Today is election day, and when the process is over, the electoral college will let us know whether Americans have chosen to retain Barack Obama as their president or opted for a new commander-in-chief, Mitt Romney.
Until then however, let us reminisce on some of the most memorable events of this year’s presidential campaign:
1) Herman Cain, C.E.O of a pizza chain, almost won the presidential ticket for Republican candidate.
2) Donald Trump dogged resident Obama into whipping out his birth certificate.
3) Republican Vice Presidential nominee, Paul Ryan, declared rape as another “form of conception.”
4) Mitt Romney confessed his love for Cuban “papaya.”
5) Barack Obama showed up to the presidential debate while under the influence.
And lastly, at the Republican National Convention, Clint Eastwood mockingly conversed with a chair that was supposed to be Obama.
As unforgettable of a spectacle as it was, this year’s presidential campaign maintained all the customary crudeness and political finger pointing of all political campaigns. One might even go so far as to declare this year’s campaign season the most heated of all. Many people, like four year old Abigail from Colorado, got fed up of watching grown men attack each other like little boys at a playground and simply wanted “Barack Obama and Mitt Romney to stop fighting.”
Amidst all of the political talk and squabble, many new “political experts” emerged. Everyone who watched Fox News or CNN suddenly became a seasoned political pundit with expert opinions. I remember hearing a person say, “I hate when people who don’t know anything about politics try to get into political debates! Voting for Obama because he says he’s gonna give them free health care, affordable education, and [stuff]. I mean don’t, get me wrong, Obama is a great orator. Even I who was raised in a conservative household find myself at times tempted to vote for him. But if you look at the people that he targets in his speeches, they are poor people, people in the ghetto, and immigrants. And the thing they all have in common is that they don’t have access to resources to research whether the things Obama is promising them are true or not.”
Besides the obvious, this exchange of political commentary—if one can call it that—shows precisely this: Due to the heated political exchanges and ad-hominem tactics that have been employed throughout this year’s presidential campaign, some people have taken to regurgitating information. People seem to simply recycle information served to them at their parents’ dinner table, and by political adverts, confusing it with actual political expertise.
These are probably the same sort of people whom engage in arguments about football right around Super Bowl time, even though they haven’t the slightest clue what they’re saying.
I highly recommend that proponents of this behavior dig out some books. Unless one is about to point out facts with at least a respectable degree of accuracy, one would be best served to remain silent. Trust me, ignorance and arrogance have never made for an appealing combination.
Be that as it may, the outcome of the presidential elections is of more consequence than a football game. Therefore, the idea that some people mentally approach it the same way they approach the Super Bowl is scary! With voting day today, everyone should fact-check the candidates they intend to vote for.