It’s an interesting time to be in the media — especially considering our current political climate.
The impeachment debates have been an overwhelmingly loud topic across the country. Tuesday, House Democrats released a 300-page document detailing information about the case. Wednesday, four constitutional law experts presented testimony regarding whether President Trump’s role in the Ukraine affair constituted grounds for impeachment.
It feels like every time I log on to Facebook, Twitter or other social media sites, that’s all anyone can talk about.
And yet on campus, all I hear is silence.
The week before break, we posed the question, ‘Why aren’t students politically active on campus?’ If there ever was a time, I’d assume political groups on a university campus would be loudest now.
On one hand, it feels good to have somewhere to escape from national political scandals. Not many people can focus on such intense things every day without serious detriment to their mental health.
On the other hand, it is incredibly worrisome to me that conversations about our current political climate are the exception on this campus instead of the norm.
The point of college is to learn how to have conversations like these. Students are here to learn how to ‘adult’ in a variety of contexts. This includes learning how to live with a roommate, how to handle money and perhaps most importantly, learning how to have conversations about controversial topics without attacking one another.
I don’t want to hear about groups clashing to the point the police department needs to be called in, but I do think some form of conversation would be beneficial. College campuses are stereotypically liberal — and to my knowledge, this stereotype is decently accurate here. Moscow is a relatively conservative area. Political conversations here, while charged, can be incredibly interesting.
So back to the question we posed: Why aren’t students politically active?
To be honest, I don’t have the answer. I don’t think anyone does. Maybe we all have some sort of hope that if we say nothing, nothing will happen — some sort of escapist fantasy we can hide in our little bubble out in the middle of the Palouse, and pretend nothing will ever change.
But that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Uncomfortable conversations — like the impeachment debate — need to happen. How can we claim to value diversity and varying opinions when there is a culture of silence surrounding the things that matter most?
If we truly believe in improving ourselves, our community, our country, our world, we need to emphasize the importance of conversation.
And uncomfortable topics need to be the norm, not the exception.
Lex Miller can be reached at [email protected]