within families, friendships, and communities. Their stories emphasize the urgent need for empathy and dialogue in bridging divides. Through these narratives, we aim not to provoke or offend but to foster thoughtful reflection and inspire meaningful conversations. Each piece is an invitation to look deeper into ourselves, our relationships, and the world around us.
This magazine is full of uncomfortable situations. This semester we explored the intricate threads that weave identity, resilience, and division in our societies.
When given the opportunity to be Editor-in-Chief I knew immediately that I wanted to do something big, something that Minero Magazine has yet to do. These 4 topics may be difficult to read, and even more difficult to have conversations about but are ones I felt necessary to tell. We begin by delving into generational trauma, uncovering the silent legacies of pain passed down through families. Through personal narratives and expert insights, we examine how such trauma shapes our identities and influences how we find strength to heal.
Next, we challenge societal misconceptions about femininity. Too often dismissed as weakness, femininity is revealed in our pages as a wellspring of strength, courage, and depth. We celebrate individuals who redefine what it means to embrace femininity on their own terms.
This issue would not have been possible without the incredible team behind it. A special thanks to Photo Editor, Iziah Moreno and Writer/ Photographer Dominique Macias for their tireless dedication to bringing these stories to life. I also extend heartfelt gratitude to Marco Hinojosa and Sebastian Perez-Navarro for their beautiful stories.
We also confront the harrowing impacts of religious trauma, exploring the personal struggles of those wrestling with faith and doubt. Through these stories, we aim to provide solace and understanding to those questioning their beliefs, while showcasing the beauty of rediscovery and healing when faith is recaptured.
In a world increasingly divided by ideology, we tackle the pressing issue of political polarization. Our contributors share experiences of navigating opposing viewpoints
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To my Copy Editor, Sofia Sierra, thank you for helping perfect each story to ensure these stories were properly told. Finally to my wonderful and amazingly talented Art Director, Abril Garcia and design contributor Gael Araiza none of this would be possible without you both.
To you, the readers, we hope these stories resonate with you, offering new perspectives and sparking discussions that extend beyond these pages. Thank you for reading and for being part of
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n a world full of never-ending changes, sometimes there are always moments in time where advocating for positive changes has to be made. Living in a society where strength is often measured by physical power and dominance, the true essence of feminism is heavily misunderstood. Feminism is far from a sign of weakness, embodying the strength of unity, resilience, and the relentless pursuit of equality. It is the force that empowers women to rise above societal constraints and claim their rightful place in every aspect of life.
There is a larger approach that feminism strives for; intersecting with other social justice movements creates more ways to build community. UTEP Women’s and Gender Studies professor Hilda Ontiveros shares how feminism addresses to other systemic issues beyond individual empowerment for women.
“Feminism is inherently intersectional, recognizing that systems of oppression – such as racism, classism, ableism and homophobia, interact and compound experiences of inequality,” Ontiveros said. “By aligning with movements like Black Lives Matter, LGBTQ+ advocacy and workers’ rights campaigns, feminism works toward equity for all marginalized
women’s suffrage or legal advancements (e.g. Title IX) underscores feminism’s substantive impact on societal change.”
In recent times, the nation has faced an extreme pullback on progressive movements. Yet, feminists continue to keep fighting for policy changes and acknowledge that their push for acceptance and equality won’t be diminished. Feminism in its entirety challenges institutional power and continues to advocate for policy changes.
El Pasoan Finch Smith has fought for the movement in many ways in the borderland. From attending rallies and hosting events that raise fundraising and needed essentials, Smith has continued the hard fight for women to be heard.
“With the overturn of Roe V. Wade, we’ve seen more and more protests and legal action taken by women and AFAB (Assigned Female At Birth) people who had health complications and miscarriages due to the overturning,” Smith said. “And in Texas, there’s a group of women who are suing the state for refusing them proper healthcare and abortion access during life threatening situations.”
While the movement challenges traditional ideas of what feminism is, common misconceptions such as catering to female audiences is false.
“I think a lot of people have misconceptions that feminism is like the ‘woke movement,’ which is insane to me because it purely is just wanting equality and equity, which is supposed to be a right in our constitution that everyone is created equal and deserves to be treated equally.” Smith said.
Shaking the movement is the alarming levels of transphobia. The discrimination, hate speech and violent, even fatal attacks on transgender women and men. Amplifying the voices and stories of transgender people puts a human face to these issues and reveals the everlasting impact of scrutiny and pushes the urgent need for protection and equality.
