Free Topic

My free topic will be devoted to something completely different than what I had originally planned on writing about. This will be a rant. And for those who do not like talking politics, you might as well stop reading now. But this blog will be devoted to my rant about college students and their (for the most part) ignorant and completely off-base political opinions. I will start with a story. I have this friend, let's call her June, and she is a sure fire Republican to the core. She supports George W. Bush still (I thought that ship had sailed) and will fight for anything and everything ever put under the name of anything Republican or Conservative. Now, you might ask yourself why my friend feels so strongly about this particular political party, and my answer is (and I say this with a sad and annoyed heart) because her parents raised her to feel that way. This friend of mine has never and probably will never develop a political opinion of her own outside of the Republic propagandist ideology fed to her by her well-meaning parents. If there is one thing worse than an ignorant opinion, it is an ill-informed opinion.
Now, don't get me wrong, I love this friend of mine very dearly, but every time we venture anywhere near the realm of politics she begins to spit out anything and everything said or supported by Fox News. In my opinion, Fox News and all other media outlets have their own place in the political spectrum, and Fox is allowed to pump its biased opinions through the airwaves just like every other news station with a false sense of unbiased and balanced opinion. But my problem arises when an individual takes everything said by the news media at face value and doesn't do any outside research on their own. Now I might be a little more inclined to said research given my particular field of study, but if you are to be a contributing member of society and choose to exercise your constitutional right to vote (which is completely within your power) then you need to do so with a well-informed opinion that was formed of your own accord and not a second hand rip off of what your parents have told you for years. This is phenomena is something akin to late night infomercials. If I am ever up late at night studying or what not every now and then a infomercial will come on the tv, and I will glance in amazement at the supposed miracle that this ball of lead is able to perform. I can literally almost feel myself reaching for the phone to order these gadgets in bulk when I realize it's nothing more than a shiny marble with a cool name.
Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC are nothing more than obnoxiously biased opinions shrouded under the rouse of fairness. Politics is about personal convictions and opinions, not party lines and movements, and as such if you feel the need to open your mouth (and not insert foot) then read about the issues you think you have an opinion about instead of listening to someone else's biased opinion.