Reflection In Social Media

Coming into this class, I was, in all honesty, a bit hesitant: I watch the news, such as CNN and MSNBC, but I would not, by all means, consider myself “political.” Like most people, I like to be informed about things that are going on, but with what I watch on the news and what I read on social media, I would not say I was truly informed on the function, the science, of politics. For example, if someone were to ask me how many members of Congress there are, I would not know. Thus, after taking this class, I fully realized what I always suspected: I did not really know anything about politics. Living in a time that information is always readily accessible, it should not be difficult to be balanced and rightfully educated on what is going on in the world. But, unfortunately, this is not the case. There are so many stories that are spread around, so many “fake news” pages on social media that get shared and reposted, that it makes not only difficult but near impossible to look at politics objectively. This is part reason why I took this class: even had it not been a school requirement to take, I would have still taken this

In fact, if I were to bring up some contemporary issue to my Mother, I am near certain that she would not know nor care, and consider it trivial. My Father is the same way. In one sense, I am glad my parents are this way, because, unlike some other parents and adults I know, my parents never “indoctrinated” or brainwashed me on politics. This had better things to do. But, at the same time, I am a bit regretful that my parents never even sat me down and told me about what they believe—or do not believe in—and explain how they came to their philosophy. Thus, my environment, my political socialization (at least an aspect of it), played a substantial role in my knowledge of politics and political