Freshman Congresspeople Are Making Government More Accessible Through Personal Instagrams
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The current freshman class of Congress is strikingly young, which makes them far more adept at using social media to their advantage. The effects of this are incredible. Americans until now have been able to get a look into the lives of CEOs, actors, but never lawmakers and government officials who should be the most accessible to us.
The most notable personal Insta accounts are those of AOC and Ilhan Omar. Additional Congress-people like Ayanna Pressley and Lauren Underwood have accounts that are thriving. These personal accounts show more content regarding their everyday proceedings in DC and therefore demystifies the work of government officials. What makes these personal accounts so different from government-official ones are that they demonstrate how well young congress-people communicate to the public without feeling forced to appear anything other than they are. Their accounts are not only platforms for political views, but also their feelings towards their work as human beings. Personal accounts do what most Insta celebrity accounts do. They make us feel as though we are part of their story while seeing similarities between ourselves and them.
What makes the freshman class so successful at this is not just the fact that they are young and tech-savvy. They are used to sharing ordinary snippets of their lives, which we actually find interesting. For example, if you look at Elizabeth Warren's personal account it is far more promotion-oriented than AOC's who includes slightly more posts and stories of her with fellow congress-people, her family, grocery shopping, and even gardening. The freshman class wants to share these parts of themselves, not just because it's good for them... and the difference shows.
Government using platforms to reach the people is nothing new. However, individual accounts allow the public to gain interest in politics, especially during a time when most of us are sick of hearing about it. By the government becoming more accessible, the average citizen is gradually more aware of interactions between officials and the events without biased media. In a democracy, social media is being used to inform the public of just who they are voted for, by those people themselves. In a nation that still has an electoral college, this is pretty revolutionary.
Yes, Democrats Should Split From Ilhan Omar And Her Brand Of Radicalism
Ilhan Omar's actions are only making matters worse for the Democrats and the country.
Many freshman representatives have been gaining a fair amount of traction recently, either by the things they say or the legislation they push. One of these is Congresswoman Ilhan Omar from Minnesota. However, the reasons for the attention she has garnered are more negative than positive.
Earlier in March, Ilhan Omar accused American Jews of "dual loyalty," an anti-Semitic trope that has been used many times throughout history. She proclaimed, "I want to talk about the political influence in this country that says that it is OK for people to push for allegiance to a foreign country." When Democrat Representative Nita Lowey called her out for such comments, Omar responded by saying, "I should not be expected to have allegiance/pledge support to a foreign country in order to serve my country in Congress."
Most recently, she has come under fire over her comments on the 9/11 terrorist attacks, referring to this horrific event as "some people did something." Here's the full quote:
She could have reasonably apologized for that comment, saying that she used a poor choice of words and did not really mean it. But instead, she doubled down. Omar tweeted a quote from George W. Bush that says, "The people — and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon."
She then followed up in the same tweet asking, "was Bush downplaying the terrorist attack? What if he was a Muslim?"
Omar and her defenders say that she is being criticized because she is a person of color and for her Muslim faith. However, there are other Muslim and African-American Congress members who aren't under any scrutiny like her. They don't associate themselves with anti-Semitism and downplay terrorism like Ilhan Omar did.
Now, Omar and her companions are suggesting that a video Trump tweeted, juxtaposing her 9/11 comments with footage of the attack is inciting violence. When asked if she thinks Trump is trying to incite violence against Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, responded by saying, "Absolutely." Omar replied to the video by saying, "Violent rhetoric and all forms of hate speech have no place in our society, much less from our country's Commander in Chief. We are all Americans. This is endangering lives. It has to stop."
Has Trump used violent rhetoric before? Yes, he has, but the video he tweeted about Ilhan Omar does not encourage any violence toward her. It is dishonest to say it does and is an attempt to stifle real discussion. The actual people sending Omar death threats and the people honestly criticizing her are two entirely different groups.
If Democrats want to have a chance for 2020, they need to split from the radical area of their party, and that includes Ilhan Omar.