{"id":295,"date":"2012-11-07T14:49:54","date_gmt":"2012-11-07T19:49:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/astudentguidetoelection2012.wordpress.com\/?p=36"},"modified":"2012-11-07T14:49:54","modified_gmt":"2012-11-07T19:49:54","slug":"election-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/my.dev.vanderbilt.edu\/artofblogging\/2012\/11\/election-night\/","title":{"rendered":"Election night"},"content":{"rendered":"

The purpose of this blog for the past few months has been both a way of discussing the election amongst college-age voters, and a call to action for the youth vote. Well, the day has come and gone. The day our country decided on keeping an old president over gaining a new, the day when Democrats and Republicans were more at war than any other day of the year. Apparently, the day when Twitter and Facebook come alive with political rhetoric, breaking news, and witty commentary \u2013 whether welcomed or not.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s face it \u2013 we\u2019ve had an eventful week. With Hurricane Sandy, the final few days of election anticipation, and the announcement of a Boy Meets World spin off in the works, our generation has had more than enough to talk about. But this didn\u2019t stop us from transforming Facebook into an outlet for expressing political opinion, and didn\u2019t stop thousands of us (both politically active and politically uninterested) from tweeting in support of one team or the other.<\/p>\n

There were the uplifiting I don\u2019t care who you vote for, just VOTE<\/i> statuses, the irritating Anyone who votes for Candidate B is an idiot<\/i> statuses, and then there were these: I can\u2019t wait for the election to be over.<\/i> Or the sarcastic, biting remarks that make fun of a political status by saying something like Insert political rant here <\/i>(not far off base),<\/i> or I plan to avoid Facebook for the next week until this stops (<\/i>and then they don\u2019t.)<\/p>\n

As the first generation to really experience Facebook and Twitter, it feels almost like we have the ability to shape or mold them as we see fit. As a way of communicating political information and opinion, social media couldn\u2019t have been developed in a more perfect way. But this election makes me wonder if social media really is an appropriate place for political discussion. To be honest, even for someone interested in politics, reading post after post of often ignorant or disrespectful commentary is exhausting, and certainly not enjoyable.<\/p>\n

In \u201908, President Obama used social media in a way that no presidential candidate had done before. In his efforts to mobilize the youth population, he used the one tool he knew would excite and provide access to almost every single youth voter \u2013 and it worked. Not only did he utilize social media in an unprecedented fashion, but he rallied young voters like never before. This year, Obama easily matched \u201808\u2019s success with youth voters. Surprisingly, we may even have seen an increase in the youth vote, despite the fact that his campaign wasn\u2019t nearly as social media heavy as in the last election. So has our generation taken on the initiative ourselves? Have incessant Facebook posts and tweets become the new campaign for youth mobilization?<\/p>\n

In years past, Rock the Vote has been the most successful youth initiative in politics. Started in 1992, Rock the Vote has used influential music artists to empower young voters with the slogan, \u201cBuilding political power for young people.\u201d Nevertheless, the era of social media may be taking over.<\/p>\n

While people whine and complain about the incessant flow of political word vomit online (not pointing fingers, I complained too), I guess it comes with the territory. Facebook is coined as a way of expressing oneself to our peers \u2013 expressing our thoughts, our interests, our daily lives, so why not this too? You can say it\u2019s not the place, it\u2019s unwarranted behavior for a site that\u2019s made for liking photos and writing on friends\u2019 timelines, but at the end of the day, we should be thankful that Facebook and twitter didn\u2019t turn into the mind-numbing wastes of time that our parents and older peers proclaimed them to be.<\/p>\n

So whether you voted or you didn\u2019t (I hope you did!), whether you\u2019re thankful the election is over, or itching for more political sparring, whether you\u2019re the person posting on Facebook or the one begging for it to stop, let\u2019s at least be thankful for one thing: in the land of the free and the brave, we not only have the ability and the right to vote, but the opportunity to express our opinions frankly and unashamedly with the only consequence of annoying some of our followers, and maybe starting an unwelcome debate with a friend. I\u2019m thankful that I could contribute to the election of a world leader, that I could read others\u2019 opinions and have the ability to respond even if I chose not to, and I\u2019m thankful that all of this occurred peacefully and (most of the time) respectfully. I\u2019m even thankful for the comments I didn\u2019t agree with, and for Facebook for bringing them to my attention. I\u2019m thankful\u2026are you? (If not, direct your attention to the top right hand corner of the screen where it says \u201cLog Out.\u201d)<\/p>\n

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The purpose of this blog for the past few months has been both a way of discussing the election amongst …
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