor’s show switched hosts. Conan became the new host of the Tonight Show, and Letterman was going to do everything he could to keep ratings. This includes bashing the former candidate for vice- president’s daughter, six months after a different administration was put in office. I guess when you’ve got nothing else, you use what worked in the past.

Secondly, I went to the rally to support the Palins because Letterman’s apology was almost as bad as the comments. In the media, we know if you want something to go away, for come out directly, quickly and sincerely say “I’m sorry.” If you do not, there will be countless “talking heads” analyzing what your “apology” actually meant, thus keeping the situation in the spotlight for even longer. Letterman’s PR people made sure exactly that happened.

In reflection, it seems my entire life has led me to steer clear of majority opinion. Unlike countless of my peers, I was taught by my mother to evaluate information given to me, and not to see everything at face value, both at home and in the outside world. In short, my mother raised me to think. To actually think. As a child, she would ask me open ended questions, and when I began to answer, sometimes I realized that I hadn't actually thought about it. For example, my mother smokes but she obviously wanted to raise me not to. When I was around twelve and we were talking about some of the mistakes some of my friends were making, she asked me, "Why do you think other kids start smoking?" Simple enough. But then I thought about it, and hit on a larger issue. Peer pressure...trying to prove that you too can fit in with everyone else. That day my mom left the conversation with that open ended question. It was enough to make her point. She didn't come right out and tell me what to think.

This is the difference between the way my mother raised me and the education recieved at many colleges today. Professors come right out, for the most part, and tell you what to think. So in real life, even many college educated people don't stand a chance!!

Asking me these open ended questions enabeled me to develop the strong sense of self I hold today. It didn't happen over night, and alot of times I wasn't so happy about the things I had to do to get here. Some of these times the character building was easy. For example, if it were raining out and all of my friends called me and asked me to come out and basically do nothing with them, I didn't go. At first i felt like I was missing out on "everything." But soon I realized I wasn't missing out on anything at all. That was not the kind of life I wanted. Even then as a teenager my mother helped me realize some nights spent in alone growing up and not out with all of my friends were going to be better for me in the long run. As a result, now that I am an adult, I know who I am, and there is very little I feel like I need to prove to my peers. I do what feels comfortable and is in alignment with my values.

A main stream saying is that going to college liberalizes people. For me this is a real conundrum. Collge should neither liberalize nor conservatize anyone. It should help people gain the skills to evaluate situations based on information they have, regardless of what other people think. Why is it then, that hundreds of thousands of college students across this country just go along with whatever the mainstream media puts out there?? Students hear the phrase, and then in turn become more liberal? No, it is because professors impart their personal views on students, and the students don't take a second to think if what the professor is saying actually fits with their own personal ideology. Partially because they really never thought about many of the current issues and how they felt about them.

I am sure glad I don't think everything printed on the front page of the New York Times is law, and whatever my mother did, she must have done something right. I am, afterall, working at the top rated news network in the country.