“What’s trending?” Everyday, this simple question is asked thousands, if not millions of times throughout the U.S. And even though it seems like a simple, almost meaningless question, the answer speaks volumes about our society and its values.
But how can that be? That seems counter-intuitive, doesn’t it? Well, first we need to ask what do we mean by “trending”?
For our purposes, we’re using the Dictionary.com definition of “trending”: “the general course or prevailing tendency; drift.” Urban Dictionary’s top definition, hilariously, for trending is “a mutilation of the English language that means “currently popular.” It derives from a sad misunderstanding of the verb “to trend” as meaning “to become a trend.”
Okay, so what? Who cares what people are looking up? Who cares what people think is popular? It’s completely pointless. ?Not so fast. Let’s take a look at today’s, Friday the 10th of April:
- National Sibling Day; 500,000+ searches
- Lauren Hill; 200,000+ searches
- Lauryn Hill; 100,000+ searches
- Coachelle; 100,000+ searches
- Ben Crenshaw; 100,000+ searches
- Hillary Clinton; 20,000+ searches
So we have an obscure holiday celebrating siblings; a girl who had a battle with cancer who, sadly, lost it; a freestyle singer; a music festival; a professional golfer; and then finally, in a distant sixth, a potential Presidential candidate. And Facebook, currently, isn’t faring much better:
- Hillary Clinton
- Jaden Smith
- Billy Hamilton
- Kendrick Perkins
- Samantha Bee
- Eddie Redmayne
- #wearemaunakea
- Darren Sharper
- Ian McKellen
- Vic Mensa
So, while Hillary Clinton’s rumored statements on whether or not she will run for President in 2016 is on the top of the trending list, it is followed by a male celebrity wearing a dress; a baseball player stealing second plate; a missed call in basketball; a story where a Daily Show correspondent loses her cool over the disgusting fact that rape victims have to fight for child custody; an actor who may or may not play the lead for a spin-off; an ex-football player being sentenced for rape; another actor; and a rapper. Eight of the ten stories trending are completely irrelevant. Maybe seven, depending on why Jaden Smith is wearing dresses.
In other words, things that catch our eyes, things that make us laugh, things that hit a nerve, these are the answer to “What’s trending?” Politics, on the other hand, is tedious, upsetting, and all around frustrating. In this age of 30-second sound bits, Americans don’t want to be frustrated. We’d much rather be entertained. We’d much rather sit back, relax, and not be bothered by anything. And because of this, we put politics to the back burners, and that’s a problem.
The 2014 mid-term election boasts the lowest voter turn out in 72 years. And while much of that is due to Democratic politicians turning their backs on the ACA, or Obamacare, and Republican attempts to disenfranchise voters, much of it is due to the US being apathetic about politics. And it really doesn’t help when potential political nominees claim that government “is the problem.” But there’s another issue, and that’s us in general. But the issue isn’t politics. The issue is demand. The issue is us.
We create a demand for sports. We create a demand for movies. We create a demand for music. We create a demand for pop culture. Without our want for entertainment, which in of itself isn’t a bad thing, there wouldn’t be movie stars, musicians, sports stars. The supply could be there, but it would be worthless without a demand for it.
Which is what is needed for politics. There needs to be a demand for it. People need to want to be politics. If we don’t create a larger demand, voter turn out will continue to be low. If we don’t create a larger demand, new politicians will never come forth, leaving us with politicians whose families have been in the public spotlight for decades. If we don’t create a larger demand, nothing we want to happen in the political world will ever happen.
