Week 5 - Who am I?

Answering the question who you are sounds like a twisted spin on one of those  "tell us something about yourself" questions we've had to answer in various social situations in our lives, but I'll give it a shot. I am on the surface a very cool, calm, and collected individual who is under that same surface a complex individual consisting of various interwoven social, cultural, (at some early point) religious, and environmental circumstances. These have all led to the creation of an extremely optimistically naïve person. Under the calm and collected demeanor of someone trying to get by all on his own is a person who longs for human connection and considers it the most treasured gift we could have. 

In her essay titled "Why Are Americans So Angry This Election Season?", Lilliana Mason dissects the current political climate and tries to reason the behaviour of her fellow country-man so eloquently put in the title. She claims that American have become fired up about the election like never before, and there is a reason for that. For years, Americans have allowed their partisan beliefs to sway their identity and further enforce their stances due to a kind of mob mentality. This goes for both the "red" and "blue". Each side of the partisan scale come with their own set of features, the red American being a white religious fanatic hell bent on destroying the socialist agenda and keeping America pure, and the blue American consisting of white and non-whites trying to dig themselves out of the conservative hole they are being thrown into. Now, it doesn't matter which ideology you stay true to. What Liliana Mason is trying to say is that allowing us to fall into these groups and have our agendas continually validated by being surround by yes men will always leave Americans divided. Coupled with the fact that the election was headed by anger, something which went in favour of the Red due to Trump's hate-focused campaign, and the Blue's anger and disappointment at the incompetence of the Democrats, the state of division is going to be a huge roadblock to overcome. A good starting point would be to start breaking free from the confines of partisan groups because Americans, both red and blue, are losing the ability to think critically and the division widens. But this is more easier said than done.