A Young Voter’s Perspective
I get to vote tomorrow.
I am all excited and positive about it.
New voters usually have this strong energy towards the ballots. It’s probably the first official thing we do that has this much riding on it, you know. Casting your vote makes you feel accomplished, responsible and even grown up.
I remember my first time like it was yesterday, maybe because it was.
Because this is only the second time I am going to take part in the charade. So I consider myself new to this.
Although I did have that strong positive, might I say even patriotic feeling towards this day, as it is coming closer I am losing that enthusiasm.
Mainly because since the D-Day was coming closer, I thought it would be best to research the things our candidates have done, what they are offering and what all do they wish to address.
I know, a dick move. I realise that. It doesn’t make any sense.
Why would I do that?
Latest trends in politics, especially when it’s election time show that less than ten per cent of people pay attention to a parliamentary debate on news channels. Most of our knowledge comes from WhatsApp, Instagram, X and Reddit.
Because we are all for development and getting more and more technologically educated, our politicians and their parties are also moving forward, with us. Therefore more and more information is distributed using Reels or Shorts.
Well, some information.
And I don’t mind that. People call you stupid now if you believe the news you receive on WhatsApp or Instagram. Nonsense.
What more concise and fast way to deliver information can you think of?
“But what if the news you receive is fake news?” Bitch what other news do you get now?
All we get is fake news after fake news. With a lot of paraphrasing of course.
Parliamentary debates on channels are not parliamentary debates anymore. They are just arguments, it’s different. I have been taking part in debates all my life, from participating in interschool debates to joining only one society in my 4 years of college and that too was dedicated to debating and literature, I can tell you there is a difference.
A debate is primarily focused on hearing both sides out. And not hearing them for the sake of hearing them. Both sides are expected to present their ideas, motivation and innovation for the topic. You are first expected to describe the motivation behind your taking a stand for the motion or against it. Second, comes the idea that you are putting forward and what it will bring to the table. Last comes the innovation where in conclusion you can suggest what measures you propose to improve the situation.
That is basically the gist of any debate, parliamentary ones are more sophisticated and formal in that sense.
On the other hand, arguments are about proving yourself right. It has no place for logic, solutions or even reasons for that matter. Just noise.
We, as the audience, are more impressed by the degree of savageness in our politician rather than their actual ideas.
That’s the noise we have been hearing for the past decade here in India.
The United States is some ten-fifteen years ahead of us in time so they have been witnessing these trends for the last two or three decades.
And it’s only getting worse. Don’t get me wrong the US is still ahead, but in getting fucked by bad journalists.
Honestly, I watched the dinnertime news for a whole month. Dinner time is usually the prime time of news channels and I swear to god every channel had its own figures to display, its own agendas to discuss and different asses to lick. But none showed news.
I am not even going to go into the issues, elected politicians need to resolve.
I am just flabbergasted at the state of journalism in the world apparently, so much for the fourth pillar of democracy. It’s fucked.
Do you know the Prime Minister of India has given zero press conferences in the last two terms? If elected, this will be his third term on the seat and not one time has he faced the media.
Well, there was this one time he invited a couple of journalists for an interview and all they did, I swear to you, was lick his ass. Literally.
If Donald Trump ever saw that interview, he would cry all night. They did the exact opposite things to what Trump experienced every day.
This is the state of journalism. This is the quality of news we are accustomed to now. These are more like entertainment channels now rather than news ones.
Then why not use WhatsApp and Instagram to get news? It takes less time to consume the same content. Why waste an hour of your time to watch primetime news when it’s going to be useless anyway?
I don’t mind that. You shouldn’t too.
We should just be happy that we get the chance to participate in this charade. We get to vote in elections that don’t matter for people who don’t care only to make policies that make our lives difficult.
There is no escape. Nothing can change it.
It’s all a hoax. We are in a simulation. Just a different kind.