Aspiring and growing local model, Stefani Elegonza shares how transgender women are part of the important fight of equality for the movement.
“Transgender
women embody the principles of feminism by actively challenging societal gender norms and fighting for the right to be recognized and treated
Feminism isn’t about
to allow those who wish to stray away from tradition to explore new ideas and fresh perspectives that don’t limit women. In a time of choice and freedom, women are allowed to indulge in the liberty of pursuing alternative lifestyles.
Empowering women is essential to the health and social development of communities. The fact that women are capable of reaching their full potential and that their gender identity signifies as strength in this society.
Jacob Elias Maldonado
“Sharing many of the same experiences of gender discrimination and oppression faced by cisgender women and cisgender men,” Elegonza said.
The inclusion of transgender women is essential because feminism seeks to dismantle all forms of gender-based oppression and excluding any group perpetuates marginalization. Trans women highlight the intersections of gender and other identities, emphasizing that liberation for all women requires addressing issues like healthcare access, violence, sexual harassment and social stigma affecting trans individuals.
Elegonza shares what her perception of femininity is to her.
“It is a set of attributes, behaviors and roles generally associated with women, girls and trans women,” Elegonza said. “Why not express your femininity? It is the best feeling ever. Because you feel your softer/ fragile side also makes feeling very fierce and very powerful.”
Feminism has led to tangible improvements in women’s rights and societal norms, and the proof is embedded in history. Ranging from cultural shifts, reproductive rights and legal rights. Only ensuring the need and push for the understanding that femininity isn’t a
By teaching about intersectionality, systemic power and real-world impact, education shifts the narrative from feminism as a personal ideology to a movement rooted in equity and justice.”
It is time to pick up the needed awareness and focus on representation on women’s importance and hang up on the misogynistic claims that are thrown at feminist activists.
EN BREVE
TRADUCIDO POR SOFIA SIERRA
El feminismo es frecuentemente interpretado como una señal de debilidad. Sin embargo, desafía las tradiciones impuestas a las mujeres por la sociedad. El feminismo representa la lucha por la equidad entre hombres y mujeres, un mensaje que Hilda Ontiveros, profesora de estudios de la mujer y género en UTEP, enseña en sus clases. Según Ontiveros, el feminismo puede entrelazarse con otros movimientos sociales, como el racismo, y debería ser concebido como un esfuerzo por alcanzar la equidad para todos los grupos marginados. Existen ideas falsas sobre el feminismo, como la creencia de que está dirigido únicamente a mujeres. Sin embargo, Finch Smith y Stephanie Elegonza, residentes de El Paso, enfatizan que no es exclusivo para mujeres; el feminismo es un mensaje de empoderamiento. Busca desmantelar las formas de opresión de género, incluyendo aquellas que afectan a personas transgénero. Aunque la misoginia ha sido frecuentemente asociada con el feminismo, es momento de reescribir la historia.
Gender norms are social constructs set by institutions. This allows for perceptions of femininity being seen as weakness.
Estefania Elegonza
Fuertefracturada y Fe:
La fe comienza como una promesa. Para unos su religion es una luz constante en un mundo lleno de sombras. Se da como una base, una certeza sobre la cual todo lo demás se construye, pero para muchos, esa luz se atenúa,las sombras crecen y la base comienza a agrietarse.
El Dr. Clayton Bench, director de estudios religiosos en UTEP, explicó que para algunos, la fe se convierte en algo que cuestionar, algo que
dejar atrás o algo que ayuda a otros a redescubrirse a sí mismos, dijo que tener fe puede convertirse en un viaje de supervivencia, duda y sanación.
“La fe puede ser una creencia o confianza en un Dios o Dioses, que puede haber algún tipo de salvación o iluminación que venga de la conexión con ese Dios o Dioses”, dijo Bench.
La fe, tal como él la entendía, se trataba de confianza,pero dijo Bench que la confianza podría ser utilizada
“Siempre que había preguntas que no podíamos responder, que eran problemáticas, decíamos: ‘Bueno, solo pon eso en la repisa’”, dijo Bench. “Pero eventualmente, la repisa se rompe, llega un punto en que todo se derrumba”.
Para muchos, el punto de quiebre no solo viene de preguntas sin respuesta, sino del daño infligido en nombre de la religión. Bench habló sobre el abuso que ha presenciado, abuso que toma muchas formas.
