stage on The Yard on Nov. 6, 2024. (Paige Kiarie/The Hilltop)
Not a day has gone by in the past four months that a clip of a liberal teen and a right-wing conservative haven’t had a viral face-off in a political battle, and some would say for good reason.
The 24-hour news cycle and the powerhouse that is social media created an inescapable avenue of being aware, informed and even misinformed.
The weight of this election has seeped into even the most wholesome and secular forms of media like Nickelodeon’s Kid’s Pick the President, making it nearly impossible to stay unplugged from the fear or excitement of what is to come over the next four years.
Political fatigue, as psychologists characterize it, is the overwhelmingly exhausting nature of political engagement. In this day and age, and more specifically, in the 2024 presidential race, not a moment passes that we are not reminded of the political landscape that we are up against.
In the 2024 presidential election, the battle between Madam Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump was a powder keg. Considering the two candidates are just as much celebrities as they are politicians, the election was the first of its kind in terms of campaigns and debates.
The fatigue, in this case, came from many different things, but for starters, it seemed there was no way to escape the little fires. Picking up one’s phone for a midday scroll on social media could consist of usual content about food or animals, or simply the whereabouts of your peers, or a think piece about how the presidential candidates could ruin our lives.
As much as it is their job to make sure we are aware of their policy and plans for our country, in an election as divisive as this, it became somewhat exhausting to consume at times.
Panama Jackson, a writing professor at Howard and an opinion columnist at TheGrio, recognized this fatigue but has his ways to combat it as both a voter and a writer.
“I have long had political fatigue as someone who worked on Capitol Hill for years and saw how the sausage gets made,” he said. “I am completely cynical about the process, so [I’m] finding a way to not be stuck in the hamster wheel that is the world burning all around us,” Jackson said.
Jackson, whose writing focuses on entertainment and lifestyle, didn’t steer toward the shiny political light that was the 2024 election. Even upon mention of Madam Vice President Harris or former President Trump, Jackson’s content is not meant to stir the pot or break a story, but rather a reflection of how we can connect. They share a deeper story than just “Who are you voting for in this election?”
“There has to be space for joy and peace and mindless entertainment, and space for family and everything else that isn’t about what’s going on in the world but what’s going on in your world. That is probably why I spend so much time not writing about it,” Jackson said.
This election stood out because of its candidates and the personas that they carry. Jackson said people were paying attention to it in the same way they would for celebrity news.
“Right now we are dealing with two candidates whose celebrity is as significant as their political ideology. We know more about how Trump is as a human than anything he is doing policy-wise. You could argue the same high for Kamala, these are superstars,” he said.
Pressing issues like bodily autonomy for women, the education system and many other things that have been fought for over the years are on the line and we put our faith in the hands of leaders we trust.
It makes sense to engage in discourse about politics that determine our future, but it is just as important to remain in the present and focus on what is in front of us day to day.
It’s exhausting to disagree with others about what is right and wrong, what should and shouldn’t be regulated by our country’s leaders and what should be controlled or not.
The impending nature of the United States, as pressing as it is, does not override the need for rest, joy and decompression. No matter where the numbers fall or who sits in office, we remain. And like the people before us, it is up to us to find a way to keep pushing forward.
Copy edited by Anijah Franklin
