*This article does not represent the views of Her Campus FSU.
By now, we’ve all heard the poorly received joke from Marco Rubio and we have all formed our opinions on it. However, instead of focusing on the comment, it’s important to analyze why the comment created the stir it did. The moment the controversy came out, social media flooded with outrage, class discussions throughout the school suddenly became off topic and students suddenly began developing opinions on candidates beyond Trump. Rubio’s comment was, no doubt, inappropriate and the joke definitely went too far, but what does it say about the state of our campus that we are outraged at politicians, not because of their issues, but because of a rivalry joke? Many students are saying that Rubio no longer has their vote because of the incident, which just shows student’s willingness to make their political decisions based on something other than politics.
Courtesy: Politico.com
Universities should be a place where scholars can come together to talk about the issues going on in our world, and, unfortunately, my university experience hasn’t been full of lively, political debate until Marco Rubio decided to voice an unpopular opinion. Last years midterm elections had a shocking number of uninterested and nonvoting students on campus. Passion seems to have long died out among those seeking higher education. Many people our age cite their indifference or dislike of certain politicians based on arbitrary characteristics like Hillary Clinton’s pantsuits or Chris Christie’s weight. I’ve heard many justifications for political disinterest with comments like “All the candidates/parties are the same!” or “I’m making a political statement by not being involved with politics!” Frankly, this kind of thinking is lazy.
While politicians might be bad people, those bad people are making some extremely important decisions that affect everyone’s life. Whether you decide to vote or not, someone will be in office so wouldn’t it be better to vote for people who represent your views? College students have plenty of interests and problems that need to be represented. In the most recent Republican debate, absolutely no time was spent on problems relating to student debt or public universities making a profit. Last year, people were up in arms about Thrasher’s presidency, but now that he is contributing catty comments to the Rubio controversy, all is forgiven. College students are in a purgatory between childhood and adulthood and maybe this is why so many students don’t take the reality of politics seriously.
T-shirts available here!
There is no defense for Marco Rubio’s offensive joke, but with an election right around the corner, students should start focusing on the right things. This country has a huge voting problem on its hands because the majority of young people don’t vote. This apathy and, in some cases, antipathy are not helping the political world. Instead, not voting sends a message to politicians that you don’t matter. I know that students care and I know that they have opinions, which is why it is so important to vote because without that, there will be no change.