© 2024 WNIJ and WNIU
Northern Public Radio
801 N 1st St.
DeKalb, IL 60115
815-753-9000
Northern Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Perspective: Elections are not reality shows

Yamu Jayanath
/
AI-generated image via Pixabay

It seems to me as if during the last twenty years we have been looking at elections as if they were a reality show. This comes from the way the media covers them and leads voters to choose a candidate because they'd like to have a beer with the person. I recall discussions about a candidate's looks appealing to female voters, female candidates resorting to their gender to get votes, men emphasizing their manliness by wearing fatigues…

 

This approach trivializes a significant event. It's not a choice between Macho Man and The Sophisticated Lady, but between the policies, projects, and teams each one offers. Instead of concentrating on the candidates' age, dress or demeanor, consider the vision of the country they offer, and hold them responsible for their promises. They are applying for a job; we are the hiring committee: let's pick the one with the best ideas and the best team.

 

I intend to vote for the one who's determined to preserve democratic values, safeguards for citizens, a haven for new arrivals, and respect for all people, because she surrounds herself with capable professionals. The other choice offers only simple slogans, improvised actions, and arbitrary decisions that I cannot support.

 

Come election day, don't treat it like a reality show, unless you intend to change everyone's reality.

 

I am Francisco Solares-Larrave, and this is my perspective.

A Guatemalan native, he arrived in the United States in the late eighties on a Fulbright Scholarship to do graduate studies in comparative literature at the University of Illinois in Champaign Urbana. He has been teaching Spanish language, literature and culture at NIU since August 2000, and his main research interests are 19th-century Spanish American literature.