Devon Chichester

March 27, 2026

Feeling my phone buzz, I remove it from my back pocket to see another breaking news notification—it feels like it must be the fifth one of the day—and of course, it’s regarding some rash statement made or action taken by Donald Trump or one of his lackeys within the administration. What is it this time? Did our President call our NATO allies cowards in the midst of a war he started without support? Did the government shut down again? Is there a bomb headed our way as I write this? 

As of late, it sounds like any one of those scenarios could be as true as the others, and yet we the people remain unstirred. We clock into and out of work, we coop up at home over the weekend, maybe going out for a night if we can afford it (or frankly, even if we can’t), we scroll past war news and national crisis in between our daily roundup of memes and Hollywood drama, and we do it all over again. Despite living in a time that often feels to be unprecedented in terms of unrest and political chaos, the average American seems to be conducting business as usual, for the most part. 

But why? It’s not for lack of opinion; Odds are, a majority of Americans you could stop on the street have some opinion or another on many or all of the plethora of recent eruptions and conflicts in our nation’s politics. Many are actually very passionate, and might even have their own ideas of what should be done. The issue is, Americans lack faith in the system. The issues at hand feel so insurmountable and out of reach that it is all too easy to abandon empathy and compassion and just worry about what’s directly in front of you, in your own life.

Sometimes, it feels as though news is being rained down upon us in such a way as to avoid any one catastrophe garnering too much traction. The people want the Epstein files addressed? They’re uniting to protest ICE and mass deportation? Oh well, too bad, those stories’ fifteen minutes are up; our President started a war last night. One day, the war is won. Next, we’re sending a new hoard of troops overseas. Between the influx of daily newsbreaks and having to discern which stores are true and which are political PR tactics, many of us end up checking out altogether. Now, rather than holding our leaders accountable and placing more scrutiny on their reactions to national crises, we’re talking about gas prices again. 

I am in no way trying to shame the average American for not being up-to-date with every absurd development coming out of Washington. I myself hold a degree in political science and still find myself increasingly out of touch as I feel more and more powerless in our current system. Rather, I am pointing out that this is perhaps the goal of such a volatile and aggressive news cycle. Our society is connected today in a way that is unprecedented in political history. The rapid and widespread transmittance of information through social media allows people to see what’s happening in other parts of the country and world in real time and discuss it all under one forum sometimes before the government has even caught wind of an incident. As much as government agencies may be watching us, we are watching them; any escalated ICE encounter or suspicious activity from an official can be expected to reach people’s feeds almost immediately, demanding some form of accountability.

Rather than take this accountability, it seems our current administration has adapted their approach instead to leave public outrage completely unaddressed and instead barrage new extremities atop old ones until we disengage, and currently, they seem to be succeeding. I argue we must instead continue to unite and continue to demand accountability. You don’t have to be the most informed individual on every breaking news story. You just have to show up to the conversation. No matter what new absurdity is breaking, we must remain united as a people who lift the rug up when our officials try to sweep their shortcomings under it, who take action in our own communities when the nation at large feels unapproachable. Pay attention to the most current stories, but not at the expense of unaddressed injustices still raging on.