Thoughts on the World #1

For the past three years of my life, I have been consumed with school, homework, sports, and trying to get into the best college possible. Without even realizing it, I spent the vast majority of my energy on those three things. However, once I got my acceptance letter to college, I unconsciously took my foot off the gas pedal. My daily routine for all of high school was getting up at 7, being at school from 8-3, going to sports practice, going to the gym, doing homework, and finally going to sleep. During high school, I didn't care, and I didn't understand the reality of the world's problems. All this changed once Senior summer came around, and I found myself with more free time than I had for the past four years. So, to fill this time, I began reading more books for fun, watching old movies with my parents, and watching CNBC, Bloomberg, CNN, Fox, and my dad even bought me a subscription to the Wall Street Journal. For the past three months, I spent my free time quietly watching the world and absorbing information. I am well aware that I am only an eighteen-year-old who has spent his entire life in a political and economic bubble; for these reasons, many people might say that my opinion is unnecessary or not relevant. Nevertheless, I believe everyone has a unique and valuable perspective. One of the most significant problems we have in this world is that good people don't speak up because they don't believe people want to hear their opinion or that their idea is pointless. I have noticed that if more people spoke their minds freely, the world would be a much better place. Due to the rise in totalitarianism and human rights violations worldwide, the famous quote "The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." has never been more critical. I, for one, will not stay quiet. Therefore, here are my humble thoughts on the state of the world.  

Though I've always been aware of the country's and the world's problems, I never really understood how pervasive those problems are. The most shocking thing I have observed recently is the collapse of trust in institutions, media, governments, corporations, and many more. This lack of confidence in century-old institutions has led people to become so partisan and closed-minded that they can no longer think for themselves. I have experienced this in my own life. My friend and I were having a debate and he made an argument that could have been copied and pasted right out of the New York Times. People no longer think about their opinions; they are told what to believe by the media and the political party they support. We as a country are in a dangerous situation. This is so dangerous because, in the United States, we have very few well-informed, free-thinking citizens. Instead, we have a bunch of robots on the right and robots on the left who regurgitate information they hear from their propaganda outlets. I'm worried about the long-term implications of a country whose citizens can't think for themselves and will always do as they are told. 

These are just a few thoughts I have on the state of the world at this moment. I plan on continuing this series and writing more short snippets weekly on a wide range of topics. I would love to write longer essays for this website but college takes up most of my day. For now, I hope you enjoyed these brief thoughts and got to learn a little about who I am. Thanks so much for reading.