Midterm elections are November 6thand the date is rapidly approaching. Besides encouraging people to go out and vote, we have to be cognizant of the information we choose to believe if we are to contribute in any way to our society and country. Information is one of the most powerful things that we base our lives off of. However, misleading information is gravely disturbing, given we are in the midst of an American Media crisis that our President has birthed out of hatred and distrust.
First and foremost, pictures and videos taken out of context are being used to falsely show that migrant refugees from the caravan heading to the United States had violently attacked Mexican police. Trump acknowledged the false information as legitimate, even tweeting about it.
In the recent pipe bomb crisis where well-known Democrats were threatened by mail-sent pipe bombs, the suspect, Cesar Altieri Sayoc, was falsely reported as being a registered Democrat. Sayoc was a registered Republican by the end of the 2016 presidential election.
Georgia is currently hosting an election for their next mayor; Democratic nominee Stacey Abrams was accused of taking a picture with a communist holding a Muslim Brotherhood sign, when in reality Abrams was posing for a picture with activist, organizer, and Women's March national co-chair, Isar Sour, who happened to be wearing a hijab in the picture. You can see the doctored image here.
In a similar racist fashion, a racist neo-Nazi podcast is busy trying to intervene in Florida's election for governor. Citizens are receiving automated phone calls with someone attempting to speak in a stereotypical and offensive "Negro dialect" while impersonating the black Democratic nominee for governor in Florida, Andrew Gillum. The automated robocall used racist language and stereotypes in an attempt to lessen voter support for Gillum.
If you haven't registered yet to vote, please do so. You're not only voting for yourself, but for the people around you and those who don't have the privilege to vote. In times like ours where misleading information is always at our fingertips, it is crucial to educate ourselves and take responsibility for our society when the time comes to vote. You're deciding more than just your future.