2021 and Beyond: The Political Nature of the Contemporary World

In an era where 65% of the world incorporates the internet into its daily operations, it’s impossible to deny the influence that high information exchange has had on the masses’ ideas and perspectives.
Within the two-party system, this influence is stark and hard to ignore. In previous eras, The Democrats and Republicans represented very clearly defined groups with distinctly different opinions. However the two-party system has shown an interesting change, with these two parties evolving into various branches within the political spectrum. The Republicans who support Donald Trump, for example, often find conflict with many other Republicans. Republican Representative John Katko is a prime example of one of these individuals, as he voted in support of the impeachment of Trump due to his role in the alleged promotion of the 2021 insurrection on January 6 against the United States capital. He expressed his disgust with this event, saying “By deliberately promoting baseless theories suggesting the election was somehow stolen, the president created a combustible environment of misinformation, disenfranchisement, and division. When this manifested in violent acts on Jan. 6, he refused to promptly and forcefully call it off, putting countless lives in danger.”
The insurrection, interestingly, is a prime example of the complex nature of the political realm at this current time. The fact that QAnon, an Internet conspiracy theory that has evolved into a full-fledged political movement, was a large motivator in this interaction is a mildly disturbing detail. It motivates me to ask the question: do we value our ideas more than our human nature? What are the extents at which we’re willing to go to prove our theory right, in spite of all rational and fair thinking? Both on social media and within daily life, political conversations have been a source of much tension amongst the common people, though whether this is a recent development or part of the nature of politics is up for debate. I personally disagree with the notion that politics was a “peace party” prior to the development of the Internet, as this wouldn’t explain the occurrence of events such as the Holocaust or the Transatlantic Slave Trade, which are noticeably violent and vile acts in human history. I can admit, however, that these conversations are being had at a higher frequency than ever before.
In my perspective, however, the most interesting development within the political world recently has been the nature of the Black liberation movement in our contemporary time. The movement has come to encompass the different lenses within the Black community, particularly on social media. Out of the Black Liberation movement, ideas such as intersectionality and womanism have been spreaded farther than ever before, as the scholarly resources on these topics are available by the tap on a phone screen.
One can’t help but wonder, however, what the climax of this evolution will be. The high paced nature of the Internet in modern media does not leave room for the slowing down of this climax, indicating the possibility of much larger revolutionary moments in our near future. With the works of individuals such as Karl Marx and groups such as the Black Panther Party finding growing popularity among common people, the idea of revolution against an improperly stacked society is becoming more reality and less theory.
It’s impossible to deny that 2021 will be a year acknowledged in the future as the time that “it all” began. As to what “it all” is, that’s up to us to decide. I personally dissuade individuals from being reactionary or interpreting information out of hysteria, as this only adds to the imbalance and confusion within the political realm. We should continue informing ourselves diligently and making decisions to benefit our society as a whole, not just us. In the end, we must concern ourselves with the results of our decisions, not with which party allies or with which political official allies with the causes. Politics is not a team sport, but the way in which we all find a way to influence the governing and operations of our world.