It’s happened again, another tragedy in America, and once more we hear the cries for systematic change echo from coast to coast. Instead of berating you with countless policy prescriptions in the aftermath, and whether or not they will deter these events in the future, I would like to offer a piece of advice to those seeking to come out of this with more than just “thoughts and prayers” that I think has been grossly overlooked and underutilized in society today. Rather than entrench ourselves in the emotional mudslinging within social media anytime an event like this occurs, we ought to turn inward, towards our own backyards and communities, and recognize that the path to political change starts locally, not nationally.
We need a new — or rather, old — approach regarding societal problems that have become deep-rooted today. Right now, the cultural norm, whether due to technological advances that put us in closer contact with one another or the process of political centralization, is to call for change on a federal level any time a problem is observed. This wasn’t always the case, and I rather believe this practice taking hold is a contributing factor in these tragedies.
Diversification and Innovation
Before social media allowed us to criticize the viewpoints of people on different continents from the comfort of our living room, and before politics became completely centered around what the federal government was doing, people aired their grievances in their local communities. If you noticed what you thought was an urgent problem within your child’s school, for example, you wouldn’t tweet at a senator in Washington, D.C., you’d go to your local school board meeting. And as it turns out, that’s still the most effective route.
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