The sit in and mass media

House Democrats staged a sit in today trying to push for gun control legislation, which I thought was pretty cool, obviously I am pro gun control, safer to say I am anti guns really, I have yet to see any argument that actually justifies their presence in civilian hands or indeed those of most law enforcement officers.

But today I am more interested in the sit in itself, while I am sure that it was a calculated move for some, it seems like this is good progress in seeing our elected officials grow backbones and stand for a cause that they actually believe in rather than one that was focus grouped to attract the majority of followers. It seemed authentic to me, which is something that has been largely lacking in politics, even Trump, who makes his name on "telling it like it is" and not caring about the consequences, doesn't feel like he truly believes in anything other than that he should be president.

In the days of social media it seems that we can make politics more personal, have personalities involved and effect people, we don't read about them in papers anymore, or hear them on the radio or TV, we watch them on Periscope through our phones, or follow them on Twitter, and while that seems dehumanizing to some, to me it appears that those mediums allow us a connection to our representatives that we haven't had for a long time, we carry them with us, they say something and our phone lets us know about it, it feels like we are interacting even if they never address us directly.

And that is great! It encourages involvement in the process and discussion with others about it, it also encourages our politicians to actually act genuine for once in their careers and while this is something that is gonna be a bit slow to really catch on, there are those that seem to be realizing they can act more like humans and their constituents might even still like them, to say nothing of the fact that mass media lets us tell our leaders instantaneously if they disappoint us.

It's very encouraging and though the sit in ultimately failed, it was a sign that made me feel good about the possibilities for a while.