“El abuso puede presentarse de muchas maneras diferentes. Si estás siendo abusado sexualmente, ó siendo abusado psicológicamente”, dijo Bench. “Si sientes que las doctrinas y creencias de tu tradición religiosa te están dañando psicológicamente, necesitas encontrar una manera de enfrentarlo o salir de ahí”.
Sus palabras son crudas pero necesarias. Dijo que ha visto a demasiadas personas permanecer en sistemas religiosas que los lastiman, porque el miedo a irse y perder comunidad, familia e identidad les parece más aterrador que el abuso.
“Si hay un problema, necesitan salir”, dijo Bench. “Sé que suena duro, pero quedarse en una situación abusiva puede destruirte”.
Para Christopher Stritzinger, un estudiante de teatro en UTEP, su punto de quiebre llegó cuando era niño, cuando la fe le falló en el momento más oscuro de su vida.
como arma de protección del mundo.
“El problema con la autoridad religiosa es que toma un aspecto sobrenatural”, dijo Bench. “No puedes ir a la fuente,no puedes preguntarle a Dios, ‘¿realmente dijiste eso’”?
Creciendo en un ambiente fundamentalista, Bench fue enseñado que cuestionar era peligroso, cuando se enfrentaba a una doctrina difícil o inquietante, dijo que la respuesta siempre era la misma.
“Mi abuela siempre me decía, ‘solo reza a Dios y tu mamá mejorará’”, dijo Stritzinger. “Seguí rezando y rezando para que ella mejorara, pero todo lo que pasó fue que ella empeoraba cada vez más”.
Con tan solo 11 años, Stritzinger sintió el agudo dolor de la traición de la religión.
“Lo que siempre me enfurecía era cuando la gente decía, ‘es parte del plan de
Dios’. No mientan. Sería cósmico para un niño de 11 años perder a su madre… rezar por ella, solo para que Él diga, ‘no’”, dijo Stritzinger.
La pérdida de su madre dejó a Stritzinger lleno de ira, comenzó a cuestionar la propia naturaleza de Dios, si Dios lo amaba, ¿por qué le quitaría tanto?
“Pones tantas de tus creencias en algo, y luego no te lo devuelve”.
En una escuela católica privada a la que su padre insistió en que asistiera, Stritzinger dijo que se sentía completamente fuera de lugar. La fe estaba por todas partes, pero ya no encajaba en su mundo. Los sermones y oraciones solo hacían que la distancia se sintiera mayor.
“Fue una experiencia muy extraña ir a una escuela religiosa siendo alguien que no cree”, dijo Stritzinger. “Me sentí como la oveja negra”. Y sin embargo, en momentos de reflexión silenciosa, fragmentos de fe aún lo encontraban. Un maestro una vez explicó que “Dios permite que sucedan cosas para hacernos quienes somos hoy”. Dijo que esas palabras se quedaron con él, incluso mientras luchaba con su significado. “¿Cuánto es demasiado”? preguntó.
– CHRISTOPHER STRITZINGER
Sanar de trauma religiosa requiere empatia, espacio y libertad para reenontrar la fe en nuestros propios términos.
Esta es una pregunta que Rebekah Fogleman encuentra a menudo en su trabajo con estudiantes, como líder de InterVarsity, un ministerio en UTEP, ve a estudiantes en cada etapa de la creencia: algunos buscando respuestas, otros cargando profundas heridas infligidas por la religión.
“El trauma religioso, para mí, es cualquier cosa que haya sucedido donde alguien haya intentado decirte una forma de hacer algo o de vivir que tal vez no te hace sentir cómodo”, dijo Fogleman. “O más adelante, te das cuenta que, ‘Eso no encaja del todo’”.
Fogleman dice que su enfoque hacia el trauma religioso es con delicadeza, ofreciendo espacio para sanar en lugar de juzgar. Su objetivo es reconstruir la confianza donde ha sido rota.
“InterVarsity es un lugar perfecto para estudiantes en ese espacio, porque no te pedimos que cambies de opinión de inmediato”, dijo Fogleman. “Te pedimos que descubras, ‘¿qué significa esto para ti? ¿cómo lo manejas’”?
Fogleman habló sobre ser cristiana y cómo las personas que forman parte de esta fe pueden no acercarse a cada persona con empatía. Dice que más personas necesitan reconocer esto en la fe y explica lo que las personas que están ingresando a la fe a veces necesitan escuchar.
