An excerpt from his homework assignment (written last night while I was sleeping) on my computer this morning.
In the opening scene of HBO’s new show “The Newsroom,” written by Aaron Sorkin, Will McAvoy, a jaded news anchor, loses his composure when forced to give an answer to the question “why is America the greatest country in the world?” He gives a speech about how America is not the greatest country in the world, but it once was, and he wonders how the US can go back to being great.
I feel like a mostly agree with Will McAvoy’s points in the speech. However, I object to labeling the college student a member of the “Worst period generation period ever period!” Looking at America right now, college students aren’t in power. Maybe if they were, our situation would be just as bad, but they’re not. Admittedly, my generation does have some problems. We’re uninformed, uninterested in politics, uncaring about many important issues. That said, that doesn’t manifest in anything more than less active voters. The older generation who is in power in the United States, is also filled with people who don’t care, aren’t interested, and have no idea what they’re talking about. But many of them go out to vote following party lines, causing far more harm by increasing partisanship than the younger generation ever could by not showing up a polls. Our current no compromise, more and more extreme politicians, many of whom know just as little about the issues as the college students, as several gaffes in discussions about abortion rights, for example, reveal, are part of the older generation and elected by the older generation. It is painful that so many of my fellow students and youths don’t care about politics at all, but we’re the ones without any control over what happens. Maybe that is why voter dissatisfaction is so high and voter turnout is so low. We know that party elite will not listen to what we say and will continue to push frankly insane agendas.
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