Anchor babies, Mexican rapists, “The Great Wall of Trump, and “e-mail gate” are some of the many controversies that have been at the forefront of the race for the White House.
The spectacle and the celebrity have gotten more attention and support than the issues that should matter to voters.
In 2015, we have a former first lady, a member of a political dynasty, a celebrity businessman, and a self-professed socialist running to earn the nomination for their respective party.
And that’s all we seem to focus on, the novelty of the candidates.
The political race has turned into “What is Donald Trump going to say today?”
It is alarming how his celebrity power and audacious comments have gained him supporters all around the nation simply because people like good entertainment.
It really is a mockery of what the American political system stood for; justice, equality and democracy.
It’s become The Apprentice, with Trump already fitting his titular role and Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders trying to keep up.
And you know what? We’ve let it become that way. Our ability to perceive something seriously has diminished along with our collective ability to question things.
Sure Trump’s antics were outlandish, wacky even, like something out of a Monty Python film, but now you realize he and his followers are violent and ignorant.
U.S. voters base their voting decision based on a couple of characteristics and one of those is the candidate’s image.
Intellect becomes unimportant as long as the candidate has charisma.
Lest we forget, part of why John F. Kennedy won the election in 1960 is because he simply looked better on television than did the awkward Richard Nixon.
We vote with the same mentality one would vote the finalists of American Idol. Have the voters lost their way, isn’t what we always preach to the rest of the world? That we are the forebears and masters of democracy?
The media plays a tremendous role in shaping the views of the public in political races.
The media has given what meal Hillary Clinton chooses much more coverage than her problematic stance on Israel.
The media has given more coverage to Donald Trump’s hateful antics while the rest of the candidates loom in the shadows of this week’s controversy.
In those deep shadows Bernie Sanders, democratic hopeful, stands tucked away.
While the underdog who everyone underestimated is drawing bigger crowds than any other candidate (approx. 27,500 in LA) his voice is a mere echo in the distance.
There is danger in that, because for anything to be relevant in American lives, it has to be hammered into us day in and day out in the media or we forget about it.
How quickly did we forget Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, or the black church burnings in the south?
As Bernie Sanders speaks of a much needed revolution, the media insists on moving their lens to a man who wants to prove to a crowd that he is not indeed wearing a toupee.
As Hillary Clinton denounces gun violence, media coverage is emphasized on the insults laid upon Ted Cruz by House Speaker John Boehner.
Somewhere in the nation is Sanders giving an impassioned speech about the Robin Hood Tax he plans on levying on Wall Street in order to grant free college tuition.
Somewhere in the nation is Sanders speaking on the wider than ever income disparity between the middle and upper class.
Somewhere in the nation is Sanders speaking on introducing legislation to abolish for-profit prisons.
But if the coverage isn’t there, is it really happening?