IZIAH MORENO
elección es difícil.
¿Me quedo con todo lo que se siente normal, que se siente como hogar, o me mantengo fiel a mi otro yo, que sabe que los hechos importan”?
Cuando nuestras creencías religiosas empiezan a chocar con nuestras experiencas personales, pueden crear una guerra personal de dudas y auto descrubimiento.
escapar del daño y encontrar paz. Para Stritzinger, se trataba de aprender a vivir con las preguntas. Para Fogleman, se trata de ser una guía, caminando junto a aquellos que están rotos y buscando.
Para Stritzinger, sanar era redefinir la fe en sus propios términos.
“A veces, como cristianos, olvidamos que las personas que son parte de la iglesia… tal vez no se acercaron a los demás bien o no fueron amorosas con ellos”, dijo Fogleman. “A veces tenemos que decir ‘te escucho, te veo, y lo siento’”.
Para Fogleman, la fe no se trata de imposición; se trata de libertad.
“Dios nos encuentra donde estamos”, dijo Fogleman. “Si necesitas dar un paso atrás porque fue un momento realmente difícil, está bien. Dios te conoce y te encuentra exactamente en la etapa en la que estás”.
Para Bench, encontrar sanación significá dejar atrás su tradición religiosa, como ocurre con otros. Dijo que no es fácil, especialmente cuando el miedo de perder todo lo que es familiar sucederá.
“Cuando surge la pregunta, ¿realmente esta persona habla por Dios? Es cuando necesitas empezar a considerar el proceso de salir o buscar terapia”, dijo Bench. “La
“Creo que, en lo que sea que creas, ahí es a donde irás”, dijo Stritzinger. “Si el cielo te da consuelo, irás ahí, si crees en la reencarnación, entonces eso es lo que pasará. La fe es lo que le dé paz a una persona”.
Y para Fogleman, sanar se trata de redescubrir un Dios que es amor.
“Jesús viene a nosotros donde estemos, no exige perfección, solo quiere una relación”, dijo Fogleman.
Al final, la fe no es una estructura única e inquebrantable; es algo vivo, algo que puede romperse y algo que puede reconstruirse. Para Bench, se trataba de
La fe puede no siempre darnos las respuestas que queremos, pero en la ruptura y la reconstrucción, hay esperanza y hay sanación.
Y a veces, como sabe Bench, cuando el estante finalmente se rompe, hay espacio para comenzar de nuevo.
In Brief
TRANSLATED BY ADAM REGALADO
This article explores the complex relationship individuals have with faith, particularly when it becomes a source of pain rather than comfort. It delves into the concept of religious trauma, examining how experiences like abuse, harmful doctrines, and unanswered questions can shatter faith potentially leaving lasting emotional scars.
The piece features interviews with individuals who have navigated the challenges of questioning, leaving, and rediscovering their faith. It highlights the importance of acknowledging and addressing religious trauma, finding healing through self-reflection and community, and ultimately, redefining faith on one’s own terms.
This article offers a nuanced perspective on faith, recognizing it as a personal and evolving journey marked by doubt and the potential for profound healing and renewal.
FOTOS POR
Story and photos
Dominiqueby Macias
When I was a little girl, my mother always told me, “You’re acting like your father, stop it!” or “You have a mouth like your father.” At times, she would say it with a laugh and other times, with fear in her voice and I concluded that these were all negative traits of my father. Somewhere between eight to 12 years old I knew my family’s dynamic was not normal, even though everyone construed it with traditional family values. The older I got, the more I was greeted with the same old nonchalant way of dismissing the elephant in the room by saying “That’s the way he has always been” about the men in my family. I soon came to realize, the phrase “That’s the way he has always been,” was an untouchable concept towards the men in my family.
The “he” in question would be a “Machismo man,” because that is the stereotype that the men in my family fall under. “Machismo” is a term where someone is avoidant and hyper masculine. I would give my opinion and say these type of men are robbed from showing emotion and are given the supposed blueprint on “how to be a man.”
Studies have been done on the machismo culture and Melissa Carcamo, a TedTalk speaker and Chicano Studies Researcher, exposed the concept of redefining masculinity. She also says that “if there’s a will, there’s a way, where men can tap into feminist manhood.”
“I did not want to believe that it (men being men) was biological. There had to be more to the picture,” Carcamo said.
