Well Informed 2.0- Hashtagging the Debate

There are not many things more infuriating and stressful for me than watching a debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. This fact makes me happy to say, I tuned into the LAST presidential debate of this election last Wednesday. I have found it very interesting to follow the hashtag #debatenight on twitter while listening to and watching the debate. This election has been different than any other election, making the debates more watched than any presidential debates in U.S. history. Part of the reason I assume so many people have been interested in watching these debates is because of the progression of social media; the other reason is probably because of the "shit-show" factor.

The progression of social media has really impacted this election season. Social media makes it so easy--and almost impossible  to stay informed By just solely following #debatenight on twitter, one would assume Hillary had the vote of nearly everyone in the U.S. because people really tore Donald apart. I dislike both Trump and Clinton pretty equally so I cannot in my right mind praise or promote either of them, so most of the tweets I contributed to the debate feed were against both of them. I could not get over how biased people were. I understand people obviously have their opinions, but what was bothersome to me was the double standard. Whenever the moderator, Chris Wallace, asked Clinton questions about her scandals (emails, WikiLinks information, etc.), there was a rush of tweets about how Wallace was going so hard on her and how people need to get over it ('it' being the particular thing/scandal she was being called out on); they made it sound like such old, unimportant news. However, when Trump was asked about his scandals (sexual assault, not releasing tax returns, etc.), people on twitter were relentless towards him and wanted all the answers. I think this is a great example of the halo effect and the horn effect, which is when a person makes judgements about a person based on a positive/favorable (halo) or negative/unfavorable (horn) impression or characteristic of the person. 

I am very glad the debates are over because I really get pretty depressed watching the debates. It makes me sad and confused on how the U.S. has elected two candidates with such large piles of skeletons in their closets to be our next president.