Aimi 1

Benito Aimi

Joseph Longhany

ENC-1101 Composition

16 April 2024

The Power of Uncertainty

 Aimi 2

Vice President Kamala Harris is circulating the internet as a meme, as during a speech

she states, “Do you think you just fell out of a coconut tree? *hahaha* You exist in the context of

all in which you live and what came before you.” The tone switch in the live speech makes the

excerpt a bit comical, but the statement stuck with me regardless. Have you ever taken the time

to analyze the situation in which you live and all the things that came before you? The history of

our government, the lives of our parents, the lives of monumental characters in Earth’s history as

well as the common man have and always will impact life as we know it. Here’s an interesting

anecdote, the minimum age requirement to be president of the United States is 35, the current

president is 81 years old, the founding fathers ranged from 18-45 years old! I, as a 19 year old

college student, feel as though the power of change is waiting to be placed in the hands of

youthful, wise, and ambitious men and women who are not scared to address the problems we

face head on. I will be using discourse communities surrounding conservatism and dating advice

in the United States to examine and evaluate the problems of modern society, solutions for these

problems, and how the uncertainty of the future is our opportunity to unite the American people

and win the good fight.

Originally, as is well known by our parents or other elders, young men and women yearn

for peace among nations, almost impossible ideals given the current state of the world. Our

dreams are crushed, squandered by those who have lost hope, those who believe that there is

nothing better than what we have now. r/datingadvice gave me a glimpse into a problem I feel

could seriously hurt our society. The posts are people who struggle with rejection, jealousy,

sexual expression or exploitation, friends with benefits developing feelings, men wanting sex and

nothing else. The replies give me some semblance of hope as they remind the original poster to

maintain self-respect and dignity, to keep love at the center of any relationship.
 Aimi 3

But this language made me question a larger area of concern. Sex is severely under

regulated, porn is free access to any person of any age group, women and men are showing other

people that they can be paid in return for nude images and sexual acts/favors. Doctors are

encouraging methods of contraception that affect hormonal balances and prevent one of the sole

purposes of sexual intercourse. Trust me, I hate to complain, but I live on a college campus and I

observe consequences of this concept in real time. Young girls go to the gym in revealing

clothing because they feel it’s the only way to receive attention from men, but they end up being

harassed and violated when all along they want to be seen or be called beautiful. Men

mercilessly beat themselves up over their image as they feel that women only appreciate six-

packs and broad shoulders. The societal image of beauty leads to unnecessary suffering and

unfortunately we are almost all victims. I have been in a relationship with my lovely girlfriend

for 4 years, I plan on marrying her, but the only reason we can get through our problems is

because I put emotional intelligence and communication above shallow conflict resolution and

conditionality. What I mean by this is that men expect something from their wife, and women

expect something from their husband.

My reddit post to address the following would go like this. The only reasonable

expectations in a relationship are virtue, loyalty, support. Relationships based on income, sexual

activity, or one’s ability to provide almost always hurt one of the two partners, regardless of

whatever they feel their “needs” are. Slowly, we begin to hate each other, men rank on women

for high standards and call them one of 1000 maliciously disrespectful names, while women

stereotype all men and begin to evaluate if they even need them. Loving relationships with

emotional support on both sides are essential to a strong society that will always defend their

beliefs. Our role now is to hold respect for men and women alike, apart from their physical and
 Aimi 4

emotional differences, and to unite in admiration of those differences instead of surpassing one

another.

r/conservative relays another similar problem we face. The language is aggressive and

targeted, many creators use political affiliation to incite hate on the other side, but

democrats/liberals are not in the clear either. I hate to say that I am stuck in the middle, but from

the middle I observe both sides. Radical conservatives going to any means to prevent illegal

migrants from entering the country, radical liberals encouraging sex-change operations to young

people. Viewing some recent posts, we see that American conservatives are posting videos of

Afghan immigrants in Paris. They are refugees, and the posts show people trashing the city, fires

breaking out, and violent protests that look easy to escalate. The common phrase here is, “Import

third world, become third world.” Valid arguments are stemming from this, but they feed into

this very problem of separatism amongst people. Some posts recommend deportation akin to

Rwanda and Australia. Some posts just flat out say that this would be expected from people of

Afghanistan. Where are the resolutions? Where is the in-depth analysis of the whole scenario and

its implications?

