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It’s over. After months of campaigning, polling, mud slinging, speech giving, hand shaking and baby kissing, yesterday John Kerry conceded the 2004 presidential election to incumbent George W. Bush. Disappointment or excitement aside, a sense of relief is what we’re certainly all feeling. I’d offer my congratulations to both candidates, but my conscience prevents me from doing so. Something doesn’t feel quite right with the nation.
CNN’s election coverage provided a moment of levity Tuesday night, when a member of the crowd outside the studio was on camera sporting a T-shirt with the phrase “F*ck This Shit.” What a beautiful moment it was. In three words, this individual managed to sum up the attitude I’m sure many Americans share regarding politics. Young or old, Republican or Democrat, it isn’t hard to agree that a repeat of what we witnessed this year does nothing but harm the nation.
This year’s presidential campaign was one of the dirtiest in decades. Campaign managers for both parties anonymously admitted as much to reporters. Why the need to investigate the minutiae of Bush’s service in the Air Guard? Why was it necessary for a group of veterans to question whether or not John Kerry’s Vietnam commendations were justified? The answer is simple: In a race this close, one doesn’t try to win votes by campaigning on a platform. Instead, the strategy is to take a vote away from your opponent through negative campaigning. And if you can’t legally do it yourself, you engage in distributing this negative rhetoric via proxy, through independent groups that aren’t on the payroll but know where their collective moldy bread is buttered. It’s an unfortunate result of the broken Electoral College, fueled by the scandal-loving media.
Polarization by the media creates well-defined demographics of viewers and readers. These passionate niche groups will associate themselves with a media outlet: Democrats don’t watch FOX News, and you won’t find Republicans tuning in to MSNBC. This dichotomy is embraced and extended by media organizations in the name of profit. Catering to the political middle requires real reporting, and even then the issues are muddled. On the other hand, fear-mongering and sensationalism is easy and gains you a fervent following. We’re led to believe that we live in a divided America: liberals vs. conservatives, right-wing vs. left-wing. Is this really the case?
In a word, no. A handful of media outlets aside, disregard what the mainstream national press tells you. America is a democratic nation that embodies the definition of diversity like no other nation on the planet. While we don’t always celebrate that diversity, or even tolerate it, there is no excuse for the media to exploit our differences for financial gain. The same goes for the politicians and their campaign managers, who use the media as vehicles to maximize the value of their negative messages.
This proliferation of polarized political punditry needs to cease. We are not, as Time magazine declared in a headline earlier this year, “A Nation Divided.” Unless there’s a succession movement that I’m unaware of, we’re still the United States of America. It’s not my intent to dole out hand-wrapped packages of warm fuzzies to voters, nor do I want to organize a political “Hands Across America.” Hell, I don’t care if we all get along or not.
The message I want to get across is this: Don’t let the political vacuum suck you in. Stand firm in your beliefs. Keep your values close to heart. Use your morals as a blueprint to form your political choices. Just be sure that you’re voting with your head as well as your heart.
Awareness is key in making informed decisions. It is not enough to be informed regarding the issues and candidates that appear on the ballot. It’s also necessary, nay, even more important, to understand the motivations that candidates and media have.
The opinions and mindsets that that we’ve developed over the course of this presidential election are strong, and thanks to both politicians and the media, polarized as well. We’ve been done a collective disservice by these individuals. They’ve instilled an attitude of separation and division in the populace to continue to promote their self-serving agendas.
To the media: Stop it. We’re no longer interested in being an America divided. To politicians: Next election, let’s hear about the issues you support and platforms you promote; we need to hear about how you’ll better help us, not about the pile of shit of which your opponent stepped in 1973. Finally, to the voters and citizens of this country: Recognize that there is a concerted effort to buy your vote using suspect journalism and cheap campaigning. Vote accordingly.
Aaron Barnes is a senior English major who enjoys Memorial Union gravy on everything.
Bangor Daily News