After much reflection on her own trauma with hyper-masculine men, Carcamo questioned if masculinity could be a trauma response.
“When 99% of men are being told not to cry, they are going to build distrust with that emotion.”
– MELISSA CARCAMO
With this epiphany, Carcamo started interviewing males about a time where they felt like they had to change who they were. She says this is when she developed sympathy for the culture. She also says while it doesn’t justify abuse, she has learned why men are so detached.
It roots from family values, gender roles, conformed traditions; writing the same story generations after generations; passing down the one “blueprint” to both men and women— that is refreshing the trauma cycles.
FEMINIST MANHOOD
Carcamo emphasizes the concept of Feminist Manhood with one objective: It’s no longer about what’s going to make you a man, but what’s going to make you happy.
As much as gender roles are in the veins of society, what will be on
the other side?. “The trauma you have experienced from other men is because of (the) patriarchy,” Carcamo explained. “Feminists understand trauma...the pain that you feel won’t be healed by your ‘bros’ it will probably put the knife deeper in your back.”
That is the exact thing that keeps me up at night; wondering when men will learn to love. I think it might take them all my life to unlearn a trait they were raised with.
Growing up, I idolized these men, because I mirrored the women in my family accepting and loving the way that men “loved” them. The endless cycle of giving aftercare following the verbal and physical abuse by bringing home flowers, the makeup dinners, the materialistic purchases only for their old machismo ways to resurface. Carcamo challenges men to think of who they were before they had to become a man. She also raises awareness for the men that keep their machismo behavior; what will they face at the end of their lifetime?
INHERITED SKELETONS
I was raised in the far east side of El Paso, Texas. It wasn’t until I was 8-years-old that I was introduced to another sibling. Growing up I noticed that my half-sister was the spitting image of my dad. In comparison to what my mother always told me, my “sister” taught me it was okay to act like our dad by using our loud voices, harboring rage, and being impatient.
After she was away for nearly a decade, I grew to realize that my father’s behavior was still meshed into her as it is in me.
My naivete helped me notice that the deeper her trauma infected our home as she grew older, the more I saw that she was a compulsive liar. She abruptly left after being in our home for years, abandoning her little sister (me), and it hardly seemed like a second thought. At 10 years old, after coming home from school to an empty
house, no note, no voicemail. I called her for hours on end, until I reached the disconnect tone. My “sister” had changed her number. It was then I knew that my three step-siblings from my mother’s side loved me more than she ever could. Instinctively, I made the decision that my half-sister from my father’s side, did not deserve to be called my “sister” anymore.
FLIPPING NARRATIVES
So how did I break this generational cycle between my father’s daughter and the household I grew up in? It was not an easy talk with my parents. They understood the premise of the damage her presence instilled in me, but they were avoidant to the truth of my narrative. Between my sister leaving and understanding I had trauma, it wasn’t until I took La Chicana 3301 taught by Josefina Carmona that I began to not only take a college class, but I began to process over a decade of personal trauma. Carmona’s class became an unexpected therapy session to talk about topics that were taboo at home.
“In La Chicana 3301, we focus on Chicana feminist epistemology, addressing issues faced by Latinas, including toxic masculinity, gender roles, bilingualism, immigration, and religion,” said Carmona. Healing starts with self-reflection; analyzing the systems that are created in the homes we were raised in.
“Be curious. Share information. Start small. Think about asking your family questions about why they do certain things.”
– JOSEFINA CARMONA
“I think people will be surprised that you use it as a learning opportunity,” Carmona said.
There is so much to consider than oneself, there is room for healing a lineage of your ancestors when breaking these generation trauma cycles. But Carmona emphasizes beginning the healing journey will benefit the future generations. There is a certain belief that these awakenings will happen for each Hispanic living through generational trauma. As a result of La Chicana, both of my parents really took accountability as individuals and as parents. As they had their awakenings to how trauma affected them and their family, what was revealed was that my father was equally heartbroken that my half-sister left him again, and my mother was painfully fighting for her marriage because the longer this trauma lingered and attached, the more the household they built for their children was rotting from the inside out.
