Opinions

Social media’s alternative political universe

What’s more ridiculous: building a wall (and making Mexico pay for it) or claiming that Ted Cruz is the Zodiac Killer?

The 2016 presidential race is turning out to be one hell of a ride.

Socialism used to be the dirtiest word in American politics, and is currently on the verge of taking down one of the most established names in the liberal sphere.

The Republican Party used to encourage political experience above all else, but now it’s being torn apart by a controversial billionaire who has never held elected office – who may not even be Republican.

None of this, however, compares to the 2016 presidential race that’s being waged on social media.

There, a perpetually lying, power-hungry criminal is harnessing the power of the Democratic National Convention against a geriatric Marxist who wants to raise your taxes to 90 percent.

For Republicans, Orange Hitler is taking on the Zodiac Killer himself.

The characters in both races are the same, but in Social Media’s Alternative Political Universe, statistics are not facts, and cartoonish memes take precedent over accurate portrayals of political candidates.

This may not sound particularly alarming in itself, but consider this: a Pew Research Study has found that Facebook was by far millennials’ number one news source. More young people are getting their news from Facebook (61 percent) than through traditional means such as CNN (44 percent), Fox News (30 percent), or MSNBC (22 percent).

That means that millennials are more exposed to the news cycle that insists that Ted Cruz is the Zodiac Killer than the news cycle that insists that he isn’t.

Spoiler Alert: He’s not.

This disparity between real world politics and social media’s politics seems to be caused by millennial Facebookers’ total disregard for fact-checking when sharing political content. These mindless news drones are more concerned with landing an attack than caring if it’s true.

Donald Trump seems to be at the receiving end of most of social media’s false reporting, which puts me in the unenviable position of having to defend a man whom I personally despise.

The picture of Klan members showing up in full regalia to support Trump? Fake.

The picture of innocent-looking housewives wearing “Make America White Again” shirts? Fake.

The quote saying Donald Trump would run as a Republican because they’re the “dumbest group of voters?” Totally fake.

This genre of rage-inducing fact-free political posturing isn’t just used to attack Trump. It’s also been employed to paint a rosier picture of preferred candidates as well. The Bernie Sanders Army that has occupied millions of unsuspecting Facebook feeds are particularly guilty of this.

Take, for instance, a viral pro-Bernie graphic that attacks Fox News for claiming that Sanders said “White people don’t know what it’s like to be poor.” It claims that Bernie never said such a thing… except he did – word-for-word during a Democratic debate held on March 6. This puts the Sanders Army in the interesting conundrum of attacking the quote for being insensitive, without realizing that Bernie actually said it.

It just goes to show that people will defend, share, and believe anything so long as it fits their personal political beliefs, regardless of truth. They’re blissfully unaware that the “political circus” that they’re attacking is one of their own creation. Clinton, Trump, Sanders and Cruz aren’t the ones making politics unbearable this year; social media’s absurd assertions are.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published.

Daily 49er newsletter

Instagram