Interpersonal Com Blog #6

One of the number one things you should feel leery about bringing up in public is most definitely politics. This election season is no exception. If anything, I’d say the tension about who to vote for is stronger than it’s ever been. The candidate’s personalities are polar opposites, as well as the majority of their supporter’s beliefs. It has created several problems that will surely become worse after the election is over. Will each sides supporters be able to accept “defeat” if the other side ends up the victor? Hopefully the divide in America’s people will be able to be patched up. During the final debate my class and I watched as both candidates passionately debated their causes and became even ruthless towards one another. Many TV show hosts said that this debate was Trumps best. Others say that Hilary definitely held her own and her strong composure was what made her seem to triumph over Trump. There were many uncomfortable moments of nonverbal communication that occurred during the debate. It all started with the looks they exchanged with each other followed by breaking years of tradition by not shaking each other’s hands. That showed just how personal these campaigns have gotten. Trump was seen making a type of gestures called manipulators. He kept looking down and shuffling through his notecards, drinking water, and the constant heavily breathing/sniffling while he was talking. When Hilary was faced with uneasiness at what Trump was saying, or if she thought what he was saying was ridiculous she would make a sort of laughing/smiling face. When this would happen they would cut the camera from her face because she was heavily criticized for it in previous debates. Trump also tried to keep a more composed face due to his vast criticisms about his death stare he had towards Hilary in the previous debates. Hilary speaks very concisely and seems to be able to flow her sentences very well with few “ums” or “uhs” unless she was caught off guard by Trump. Trump tends to use more casual speech which included several vocalized pauses or “uhs” and “ums.” I noticed he often repeats his statements twice to try to get a point across, or just to cut Hilary off. He did this when speaking about the abortion topic. He repeated the gruesome comment about ripping a baby out of the womb on the last day before its due. When he makes bold statements he uses the shock value to take away from Hilary’s counters. Another time he repeated himself was when he says the phrase “Believe me” or “Wrong.” Both candidates were guilty of getting louder in order to speak over one another. It was like watching children trying to plead their case to their mom about who did what. At one point while talking about foreign policy Hilary said Trump would be a puppet president. He spat back “I’m not a puppet, you’re a puppet.” Honestly I laughed a little. It made me think about when my sister and I were younger and we’d have the argument “I’m not stupid, you are!” Hilary used many understatements in her speeches when describing Trump’s behaviors to make a shock value impact. While Trump stayed with his strategy of stating Hilary’s behaviors again and again to make sure she had to re-explain her innocence all over again. (Especially about the emails.) While Trump got at Hilary for the emails, she personally attacked him about his “locker room talk” scandal. Both candidates definitely came to fight. Not in an entirely professional way either. They used avoidance tactics and were not afraid to be at each other’s throats. We as a nation have to be prepared for this next presidency. It is very important to go out and vote. I know many people have been saying “But my vote won’t matter.” Yes, yes it still does. So please go and try to pick a candidate or let them know if you refuse to vote, but go and write it on the ballot then. At least you showed initiative that you went out to support your country even if you were displeased with the candidates conduct. So go out and vote!!!