FACING SKELETONS
It’s more than not holding grudges and resentment with trauma and pain. But it’s about facing the topics that generations before you have always avoided. Due to therapy, I can finally say thank you to trauma. I am able to
MENSAJE DE LA ESCRITORA
TRADUCIDO POR DOMINIQUE
MACIAS Y ADAM REGALADO
Lo que no se transforma, se transfiere. Esta historia habla de recuperar el poder de la narrativa de las manos cambiantes del trauma generacional.
look at these family skeletons and acknowledge and address them with intention and openness. Most importantly, thank you for showing me what not to look for in a sister, for teaching me what not to be, as a sister and as a person, and for showing me what I do not want in life, in friendship and family. Sitting with trauma involves removing the internal self (my inner child) was once so grounded in, and now appears to only manifest in my half-sister. I may be my father’s daughter, but I am not her sister.
I’ve made that distinguished line between I am not her, and I will never be her. My father can say the same thing after years of her leaving the family again. I believe he’s a better man for it, and the man that he is now, I am so very grateful that she didn’t get to be a part of his transformational change like I did.
To say that I forgive my father, yet not forget the trauma that still is festering in his soul even today, there is still a lot to digest.
Forgiveness is about choosing myself. To live for my younger self and
heal her, so I can heal my present and future. Forgiveness is about writing a new narrative, rather than rewriting the same redundant story. To begin, I am focused on understanding my triggers and how to process them.
Ultimately understanding that the goal of any emotion is to simply be felt and passed.
There is no end-all-be-all for healing, that victory is meant to be open-ended. Because at the end of the day, my half-sister and I are still my father’s daughters.
We may not have a choice in the
Como la más joven, me resistí a la rígida conformidad transmitida por ancestros que ellos atesoraban, sostenida como un trofeo. Corté el hilo del dolor ancestral, rechandoze a más. Esto me permitió romper el ciclo de oscuridad predeterminada para las generaciones futuras. No busqué simplemente exponer los esqueletos en el armario, sino confrontarlos directamente. Porque la oscuridad, eventualmente, llega a la luz. A los 22 años, escribir esto fue un paso hacia la sanación para mí y para mis padres.
Toma esto como una señal y no tengas miedo de invocar más agencia sobre conversaciones como esta con tus familias. Hace mucho tiempo que se necesitaba— ¡no te quedes callado!
matter of who our family is, but something that we can grow to accept is normalizing cutting off family members. To know when to simply walk away, when something or someone is not serving you anymore, is something that I can live with, but others can’t, so go ahead and leave the skeletons in the closet.
As much as I wrote this healing piece for me, I did it for my father.
Now more than ever voters are concerned over their future and because of this, it’s less likely that people are willing to hear each other out, which can tear down even the most interpersonal relationships.
Politics is defined as the study of government and the state, but America’s most recent election begs to differ. Voters dealt with the arguments of both candidates, which bobbled between newly elected president Donald J. Trump’s campaign coining his second term as “retribution,” or the democrats’ repetition of “protecting democracy.” While different in substance, the use of menacing language has established the foundation for an inquiry to construct a rhetorical wall between friends and families.
“I respect my husband, he’s a very brilliant man, but I do think he’s lacking in a lot of ways when it comes to common sense,” said Pennsylvanian Erica Nix. “When I realized that he was not supporting Donald Trump, I was just incredulous.”
‘Republicans against Trump.’”
1992. A change not due to a democrat nor a republican, but an independent.
Erica and Robert Nix are a couple from Pennsylvania that’s been married for over 30 years. The two have been firm republican voters for years, but in 2020, Robert Nix broke his status quo.
“I voted for him (Trump) as a republican thinking ‘How bad can it be?’ I was wrong. I couldn’t support him in 2020,” said Robert Nix. “Then after that, the insurrection, now I’m adamantly opposed, and I’m public about it. I’ve joined groups like
The other half of the Pennsylvania household is distinctly involved with the republican party, “I too believe that the election was stolen from him (Trump). As for January 6th, I believe that was orchestrated,” said Erica Nix.
In response to his wife’s beliefs, Robert Nix said, “I think she’s fallen victim to what the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement has as well.”
The Nix’s relationship is a sample of how political opinions in interpersonal relationships have reverted into a grouping system, rather than a civic dialogue.
It’s easy to point to the 2016 election and say that’s when the problems
Henry Ross Perot was a Texas billionaire and the odd man out on the ballot 33 years ago. Perot’s billionaire status might’ve made him feel isolated from the common citizen, yet the businessman paved the perfect path through populism.
Perot announced his candidacy on Larry King Live, a medium that was largely different from a typical convention or rally. He was one of the first presidential candidates to utilize the mass media as a means to garner voter attention.
