I am a proud member of the millennial generation. I meet many of the stereotypical expectations of being a millennial; I consider myself to be tech-savvy and plan on voting for Bernie Sanders in my home state’s primary. However, millennials are often written off by members of other generations as entitled, lazy and unable to deal with adversity. While this is obviously a blanket statement and not true in many cases, it is not a stereotype without foundation.
College campuses are some of the most liberal political ecosystems in the country, with UW-Madison being no different. Young, politically minded students with their lives ahead of them often want to change the world, taking leaps and bounds for social justice. In the days leading up to last week’s Wisconsin primary, murals and messages adorned the walls, stairs and streets of campus encouraging students to vote for Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., a democratic socialist candidate who, according to CNN, garners 83 percent of the vote for those between the ages of 18 and 29. While all of this is fine and dandy, it seems that the message of equality and camaraderie that so many young people shout from the mountain tops is only applicable to people who share the same views.
Recently, students at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor spotted chalk markings across campus reading #StopIslam and #Trump2016. According to the Michigan Daily, instead of shaking the markings off or simply ignoring them, students chose to call the police to report them and have them removed. While I am one of the first people to denounce the hateful and controversial policies that Donald Trump has contributed during his campaign, I am also the first to call bullshit on students who cannot live with opinions that don’t coincide with their own.
It is instances like these where millennials get a reputation for being unable to deal with opposing views or tough situations. We live in a society where social media is a major part of our lives, where we can selectively choose the opinions we hear about and those we don’t and where many people insist on a visual or written “trigger warning” to precede potentially offensive content. Trigger warnings began as a warning for sufferers of major traumatic experiences such as PTSD, rape or child abuse. However, they have now evolved into examples of extreme political correctness that are used by some to block out all opinions and views that sway from their own.
While you are not required, or even expected, to find the positive in every political candidate, it is imperative that everyone’s right to vote and share their views be treated equally. There is no reason why a Bernie Sanders chalk mural should be heralded while a similar Trump statement is reported as offensive and repulsive. Freedom of speech and the democratic process are some of the things that make the United States such a great country; we shouldn’t isolate ourselves from the views of our opposition because we cannot bear to hear something that is different from our personal mantra.
As I stated at the beginning of this article, I am a proud millennial. However, we as a generation need to practice what we preach and be more accepting of people who don’t agree with us word for word. While I am not expecting anyone to artificially agree with something they don’t, I think that everyone deserves some basic form of respect, and erasing the political views of someone who supports Donald Trump not only is close-minded but invalidates that person and their right to share their views. Instead of voluntarily isolating ourselves from the opinions we don’t agree with, we should instead acknowledge that everyone has a right to share their views and simply let our voices be heard in the voting booth this November.
Samantha is a freshman planning on majoring in communication arts and journalism. Do you agree with her? Should we still respect people that don't share our same ideals? Send us all questions and comments to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
