Editorial: It’s important to keep calm in political discussion in an era of aggressive political personalities

“You know I carry, right?”

You’ve probably heard this line all over the internet, and they’re often spoken by alt-right personality Kaitlin Bennett — aka “gun girl.” Her politically charged opinions are shown in videos where she approaches college students and berates them with questions, asking their opinions on widely discussed political topics like abortion, transgender bathroom usage and, of course, gun control. She does them in the name of “self-rule, self-determination and non-aggression” — rich coming from Ms. Aggression.  These polarizing videos have made her stand out to be one of the Internet’s most talked about conservatives — it’s pretty rare to be asked on the street if you support “killing babies.”

But the take-away of her videos are always unclear, and they seem to make belittling and purposefully instigating petty fights with people a feasible option for political discourse. Every time Bennett asks a question it’s obvious she is trying to rile the other person up, and after a while the only way out of her attacks is to yell back. Why try to educate or understand where “gun girl” is coming from when she’s yelling at me? 

With the vast amount of ideas available on the internet, shouting your beliefs may seems like the only way to get your voice heard. But keeping cool with calm and polite discussions will always be the best way to win a debate over politics.

Her videos that have garnered the most attention are usually the most aggressive ones — go figure. People from both sides of the political spectrum rack up views on Bennett’s unorthodox videos, giving more and more people the misconception that “debates” are what they see on their phone screen — attacks on each other’s character.

The students that keep their cool in the face of Bennett’s attacks are the only silver lining of her videos. These people have probably seen — and definitely heard — enough of Kaitlin Bennett’s wacky antics, and when Bennett demands a response from them there are usually two responses. A cold “I don’t care” or a retort of facts and logical reasoning that usually wards off Bennett.

These people as a whole are shining examples of how you should respond to aggressive politically charged comments — from both sides of the political spectrum. If someone is asking you about a topic you are passionate about in an aggressive “I’m always right” manner, you should use your knowledge to inform them, and if you aren’t interested — or they are being relentless like Bennett is — simply turn your phone off and save your time.

Engaging in this behavior, even if it’s opposing it, simply isn’t effective — many people already see her as an incendiary troll. Every time she uploads a new video, the reactions are taken less and less seriously. If you’re watching a girl aggressively ask about tampons in a men’s restroom — or even watching her verbally harass a nine-year-old by asking her off-color questions about abortion —  you would think there’s no way this girl is actually serious about whatever she’s blabbering about, which is a fair assumption. There are plenty of “you know I carry, right?” memes and sarcastic TikToks with the main premise of portraying Bennett as being loud and aggressive. 

Thank goodness our world has people with enough sense to know that attacking people during an argument is not the most productive way to hold a conversation about politics. But there is still that idea of effectiveness from hostile arguing that she displays which is somehow impressed in people’s head who want to have a discussion about something political like the 2020 election.

If someone with conservative views posts something about Trump’s presidential campaign on social media — most likely in a more rational and less polarizing way than Bennett — backlash from the opposing side is expected. The same can be said with a post about something in favor of Bernie Sanders’ universal healthcare plan. There’s always a fight between which side is “better,” but people like Bennett aren’t helping their case or swaying anyone to support their political direction with their reckless behavior, even if they think they are doing so.

These fruitless attacks do not have become the new norm. When you are passionate about a topic in politics you shouldn’t fall back into cowardly retorts attacking the person — ie. Bennett calling someone fat while trying to talk about gun rights — and instead stand up for yourself and try and see why they think that way, and maybe even convince them of your viewpoint using rational, supported arguments.

Speaking your mind on any political situation is your personal right and one of the most important factors in causing change. Being able to recognize a person’s ideas without backlash is just as important. It can be difficult to have a conversation about something you don’t personally believe in, or in Bennett’s case trying to prove people wrong, but it’s important to stay cool in the maelstrom of incendiary comments over what people think is right.