I have a teenage daughter who will turn eighteen in 2016. That means THE MOST IMPORTANT ELECTION OF EVERY LIVING AMERICAN!!!! will be her very first opportunity to vote. She is not alone. More like one in 8 million. Ponder that for a moment. I know, I know, most of them won’t vote. But what if they did?
Of course, MY daughter is a smart, motivated, socially and politically aware young person with an impressive knowledge of history and my husband and I have done our best to make her see the world the right way. OK, our way. And in November 2016, she’ll only have been away at college for a couple months which means the attempted brainwashing/indoctrination they generously throw in for free at our exorbitantly expensive institutes of higher education will have only just begun. She’ll still be thinking clearly, I hope. So I’m not too worried about her vote.
But what of the others?
Let’s be honest, the public is shockingly uninformed. Also, misinformed. And we are all, every single one of us, victims of confirmation bias. I might agree or disagree with yours, but there’s no escaping them. That’s the way our brains function. It’s a fact of life. Still, it might be useful to imagine what the political landscape would look like to a young, first time voter without confirmation bias.
Her name is Olivia and she’ll be popping up here in conversation with her “normal” confirmation-biased BFF Madison, throughout the 2016 election cycle, commenting on whatever political news strikes their fancy.
I’m certain this ancient expression violates every speech code in every university across the country but, “out of the mouths of babes…”
Sheryl Longin is a screenwriter and author. Among her film credits is the political comedy, Dick.
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