I cannot describe how frustrating it was to sit in that classroom and be forced to listen to something I completely disagreed with.
And the thing is, not only did I disagree with it, I could prove the theory of what was said wrong.
I don’t know if you have ever been in a situation when you have researched a topic and have put effort into not only educating yourself about it, but educating others as well, and even though you have done that, there are those people who feel completely opposite as you.
Now, I understand people will always have different opinions as you. However, it’s unfortunate when it’s to the point you feel embarrassed listening to someone talk because they are clearly uneducated about what they are talking about.
I was sitting in my interviewing class, watching my classmates go up in front of the class two-by-two. Our assignment was to pick a topic which you could convince someone to do something about or have an opportunity to change a belief of theirs. It was called persuasive interviews, and we could pick whatever topic we wanted.
Most of my classmates picked topics like the importance of exercising or why deleting Facebook gives you more time to be productive–topics that are almost common sense for most of us.
I don’t mean to be rude, but there was one persuasive interview I listened to that just made my mouth drop and my cheeks turn red with embarrassment for my uneducated classmate.
If you’ve been reading my series of columns, you can bet I cringed when I heard the words, “I’m here to convince you you should not vote because your opinion doesn’t matter anyways.”
I’m not going to lie: When I heard the topic I paid more attention to his interview than anyone else’s. I was curious to see what kind of information he had to back up his opinion with. Unfortunately, he had none.
He talked about how each state was already predetermined a blue or a red state. He said, “It doesn’t matter if you go and vote for Romney because Obama will win Michigan anyways, because Michigan is a ‘blue state.’”
Not only was I embarrassed listening to him express his opinion so passionately, but I honestly felt bad for him. How could you think it’s acceptable to get up in front of 30 people and talk about something you know nothing about?
How could he so easily attempt to feed 30 people such incorrect information?
I’m frustrated because in those 30 people, I’m willing to bet there is someone as uneducated as he is. And I’m willing to bet someone thought, “You know, what if he’s right? I’m not voting.”
I can only continue to express what I have been since I began writing these columns. Don’t listen to anyone about what you decide your opinion is on political things. Do research for yourself.
I don’t care if it’s the uneducated random kid in your class, your professor or your best friend feeding you information. Take responsibility and figure it out for yourself.
I mean, if you don’t, you may end up like the kid in my interviewing class who people feel embarrassed for.