Editor’s Note: The Mountaineer approached Tucker Taylor, Big Sandy High School teacher of the 12th grade Government, 11th grade U. S. History, and World History about having his students writing essays on current issues. Each student is required to look at both sides of the issue in their essay. Occasionally, an essay will be published in the Mountaineer. This week Tyler Schwarzbach was selected. His comment after researching this issue was, “it’s difficult to just find facts without opinions added”.
A Nation Divided
By Tyler Schwarzbach
In the United States today, there is a severe divide between the two sides of the political aisle, with Democrats, Republicans, and anyone in between viciously undermining each other at every chance they get. The media has a massive role in this divide, and has been one of the key contributors to both sides having so much venom towards each other. This has stemmed from both ends of the political news spectrum having extreme biases against the other.
One of the most obvious signs of resentment in the media is from the left, who undermine everything the President and his staff have done throughout his campaign and his tenure as president.
Major strides in foreign policy such as a potential peace deal with North Korea in which U.S troops would be pulled out of Korea in exchange for the North and South to work together to make peace. This was mocked by CNN with an article on by claiming that it would open up a gap in defenses in Japan and South Korea. (https://thehill.com)
Talking heads on the left such as Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel also cannot go ten minutes on their shows without talking about the President in a negative way, which is against their policy of openness and acceptance of all. They most likely do this due to how many of their viewers being young liberals who believe the president to be a tyrant who will destroy the United States.
Another example of the left blowing a simple harmless altercation into a big race issue was the Covington Catholic High School students with their issue with a Native American elder at a protest, while the full story is still up for debate, channels like MSNBC and CNN did not need to pick apart the lives of children over a controversy involving a member of a minority group.
On the other hand, right wing media is also just as responsible for the great divide in the country. Figures on the right such as Sean Hannity, Ben Shapiro, and Alex Jones (https://www.adfontesmedia.com/) are also uncompromising with their views, and tend to disregard the opinions of the left, while pushing their own agendas under the reasoning of “facts and logic” as Shapiro would put it.
Even during the Obama administration, many of the right wing political news stations criticized every move of Obama during his tenure, much like the left does now with President Trump. Like how the left became immensely upset about the Korean Summit, the right has had issues that were blown out of proportion. In 2010 when Obamacare was passed, many on channels like Fox News laid into the then president and made it seem as if the healthcare plan put into place by president Obama would be the straw that would break the camel’s back of democracy in the free world.
Both sides of the media need to take a step back and realize how divisive both of their broadcasts are. Instead of politically charged broadcasts, the news needs to present nothing but the facts without many largely opinionated talking heads to only show one side.
The media should grow as a country and as people, we all need to come together, accept that we each have different views, and then move on while trying to make the country a better place for future generations.
