Due Oct 27
The Politics of the Present Day
What social and political challenges do we confront in the present moment?
What methods of advocacy are available to us nowadays?
What special pitfalls must we avoid?
Give these questions some thought, then write a response to one of them—or a response that meaningfully connects two or all three questions.
I’m hoping to use class discussion to arrive at a plan for weeks 8-11. Right now we’re slated to focus on Climate Change, BLM, #MeToo and Xenophobia, but those may be modified in response to your interests. Other stuff that occurs to me as of interest: the worldwide rise of authoritarianism, social media and political polarization, the rising cost of housing, the rise of “woke” culture and political correctness.
I think a really important challenge that we are facing currently, politically and socially, is the right to reproductive freedom. After Roe v Wade was overturned by the Dobbs v Jackson decision, millions of women have been denied a right to bodily autonomy. When considering this, I think that it important to avoid projecting religious beliefs onto people who do not believe in that religion or reducing the issue into a solely religious issue, because it is much more than that. This issue is about the control of women’s bodies and taking away the right to bodily autonomy.
In the present day, social media is both an inconceivably powerful tool, yet simultaneously, detrimental to us. I think a special pitfall of social media is slipping into an echo chamber of solely viewing people who look like you and have the same ideas as you. It seems like a major reason behind the polarization we see in the US right now, or a factor that isn’t helping. Such a polarization makes buzzwords — fake news, science, etc. — lose all of its actual meaning, and also makes us think everyone is in the same condition and has the same privilege as us. Currently, issues of inequality and discrimination are largely apparent, but polarization has made some people believe that these issues are not only not worth solving, but they don’t exist entirely.
With ever-evolving technology, there is almost no excuse to not be politically active. Social media serves as a crucial platform for political discourse, providing new methods of advocacy that are intended to serve as a means to breathe life into social justice for this generation. However, the oversaturated nature of platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter cause people to see these social media posts as just that: another post to scroll through on their feed. As a result, we return to the key pitfall in social justice and political change – a disconnect from the current climate. Infographics that are repeatedly seen across every single person’s account become meaningless, turning into another trend to follow and a means to “keep up” so as to not be ridiculed by others, rather than coming from a place of genuine concern or passion. Without a genuine connection to their cause, we lack a significant role in the fight.
I think a key pitfall of activism today as a result of social media is that everyone is suddenly expected to become knowledgeable and accountable for every single problem (of which we have many). It is important to stay engaged and informed, and do what you can, especially for causes you care about, but every person cannot be a champion of every cause, or even know about every cause, because we live in such a complicated and messy and flawed world that there are far too many to keep track of. It is also messy because people take action in different ways, so someone who takes action in a way that is not immediately visible to others (donating versus posting on Instagram to spread awareness), could be accused of standing by and not doing anything, or not caring. There is an excess of accusatory dialogue around activism today, and a narrative that people have to be perfect, instead of doing their best to help and stand up when and where and how they can.
Environmental activism in modern-day society has put a lot of fault on common everyday people and thus cause movements such as saving the turtles and using reusable straws as a contribution by the individual person. But no matter how much we as individuals stop using plastic or reducing our water usage, no real change will be in effect until big corporations that actually contribute to the pollution and overuse of resources choose to stop. Although there is a slow shift in becoming more sustainable as a society, as seen through things such as the banning of plastic bags and paper rather than plastic packaging, it is not sufficient in reversing or even stopping the detrimental damage already in place.
July 24, 2009. That was the last time the federal minimum wage was adjusted, from $6.55 (the year prior) to $7.25, where it remains today. Behind the Fair Labor Standards Act, the law that enforces these numbers in addition to other labor-related regulations, there stands an evident challenge to be addressed: tackling the pitfalls of spiraling overpopulation, scarcity, and a rise in the cost of living. Fortunately, many states have taken action against this issue, including Massachusetts. Still, places like my home state, which follows the federal minimum wage, make it impossible to escape the detriments of merely surviving. While recent acts have been drafted and discussed to combat minimum wage, the lingering, prevalent issues seen within the disparities of socioeconomic classes today make the call to action ever more urgent.
Some of the biggest challenges in our society are the social and economic effects that stem from our capitalist system. Economic inequality is so institutionalized and ingrained in our modern society that in many ways it can feel inescapable. I think an important step in advocating against this system is being aware of it and bridging that awareness to others–it is impossible to fight against a system that we do not understand. Along with recognizing the effects in our own lives, being politically active and supporting welfare policies is essential. It is also important to recognize that capitalism is not just linked with social and economic inequality, but also current environmental issues. Big cooperations contribute greatly to global climate change and capitalism as a whole is not environmentally sustainable.
Immigration has always served as an international issue, especially in the United States. With immigration, most people migrate to the United States to find better opportunities than the country they are leaving. However, with that comes much controversy. In recent years, the U.S. enforcing the southern border to Mexico. Donald Trump has also added with lowering how many immigrants can legally enter the U.S.. Although this is unfair for the immigrants who genuinely want to enter the U.S., the federal government has their reasons, for the U.S has dealt with a history of terrorist attacks, drugs, and gangs from foreign countries. With these problems, the U.S. want to protect its homeland. However with the laws enforced, others that are more vulnerable to these problems are forced to stay in the area the problem resides. The dilemma that this problem causes for the political world is overall very interesting to uncover.
One challenge we face is the wealth gap and disparities that are so heavily integrated in current life to an extent where oftentimes people can be out of touch with wealth subjectivity. Economic components take on a social impact because the way that people interact heavily depends on their class growing up. This can cause issues where people are often unknowingly at a disconnect due to their lack of understanding of each other due to coming from different socioeconomic statuses. For example, middle class students often do not get scholarships or financial aid when regarding college educations and this is seen as an expectation when in reality it is not feasible at all to expect a middle class family to sufficiently pay for the price of a college education nowadays. However, with the ever-changing economy and community one grows up in, it makes sense that people struggle with understanding wealth overall and what it means to be wealthy.
Currently, we face a lot of systemic racial inequalities that connect a lot of issues. I think that the prison system, whether it be lengthy punishments, appeals, or the chance of innocence, has a lot of work that can be done. There are various periods that are marked by higher, stricter, and more frequent incarcerations that have resulted in unfair sentencing. I think that issue can connect to what we’ve seen with Black Lives Matter, and how police departments have claimed they have reworked their systems in order to eliminate the bias seen in the system. I would be curious to see how much change has actually been made since 2022 within the police departments as well as the reports on how many innocent people have been freed, how many innocent people they think are still incarcerated, and what systems are in place to aid those who have been unfairly sentenced.
Other topics of interest:
Climate Change (and whether or not countries are doing enough)
Supreme Justices (specifically what Roe vs. Wade could mean for the future, what precedents they set)