[quote]By Sushmitha Suresh
Online Writer
Graphic by Qiyuan Zhou[/quote]

Tweet to take advantage of the freedom of speech

If you’re a student at Metea Valley with a Twitter account, you’ve probably encountered a Twitter fight concerning politics. You might scoff at the pettiness of it all, and ask, “what’s the point of this? No one’s going to care anyways.”

Here’s the fact, Twitter fights on politics are foolish. There’s no point in fighting about our opinions. There is a point, however, in expressing them and seeing the other side. We are given this amazing power as citizens of the United States: freedom of speech. This is something that we have the right to do, and to say that we shouldn’t use it because there is “no point” just seems completely absurd to me.

This leads us to your next objection, which is probably that it doesn’t matter if we have a freedom of speech, it’s not going change what the government says or does. Of course it doesn’t. As much as we’d like to believe it, Obama doesn’t eagerly wait for the students of Metea Valley to tweet that his foreign policies are terrible. But, that doesn’t mean that it won’t affect our decisions in the future. If we used the platform in the right way, expressing our opinions could turn into intelligent conversations where we, the future of America, can share our perspectives in a respectful way.

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Another objection? Oh, you must be complaining about the classic high school behavior where we aren’t capable of having mature, respectful conversations. Well, if not now, then when? Much of the senior class will be voting for the first time this year and next year. Expressing political opinions can share perspective and help us discuss what choices we want to make as a whole for the country we live in. 140 characters might not express the entire position, but if we question each other for reasonable evidence, we can see what we’re dealing with.

We have this amazing opportunity to share what’s on our minds in an instant. We’re allowed to tweet our opinions directly to hundreds of people that choose to follow what we want to say. Isn’t there some sort of satisfaction there? The fact that we can say what we’re thinking when we’re thinking it?

I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, nothing productive is going to happen if we don’t work together. Not just us as high school students, but as a nation. We have a responsibility to hear each other out, and if we do this by reading live tweets from the GOP debates, then so be it.

To say that you can’t have intellectual conversations based off of tweeting on politics is false. I have had conversations with someone who has disagreed with my views after debates on Twitter, and it never ended in a nasty fight in which we attack each other’s values, beliefs, or character. This person and I direct messaged each other back and forth for an hour, and came to an understanding of each other’s viewpoints.

No, your views aren’t going to take a complete 360 degree turn, but a tweet with reason could nudge you into a different direction. It’s not impossible, because I’ve experienced this myself. If we don’t talk it out now, then when? If we say there’s no point now, when will there be one?

Theoretically, even if you express your political opinions verbally in a friend group, there isn’t a point either. But, you could argue that you could somehow sway opinion. I believe that apathy kills democracy. That tweet may not have the biggest impact, but it sure has enough to spark conversation, and that’s what our generation has the ability to do. It starts from not expressing opinions, follows with not choosing to vote, and the deterioration of our democracy continues.

Now, I know most of you will probably comment on this with “this is stupid”, “it still doesn’t matter”, and “nothing is going to change”, which I am okay with, because it’s your opinion. No matter what, I will listen to those opinions to gain some sort of perspective, because we’re never going to be able to please everybody. But, finding some kind of common ground is all that this is about. One day we will have an impact, so we should voice our opinions because we have the right to. If we, a generation growing up with tolerance and acceptance, won’t do that, then who will?

 [quote]By Nirmal Mulaikal
News Editor
Graphic by Qiyuan Zhou[/quote]

Twitter is NOT the place to talk foreign policy

With each passing year, America has grown more polarized and divided. Twitter has been no exception. Politically charged “Twitter fights”  grace the timelines of millions of Twitter users daily. While the hope is for an “inspired political debate”, what actually occurs on Twitter is less political and argumentative and more emotional and insensitive. Twitter is not the place to share political opinions.

140 characters is barely enough to write two sentences, much less a thoughtful, well-researched, impactful political statement.  Twitter is known for its ability to provide a place where users share what they are doing or thinking at any given time to other people online. The majority of what is posted is reactionary comments to an event that has occurred.  If users truly want to create awareness or illustrate their beliefs about a political topic, then 140 characters won’t suffice because there isn’t a qualified claim, context, evidence, or warrants. Let me give you an example of a “political tweet” by a high school student in District 204: “If Hilary Clinton can’t satisfy her husband, what makes her think she can satisfy America?” No context, no evidence, no warrants. Yet, it earned over 30 retweets and multiple favorites. Entertaining? Sure. Political? Nope.

“You dirty Communist.” Rather than engaging your fellow man in debate about the United States’ stance on the Syrian refugee crisis,  many political debates on Twitter eventually disintegrate into emotional “flame” wars. While debates do illustrate a person’s view on the topic, it does not characterize their political views as a whole. Thus, three stereotypes emerge about people after a political debate occurs on twitter: the die-hard progressive, the staunch conservative, and the mixed bag who makes comments just to enrage other people. Not only do political debates promote little awareness because users aren’t fact checked or comprehensive in their arguments, but people are unfairly categorized as extremists on either side of the spectrum.

It’s the wrong platform. If your intent is to change someone’s stance on a certain political topic, your chances are slim. Every person’s set of political beliefs has been carefully cultivated by their family, their background, and their experiences. While you may make a valid point and shed light on the issue, you are ultimately preaching to partially deaf ears. People are different and believe different things. Agree to disagree and move on. A Democrat and a Republican can argue for hours on end, with  both believing they are 100% right in the end. I’m all for compromise, collaboration, and democracy. But there are very few cases in which people actually benefit from the conversations and if they do, they are already politically active and tend to act civil and within reason.

Democracy doesn’t win; you do. To me, there are two possible reasons to post political opinions on Twitter. One goal is to better a member or multiple members of society in terms of their understanding of a political issue. The more common goal, which is evident subtly rather than explicitly, is to entertain other users and earn favorites and retweets. Don’t get me wrong: I  enjoy the “flames” and clever one-liners people have tweeted while debating politics. However, to say their statements were purely political or argumentative for the purpose of bettering society is laughable itself. While one person may genuinely argue for a more complete understanding of an issue,  the other person arguing is most likely engaged in the “debate” to generate interest and build their Twitter following. Whether you have one purpose in mind or the other, it’s almost irrelevant. You will win more so in terms of generating conversation and interest, not in terms of promoting a better understanding on the political issue at hand.

Before you tweet about how Trump should be banned from the Presidential race or how police brutality has gone on for too long,  take a step back. It’s ultimately your right to freely express your opinion. No one can take that away. All I’m asking is that you express your political opinions in a way that doesn’t involve pressing the “Tweet”  button on your phone.