Past actions cause detrimental effects

Noah Wilkens, Staff Writer
January 7, 2019

An increased presence and importance of the press and media worldwide has skyrocketed in recent years. In conjunction with the increased magnitude of stories, the stigma surrounding them has followed suit. The world of politics is often provoked by the suffocating amount and type of content administered by media sources. With a deficit of legitimate and relevant news, networks have taken to a different school of reporting, including digging into the past of powerful and potentially powerful figures.

There is no arguing that the media has targeted politicians, specifically Donald Trump, for their past. Not to say that evidence has not prompted the speculation, but the question debating the extent of impact someone’s past has on their present and future life is raised.

The American Law partially takes this into consideration in regards to felons. Lawmakers decided that breaking a federal law should disqualify the felon from exercising a handful of basic rights and privileges such as bearing arms, traveling abroad, jury duty, and certain employment.
Of course, this concept of long term punishment is something directly applicable to the lives of everyone.

However, the American legal system is not going to micromanage the lives of all of its citizens for obvious ethical and monetary limitations.

From the perspective of a young adult, it can be frustrating knowing that actions in the present will without a doubt effect the future. It is irrational to expect the positive experiences of the past to continue to carry us through time and simultaneously expect the negative experiences of the past to be forgotten. In the modern day there is an appalling double standard of people wishing to be remembered for their triumphs but remain unpunished for their shortcomings.

Everyone does things that they do not wish to be aired as public knowledge. It is impossible to be perfect but crucial to understand, especially for the adolescent demographic, that with social media, privacy is becoming non-existent. Although this is unfortunate, the fact of the matter is that there is no absolute way for someone’s past to not affect their future and the sooner we become cognizant of that, the better off we will be.