On Monday, Merriam-Webster announced that the word of the year was "surreal," and it could not be more perfect to define the miscommunication happening between half of the American people and its government. Surreal's definition, according to Merriam-Webster, is "marked by the intense irrational reality of a dream." And that's how this year began, truly. The manic optimism that seizes people during the new year's hype drove millions to set resolutions for themselves that varied between the mundane and extreme, and somewhere in the Trump Tower Donald J. Trump decided that he would announce his presidential bid. It was a dream then; his, like so many others that set to lose weight or earn that coveted promotion. However, between those carefully crafted diet regimens and setbacks, Trump managed to make his incredibly improbably dreama reality, and now millions are left feeling like this is all surreal.
This year's presidential campaign was emotionally exhausting, to say the least. It compromised ideals, values, and tradition while simultaneously compelling friendships and family alliances to collapse with accusations of "How could you vote for him?" or "She's a criminal!" Politics have always been divisive, but this year they took on a hostile angle as people became more and more convinced that their choice would prevent the apocalypse.
(Image courtesy of VOA News.)
November 8th left people jaded and disillusioned as the reality of the situation became all too tangible to ignore. For an entire year, I genuinely believed that Trump's victory was too unbelievable to fathom. He was a celebrity from a television show where he repeatedly made a fool of himself and others for the sake of America's entertainment. Yes, his antics amused and scared me during his campaign, but could half of America be so discontent that they would willingly elect a pseudo-fascist? I made the mistake of undermining what disappointment can do to fuel a frustrated mass of people, but Trump was, is, and will be the wake-up call I need to be more conscious of the impact politics can have on everyday people.
And I hope I'm not alone.
(Image courtesy of Guff.)
Politics shapes our lives whether we want it to or not, and it's about time we start getting involved. We can share and like every meme, event page, and article we find the supports our political position, but unless we push ourselves to action through voting, manifestations, or discussions, can we really harbor the audacity to be surprised and dumbstruck that someone like Trump won? He won, because so many of us didn't care. I don't pretend to speak for everyone, but genuine apathy was a damning factor of this surreal year.
On December 19th, the Electoral College formally voted for Trump. Many people maintained the small hope that they would unify and deny his victory, but fewer people called their state electors to make this happen. Can we all expect things to go our way when we do so little to make them happen?
(Image courtesy of Forbes.)
2017 will be an interesting year. Many are quick to say 2016 has been their worst year yet, but I have a feeling that unless people start to care about the bigger picture, it will all be the same. 2017 will have the same number of seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, and months that 2016 had, so let's make this one everything but surreal.
