Jim VandeHei: A message to college students (Part I)
Editor’s note: Axios CEO Jim VandeHei wrote three essays as a message to college students between Sept. 2 and 9, prior to the killing of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk. The AJC is republishing them as the thoughts are even more poignant now in an era of political division. The AJC and Cox are both part of Cox Enterprises, Inc. This is Part I.
Millions of you, including my two boys, just started a new school year swamped by toxic politics, a tough job market, and tectonic AI shifts on campus and off.
- It’s easy to understand why stress, uncertainty and sadness are soaring.
Why it matters: I want to offer you a very different way to see the world awaiting you — one with a lot less impending doom. It’s based on a belief I grow more certain of with each passing month:
- You’re being duped!
It’s not your fault. We all are:
- You’re being duped into thinking most people are nuttier, meaner, more polarized than they actually are.
- You’re being duped into thinking America is more broken, more unfixable and more hostile than it actually is.
- You’re being duped into thinking you can’t shape your life on your terms in your own way. You actually control a lot more of you than you realize.
What if I told you that politicians, the media and your social media feeds are all chasing the exact same thing … your attention?
- And all three get your attention, to varying degrees, by amplifying conflict and juicing your emotions — mainly your negative ones. Our brains are hardwired with what is called “negativity bias.” So we’re all susceptible to eating this up.
The result: Everything — and everyone — appears nastier, more outrageous, more hopeless than they really are.
Think about it: Your reality is shaped by what you see, hear and read. So if your eyes, ears and mind are lit up with doom and gloom, you assume darkness and conflict are everywhere.
- But what if I told you most people in the real world aren’t obsessed with politics, aren’t glued to MSNBC or Fox News, or don’t download X?
- Most people are the opposite of that: They’re normal — living their lives with friends and family just like you. It’s the people lighting up your social feeds who aren’t.
- Most people don’t care about Sydney Sweeney’s jeans/genes or Cracker Barrel’s logo.
Reality check: I’m not diminishing the real-world, real-time consequences of politics in an era when we see that our communities, country and world are changing with historic and at times alarming speed. And, yes, there are big, urgent challenges, from rising pessimism to AI’s effect on entry-level work.
But let me lay out a different way to think about tackling all of this. First, some context:
- Yes, I’m in the media, so you can argue I’m part of the problem. But Axios doesn’t have an opinion page — our reporters cover their beats clinically, like doctors, and we aim to be sources of truth amid the noise.
- I come at this view as a father of two sons in college, and a daughter who graduated recently. I helped co-found two companies, Politico and Axios. I’m CEO of 450 employees — and I’m an unapologetic beneficiary of democracy, capitalism and America’s entrepreneurial spirit.
My perch allows me to talk to CEOs, political leaders, tech and business executives and lots of young people who work at Axios or move through my daily life. Here’s what I see, and what I hope my kids and the rest of you will consider:
- America rocks. Yes, there are countless things we could do better. And lots of areas of legit concerns. But I beg young people to understand the enormous, indisputable advantages of this country, especially compared to other nations. We’re the best-performing economic and new-idea-generating machine on the globe. We’re blessed with two oceans on our shoulders and friendly neighbors north and south. We’re sitting on more energy than was ever dreamed possible, and we have the freedom to move, live and work anywhere. We’re leading AI and health advances — and we’re the envy of all for our startup culture and can-do spirit.
- It’s your country. I don’t get the hopelessness and defeatism about changing things. The last three presidential elections all came down to a few hundred thousand votes in a few states. The tiniest of shifts would have tipped the White House — and the House of Representatives — the other way. Hell, every president going back to Bill Clinton (25 years ago!) enjoyed all-party rule (the White House, Senate and House) for at least two years. No stat better captures what a 50-50 nation we are. So your individual ability to change things, regardless of party or age (provided you’re 18+), has never been stronger.
- No, things actually have been a lot worse. We all suffer recency bias. And assume “it’s never been this bad.” It sure as hell has. Crime is near a 50-year low. Murders? Low, and dropping by double digits three years in row. War? Military deaths are at a historic low. Yes, but this economy sucks! Cost of living has gone up — but inflation is nowhere near as bad as three years ago, and unemployment is holding near historic lows. But poverty. Yes, it’s 11%, which sucks — but that’s half the rate in 1959.
- You control you. Those are the most important three words of advice I will ever offer. We’re often caught up in a blame-others or blame-life culture. It’s a stupid waste of time. And wrong. You control how early you wake up, what you eat, whether you exercise, how you treat others, whether you pray or meditate or take time to think, what you read, watch and listen to, and what you do at night.
- You control your reality. You choose the read, watch, listen inputs that feed your mind and shape your reality. Too many feeds are awash with dumb, trivial, fake news. You choose whether to stare at stupidity or fixate on phony, airbrushed versions of people and events. There’s more high-quality, life-enhancing, mind-enriching content available for free on YouTube, podcasts and elsewhere online than at any point in history. And it’s not close. You simply need to choose it.
- You’re living history. Pay more attention to the world unfolding before you. The way we work, communicate, travel, learn, practice politics, wage wars and explore space are all rapidly changing before our eyes. So open them. Be curious. AI alone might be bigger than the internet or electricity. You know it’s going to change the world. So use it before you have to. Learn about it. Question it. Life is too short to be a silent, clueless bystander.
- Get in the damn game. These might be the five most important words of advice after “You control you.” You have roughly 80 years on Earth, one-third spent asleep. So don’t piss them away wishing, wondering, whining. Jump in. Trust me, life will hit you hard with unexpected punches that truly hurt and leave a mark. So use every punch-free day to get in the fight on your terms. Try new things. Read new things. Meet new people. Find new passions. Change things you want changed. Do good things for others. Yes, America has big problems. Always has. Always will. So help fix ‘em.
- Be grateful. It sounds cheesy and trite even to write it. But we live in extraordinary times, in an extraordinary nation, full of extraordinary people. It’s easy to doom-scroll life away, both on your screen and in your mind. Don’t. Want proof there’s more to be grateful for than you think? Starting today, keep a running list (I use the Notes function on my iPhone) of people who do things, big or small, that brighten or better you. You’ll be astonished how long this list grows — and how seemingly little things leave a big mark decades later.
The bottom line: There’s a lot to lament. Just look at social media and the email you’re about to send me telling me I’m a privileged, delusional knucklehead. But there’s a lot more to love — once you realize you’ve been duped.
Tell Jim what you really think: jim@axios.com.