My reddit post would follow up with. Good and evil are always visible to the naked eye.

Yes, immigration could become a problem if the process is not controlled correctly, and the

country could in fact change for the worst. But that is the problem we must address, immigration

is inevitable, especially in the country that is by far the most attractive/welcoming. I am biased as

my family (as well as I) immigrated from Argentina. But after a healthy assimilation into a

country with: a better economy, a not-anarchistic society, more ambitious opportunity, religious

freedom, freedom of speech, booming technological, medicinal, and military industries, (at the

time) currency security, and hundreds of other immensely valuable aspects; we saw no need to be
 Aimi 5

violent and resentful. And we came from a country quite similar to the U.S.! Imagine living in a

country with ruthless military dictatorships, extremist religions, food, currency, and life

insecurity. Of course you would want to come to the United States! I do not condone the actions

of evil, ignorant refugees, but addressing the problem as immigration, is like putting a band-aid

on a bullet hole. Immigration in moderation will grow and develop our nation, in fact, the

country was started by immigrants! These people sought the ideals we take for granted every

single day.

We are not a perfect people, but we are people, and we, for some reason, hate each other.

The American people do not know how to work together, and they choose to face small

redundant problems rather than to have a civilized discourse and solve global concerns. Politics

has become a method of disunification instead of the essential service to aid the population. We

live in a DEMOCRACY, the president is a public servant, the police/military protect the people

and our values, I imagine the founding fathers did not imagine our nation to become a huge

capitalist profit farm, with the divergence of funds being misused, the allocation of wealth being

heavily unequal, and the hard-working people, frankly, being screwed on a regular basis.

After analyzing just two reddit threads it is easy to see that groups with similar opinions

create “opinion bubbles” that create complaints and out of context arguments instead of solving

or at least mentioning greater problems. Dating advice serves to inform and help young men and

women around their relationship troubles, but apart from the good advice it’s clear that there are

exterior factors affecting everyone’s relationships. If we as a people are able to extrapolate

problems and solutions from common scenarios we could efficiently and effectively strengthen

our nation and its values.

 Aimi 6

These are just a few of the problems I see present in our society, problems that seem

small but could affect demographics or incite violence (or even worse, civil war!). I am not

saying these things are easy to solve, but I will say that the power of the American nation is only

seen outside of its borders. Yes, the United States must support its allies globally, but if we do not

acquire an internal focus, especially at the personal level by all citizens, the U.S. will fall apart

like any other great empire. We could sit here and discuss a myriad of external, domestic,

impending, or volatile problems, but that would only serve the point I am arguing against. I only

wish to be heard, for my peers and elders to understand that hope is not lost. The choice of two

relatively simple concepts was in an effort to establish a greater concern. Our personal problems,

regardless of difference, most likely stem from a system that’s said to be focused on freedom, but

instead is manipulated to illegally establish order and control. “Dialects” of online discourse

communities can be analyzed all day long, but it is much easier to join the hate train and give

advice, than it is to sit down and solve the root problem. I could personally make suggestions on

how these issues could be solved but I am not one who will decide for many. We must rise up,

unite, and remind the government that they said we were to be served and put as their main

focus, not the other way around.

If I wanted to write a manifesto, I would not have started with reddit posts as my

inspiration, but I hope that you dear reader(s) leave with something greater than yourself. I hope

you leave with a feeling of discomfort, a feeling of uneasiness with your situation. I hope you are

inspired to better your situation, unite with your fellow and equal humans. I hope you don’t

forget the ideals you hold, but especially, don’t forget that ideals cannot exist without action. We

are a strong people, a smart people, a dedicated people that will not fall to the oppression of

either side. Whatever side you are on, remember to hold love in your heart, wisdom in your
 Aimi 7

mind, power in your every word and every step. Remember to put respect above personal ability,

to put judgment behind you, to fight for something larger than yourself. Remember the basic

necessities and push away material junk. God will be with us, I will be with all of you when we

reach the America that the founding fathers wished they could see in their youthful vigor.
 Aimi 8

Works Cited

Afghanistans are creating chaos and destroying Paris. Import 3rd world delinquents and

you will become a 3rd world country. : r/Conservative (reddit.com)

Dating Advice (reddit.com)

Kamala Harris was ‘dropped out of a coconut tree’: US VP recounts her childhood

(youtube.com)