Elections, elections, elections.

What an interesting few weeks it has been for me.  Not only were we doing a mock election in class, but it was also elections season at UBC.  Throughout the past few weeks, I kept on thinking about how the media has played a huge factor in influencing peoples’ perception of society.  Notably, I thought about how this related with the “Russian trolls and bots” that helped to influence Trump’s election, by causing massive distrust in the current political system at the time, and how certain media outlets such as Breitbart, Rebel Media, and The Blaze also helped to fuel that distrust.

Recently, student elections just happened at UBC.  As with many student elections that have happened in my time at UBC, there has always been some form of controversy that has sparked up.  This year, there were several instances that had happened.  In the AMS Elections, it was the controversy surrounding comments that were made by the Interfraternity Council executive toward a candidate who happened to be a sexual assault survivor.  Using the power of social media, people began to talk about this issue, and a large part of a candidate’s success in their election would turn out to be about whether or not they accepted the Interfraternity Council’s endorsement.  Endorsements from other campus groups ended up going against those who had accepted their endorsement from the Council.

Another way the media had influenced politics recently was with constituency elections at UBC, notably with the drama that had ensued within the SUS and the AUS.  Starting with SUS, a letter that was posted by a former SUS President garnered traction online, and there were calls for widespread changes in SUS in order to allow for people from outside the organization to be more active in the society.  In comes Deepinder Dhot, an outsider candidate for SUS VP Student Life.  He put on a very well run campaign and with the anti-SUS sentiment lingering amongst Science students, I personally believe a large part of his victory came from Reddit and social media.  This media also brought about huge discussion as to what needed to change in the SUS in order to be more receptive to the student body.  In the AUS, allegations of bullying of a candidate sparked up, and the media’s influence worked in voting out a student candidate who was seen as “petty” and “a child”.

Going back to the mock election, I observed the ways that rhetoric helped me sway my choice during the mock election.  There was one team that was able to convey their message in a way that made me want to support them if this were a real election.  While there might not be any “social media” in New Orsinia, it is still the people’s sentiments of a certain party that will likely be the key factor in influencing this decision if it were a real election.  With different issues that were described as being present in N.O., I think the ways the parties talk about different issues, and how they are represented in the media, will be what will sway voters, similar to the way Donald Trump was able to sway voters from coal mining communities to vote for him, by using the right-wing media that was shown in largely Republican communities and also some Democratic communities as well.  Media has a huge role in working to influence elections, and it has had a huge role in swaying voters toward a certain position.