Guest AuthorMuch is made about the decline in public discourse. Thorough and sensible discussion about issues has fallen prey to the brevity of tweets and the anger and anonymity of blogs, online comments and Facebook posts.
I am pleased to be “friends” with so many people on Facebook. They use it to send good wishes and to let me know about family happenings. It creates camaraderie and makes people feel that they’re a part of your life.
Others use social media as a political forum, usually highly partisan. The users either gush about how wonderful the president is or rant about how he is taking us off the cliff.
On occasion I slip and engage in these discussions. When I do, I usually get attacked by someone with strong opinions but little knowledge. As Teddy Roosevelt once said:
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming.”
We are all partly guilty of this. After all, opinions are like belly buttons. Yet I struggle with seeking ways to make a difference, to move from being a critic to being in the arena. I know others do the same.
I see them at work here in Tallahassee, striving to make a difference, pushing until they just get tired and move on to other challenges or retire, pleased with a lifetime of effort, yet always thinking of one more challenge.
I know the rhetoric is going to become even harsher as elections approach. One “friend” posted in response to something I had written: “your party has no chance of winning back the presidency! Your brand is dead on a national level. If you can’t win Latinos-Blacks-women-the young-good luck pal.”
Then today I came across an article that reported some interesting trends. The 2008 election indicated that the future was grim for conservatives. But in 2014, Republicans have a chance to take control of Congress.
And trends seem to be changing too. Two crucial demographics Obama captured handily, Hispanics and young voters, are not cast in stone. Both groups express less support for Obama now. The approval rating among Millenials is 46 percent and roughly 50 percent among Hispanics.
Times change, people change and preferences change. The pendulum swings and it is up to the national party leaders to get in better touch, by leading and offering solutions.
I have great faith in Millenials. They are not fixed in their ideologies, and oddly it is not my younger Facebook friends who post diatribes. I believe the nation’s future is bright, especially if we move away from vitriol and embrace positive ideas.
Ed H. Moore, President of the Independent Colleges and Universities of Florida, writes and lives in Tallahassee. Column courtesy of Context Florida.
