I know the internet is flooded right now with political articles and posts this week, but I have an interesting perspective in this article. I don’t see myself as a political person, and my friends and family can attest to that fact. I am not political. But in my Sociology class we, of course, had a discussion in our class following the election, and we came up with some points we thought we learned about America based on this election.

The professor proposed this question: “What did you learn about American culture from the election?” and these were the points our class came up with:

1. Politics are emotional.
2. The media has a large pull on our everyday decisions.
3. People often identify with extremes.
4. People talk without knowledge.
5. People think there is just wrong and right and that those are two black and white distinct categories.
6. Who is running effects who is voting.
7. People desperately want to be heard and want their issues to be recognized.
8. Judgement and criticism are huge parts of our culture.
9. The middle ground and the people who stand there are often ignored.
10. Divided people leave no space for conversations.
11. Our political system is very polar. It’s viewed as either one side or the other.
12. Fear is a big component in voting.
13. Are we afraid of change?

Are we satisfied with these realizations? Are we happy with what our culture has evolved to? Are we, as American citizens, happy with how we react to results like these? If we are unhappy with how we have evolved as a country, what can we do to change our ways, our culture? We need to think about it. America can learn from this election and I believe we need to.