US: Outside-In

By Katherine Rualo

For the first time, I am planting roots after growing up an expatriate and traveling upwards of 10 times per year. As a way to do so, I will be voting in the upcoming election.
Signing my voter registration form this summer felt like making a promise to the American government. A promise to make a well-informed decision based on facts that would help grow the country into success.
But I couldn't help but feel a little anxious with this newfound privilege; after all, I've only been living in the States for about a year now. I was never really around to experience all the effects of presidential elections, including how each presidential decision has affected everyday life in the U.S., and yet my first vote ever just happens to be for one of the most important elections in the last century.
Expatriates live in a bubble, experiencing the world and other cultures while still identifying with their motherland as a permanent home. And being away from it all, their only source of information about the U.S. comes from the TV and the Internet, which actually isn't that much at all. Facts and figures have time to become satirized and oversimplified by the time it reaches them on the other side of the planet.
I can't be held to too much blame for viewing the past presidential elections like a reality show. I couldn't see the unfiltered effects of each passed bill on the American population or the direct effects on the quality of life in general. Instead, everything seemed surreally entertaining.
But is it my background that causes me to view the election this way or is the ever growing popularization of the reality TV phenomenon causing my generation to view the election in this light?
With each speech and debate, the constant back and forth of subtle mocking and slights are emphasized to the viewer rather than the actual topics being discussed. Or at least, those are the moments I pay attention to the most. Reality TV has taught me to focus on the scandal of the situation, rather than the substance of the matter.
No one can truly say that they know the outcome of the November election with complete confidence, so until then, I'm keeping myself informed factually and avoiding my Netflix account at all costs.