Today’s political climate is not one for the timid. Now more than ever, active participants are forced to take a stand for what they believe in, and to have facts to back their argument up, regardless of whether or not those facts are actually facts. To join the political conversation is to form another aspect of one’s identity, one that everyone around that person becomes aware of, impacting the way that they are thought of and the way that they are interacted with. Taking a stand is not a decision to be taken lightly.
Joining the political conversation anywhere can be difficult, but joining the political conversation in college can be even worse. Being on a campus allows that student population to become stuck in their own bubble, and mentalities are recycled within the same couple groups with the same loud voices. Fordham specifically tends to have two narratives. The strictly conservative narrative that revolves around taxes and economics or social policy. The other is a blatantly liberal, mostly focusing on social issues. Regardless of where on the spectrum you lie, it is hard to partake in political spectrum without taking a stand, and it is inevitable that someone will disagree with what you are saying. This always been a point of conflict for me because it is this unique setting where having a voice in a political landscape and how you are being perceived as an individual are too entangled to maintain individual identities; an inherent change will come about, even if in the most minute of ways, once you take a stand for what you believe in. You put a label on yourself.
It is safe to say that I have always cared what other people think of me. I care about being compatible with other people and making them feel comfortable. I care about the way I interact with others and how it impacts them. So naturally, politics becomes a problem. Politics inherently offends someone. Our backgrounds and the way that we grew up can be tremendously diverse. Often times, different bubbles of society remain untouched and unexposed to different perspectives, and even more frequently, these bubbles are making the conscious decision to remain that way. I, personally, am intimidated by this fact because my need to please everyone is not possible in a field of thought that is dominated by clashing opinions about how society should operate and why.
As a result of this pattern in culture, I decided not to become involved in the political scene upon my arrival to Fordham freshman year. After a particularly frustrating encounter with the Libertarian club on campus, my assumptions about the way that politics influences interactions was only proven correct as hostility in the conversation grew with the deepening of differences in opinion. Taking a step back from this culture and allowing myself to converse with people on a more anonymous level has allowed me to approach viewpoints different than my own with a more open mindset.
At the same time, there are instances where I regret not taking a stand. Sometimes I feel that in not joining on-campus protests or being active in political clubs I am wasting any potential I might have in making a difference in social justice issues simply because I am scared of what other people might think. As I embark upon my sophomore year at Fordham, I hope to come to a happy medium in my involvement. I hope to find a way to become part of the political landscape without making the political landscape my life. I want to learn how to be an active voice in social justice movements, yet simultaneously have an open mind that welcomes those who think differently than I do. Discourse is a stepping stone. Politics are a daunting part of joining the real adult world, and I hope that college will help me learn how to navigate controversial topics without making every conversation into a battlefield.