So, whether it’s democrat Kamala Harris drinking a beer with Stephen Colbert on late night television, or Trump showing up on the Joe Rogan Show, Perot’s model is what has defined this previous election cycle.
Story by Sebastian Perez-Navarro
Photos by Iziah Moreno
The strategy of reaching the American people through an easily accessible source let more voters hear Perot’s distinctive rhetoric, which is one that Fay W. Bradford in a 1993 American Marketing Association research paper calls “the antiestablishment mood that buoyed Ross Perot’s presidential campaign.”
What Perot accomplished was diffusing the view of the government being an “establishment.” He ran on the belief of “taking the country back.”
Time Magazine described the billionaire’s campaign back in 1992 as “Win or lose, the challenge he is mounting to the establishment parties may well help break the deadlock of American democracy.”
Well, the deadlock shattered eight years ago, and the broken pieces may never get picked up.
“Donald Trump–you have to admit it–is fun to watch.” said Ezra Klein for Vox in 2016. “He’s red faced, he’s angry, he’s funny, he’s real in a way that only reality stars are real.”
The rise of Trump as a presidential candidate, no matter how controversial, is attested to how different his personality was compared to his competitors.
Trump’s “realness” was brought forth to Americans in a heated altercation regarding conflict in the middle east during the 2016 Republican Presidential Debate with former candidate Jeb Bush.
“Jeb is so wrong. You know what that is, that’s Jeb’s special interests (in) lobbyists talking,” said Trump. “These are animals, you have to knock them off strong.”
Trump’s efforts furthered when he promised to deliver on change and “drain the swamp,” building upon a populist mentality inherited by Perot.
As a result of losing the 2016 election, and with threats of possibly losing again in 2024, democrats had no option but to keep up with the change in rhetoric.
“The dire implications of this
election cycle forced democrats to do something they generally abhor, name enemies.” wrote Austin Ahlman for The American Prospect in 2022.
Party lines are being drawn to the extremes, none more prominent than this past election year. As voters are being dragged to these divisions because of how the candidates are framing their positions.
“If we think about the type of messaging that resonates with people it’s more emotional language,” said Melissa Baker, Ph.D. an assistant professor of Political Science at UTEP, whose research focuses on the effects of politics on mental health. “Both candidates warn about the dangers of the other side, that gets voters engaged. When you start talking about risks and threats, that’s something that people feel that they need to pay attention to.”
More than ever, voters are concerned over their future, and in perceiving what can go wrong, it’s less likely that people are willing to hear each other out, which can tear down even the most interpersonal relationships.
“In the past 10 years or so, there’s a lot less room for seeing the other side.”
- Melissa Baker
“Both sides are pretty sure they have the right ideas,” said Baker. “There is less opportunity for conversations.”
Baker cited a study upon which the Washington Post reports the findings of. Conducted in
November of 2016, the study collected information from over 10 million smartphones to find out the divisions of households during Thanksgiving.
Researchers found that families in what Baker refers to as “purple states” typically cut Thanksgiving dinner by an average of 20 to 30 minutes.
“There’s a lot of disenchantment about politics from people who have been in those situations,” said Baker “If you’re someone who as a teenager you saw your family fall apart because of politics, you probably have a pretty
jaded view of what politics does.”
The dialogue in politics has changed. Now, calling a candidate “lazy as hell,” or telling each other to “shut up,” during debates, is perceived as normal, but Americans like Robert Nix, don’t fear linking politicians’ strong language, to tragedy.
“He doesn’t care one way or the other,” said Nix when asked if he believes that Trump means his strong language. “It’s his rhetoric against minorities that made people shoot up Mexican-Americans in El Paso.”
EN BREVE
La polarización política es más evidente que nunca en los entornos interpersonales, impulsada por la retórica cada vez más agresiva de los líderes del país. Lo que inicialmente se consideraba una estrategia populista para atraer votantes mediante una lucha
La campaña de Henry Ross Perot como candidato independiente en 1992 marcó un cambio en la manera de captar votantes. Su enfoque inspiró la primera campaña del presidente Donald Trump en 2016, lo que provocó un cambio profundo en la percepción de la política. Las tácticas de Trump llevaron a los demócratas a modificar también sus estrategias de campaña, profundizando aún más la división retórica. La Dra.
TRADUCIDO POR SEBASTIAN PEREZ-NAVARRO
In today’s political climate, it is easier than ever for relationships to get torn apart because of opposing political views.
