FF: Speech and debater devours articles to stay up to date on politics

Although many students may be anticipating the premiere of the new season of “How I Met Your Mother” while frantically trying to catch up on the previous season’s episodes online, senior Neil Prasad tunes in to a different sort of website: Google news.

With the elections coming up and issues such as jobs, the economy and medicare being hotly debated, many students are left bewildered as to which sides to take and what opinions to form. Prasad, however, has already solidified his political opinions for the forthcoming elections.

“I expect that [the election] will degenerate into more talking, and I doubt seriously that any productive ideas will come from it,” Prasad said. “No one wants to cut military spending, no one wants to make serious entitlement reforms, and no one wants to deal with social issues like gay marriage and abortion.”

In order to form informed opinions about political issues, Prasad has read countless articles with an open mind. Motivated by his desire to understand current events, Prasad strongly believes that research is the key to discovering the right path to take in politics. 

“It’s our civic duty as citizens of the United States [to stay informed], because every decision that politicians make affects us,” Prasad said. “If we don’t have any idea what they’re doing, we’re essentially giving up our vote. So it’s important to follow politics to at least have some idea of what’s going on in the country.”

Prasad is also driven by his desire to succeed in extemporaneous speech, a speech and debate event in which each competitor gives a 7-minute speech about a current issue after receiving the topic only 30 minutes beforehand.

“In order to do well in extemp, you have to know what you’re talking about. So you need to have a large knowledge base,” Prasad said.

Last year as extemp captain, Prasad placed sixth in California and 23rd in the nation in international extemp. However, he said he has been interested in politics long before he entered high school. Joining speech and debate has only broadened his knowledge.

To build his knowledge base, Prasad stays updated daily on current events with the help of websites such as Google news and Politico.

“Every time you read a new article, you have to come in with the belief that you don’t know anything about the subject,” Prasad said. “That way you can evaluate the article purely on its merits.”

Although his opinions are strong, he does not like to impose them on others.

“I don’t like to have conversations with people who don’t fully know what they’re talking about,” Prasad said. “And if I fully don’t know what I’m talking about, I don’t like to interject my opinions if I know they won’t be up to the discussion.”

In addition, Prasad tries not to be influenced by the opinions of others, such as his parents.

“My parents don’t influence my political views, but they do encourage me to read and make sure I have a knowledge base,” Prasad said.

Despite the vast variety of political opinions and the extent of debate on current issues, Prasad believes that academics from over 300 colleges across the country have discovered the best political decisions to make through research.

“People are so ingrained in what they want to believe and that’s one of the reasons why I try to shy away from talking about my political opinions,” Prasad said,“because frankly, there is a right answer in politics. That answer has already been determined; we only have to find it.”