There are a lot of things that have changed due to technology– our everyday lives have been completely changed by the invention of smartphones, air conditioning, airplanes, and more. This technology has even changed the way we communicate with each other, and the scope and speed of which we can communicate with each other.
It’s even influenced American politics, with nearly all major political figures having social media accounts that they post regularly on, including a White House account. After the latest election, this account has been particularly active, with a few posts standing out to the public eye.
There are quite a few things being posted that have sparked controversy. On February 18th, the official White House Twitter account posted what people have dubbed “deportation ASMR”. The video is labeled “ASMR: Illegal Alien Deportation Flight” and features imagery and sounds of people being handcuffed and treated as criminals (although the majority of illegal immigrants only qualify as a civil case) as they are sent out of the United States. The top comment on Instagram reads, “As a conservative, Christian citizen of our hard-earned United States, this is a mockery of everything good it stands for. This displays no respect for humanity and brought tears to my eyes to see”.
The next day, @whitehouse posted a photo of current president Donald Trump, depicting him as a king with the caption “CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!”. The United States has historically been the furthest thing from a monarchy, therefore many people have been pointing out that the president referring to himself as “the king” is off putting. Kathy Hochul, the governor of New York, responded by saying “New York hasn’t labored under a king in over 250 years… in case you don’t know New Yorkers, we’re going to fight. We do not back down, not now, not ever.”
Later, on February 26th, Trump posted an AI generated video on his social media platform, Truth Social. This video features an AI generated song “Trump Gaza” and AI generated videos including him sipping cocktails, a golden statue of himself, money raining from the sky onto Elon Musk, and many other images, all set in Gaza. This video has sparked major backlash, even amongst Trump supporters. One user on Truth Social shared, “I could not be a bigger supporter of President Trump but this particular video is in very poor taste. Very poor taste, indeed!”. Others have criticized the use of AI in order to further a presidential agenda.
We’re surrounded by technology and media telling us different things, and it can be confusing to try to sort it all out. The White House is sure to post much more about this era of the presidency in the future, and it is a good practice to be informed about what exactly they’re posting and to form your own opinion about it.
