I opened my mailbox last week to discover four yellow absentee ballots. This year marks the first time both my children will be voting in a national election. I stared down at the ballots for my 20 and 18 year old children, and rather than feeling a sense of excitement for them, I was overcome with a wave of sadness. I desperately wish that as a country, we could all go back a decade or so and pull off a Do-over. How did we get here – to the Presidential Campaign of 2016? Our national “lesser of two evils” contest? As a Gen X Mom, I feel the overwhelming need to apologize to our newest voters. I’m sorry for this political mess we’ve gotten ourselves- and you – into. I hope that you can be the ones to help turn the tide before we start all over again in a few years. (Insert voter fatigue groans here.) No pressure, but, the state of our democracy is kind of on the line.
Our newest voters were born in the last half of the 1990’s. Life was pretty chill until us parents watched in horror as that tragic day at Columbine High School unfolded in 1999 – an assault that seemingly started us down a path of almost monthly mass shootings on our nation’s campuses, at work sites, in movie theatres and nightclubs. Soon after came the horrific morning of September 11, 2001, when we as a nation were tragically made aware that terror wasn’t content to remain in far off lands that we could chose to ignore if we wanted to. We’ve been at war ever since, and we have a rather low tolerance for flag-draped caskets and mowed down grade schoolers. We’re beyond tired of the 24/7 news cycle, the ever breaking News Alerts, and the media-induced anxiety. We became exhausted with the non-stop violence, both foreign and domestic.
So how did we deal with all of this gloom, sorrow and worry? Many of us picked up our remotes, turned off the news, and tuned in to reality TV. We started with the talk shows, where we watched in fascination as people yelled and eventually hurled chairs at each other. The drama quickly relocated from the studio sets to houses where strangers were living together, and in rapid succession, to tropical islands, fantasy suites, mansions in swanky gated communities and run-down hotel ballrooms where toddlers who could barely speak pranced on stages sporting spray tans.
Slowly and steadily we provided positive feedback and increased ratings to the people on our screens who yelled the loudest, backstabbed the best, schemed their way to victory and viciously insulted and name-called their way to success. The media masterminds took notice of our escapist habits and most of our news programming morphed into “infotainment”. Pop culture news was much more palatable to us than violence, and not many of us wanted to think too long and hard about serious issues like guns, terrorists and climate change.
And so we created, allowed, and have presented to you- our youngest voters, the despicable spectacle of our current Presidential campaign. The endless primaries and debates, chock full of name-calling, sexual assault allegations, lies, rhetoric and hypocrisy. We’ve watched it all like a train wreck happening in slow motion, and we’ve rewarded the most salacious aspects of it with the highest ratings. We’ve settled for highlighting optics and skirting around issues, while salivating at the bickering and backstabbing that our news outlets play ad nauseum. We’re getting the circus that we deserve, and for that I am ashamed and sorry.
I beg of you though – please vote and exercise your right to have a say in this decision, no matter if your favorite candidate is on the ballot or not. And I hope that when the bad taste of this election is finally cleansed from our national palate, if that can ever completely happen, that you young voters can learn from our errors and find the fortitude to get back to listening to and debating real issues, and turning away from the drama and ugliness. I know that there are smart and decent young Americans out there who will hopefully be running for President one day, and I hold out hope that we are all willing to tune in and support the ones who leave the spectacle with the survivors, housewives, bachelors and toddlers of reality TV. There is a place for mindless entertainment in our society, but it shouldn’t be on stage at a Presidential debate.
About the author: Marybeth Bock, MPH, is a transplanted Californian currently living in the desert Southwest, mothering one teen and quasi-mothering one young adult, while always dreaming of the ocean. She teaches Health and Wellness classes and thoroughly enjoys research and writing, as long as iced coffee is involved. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.
