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Protests and a Divided Nation: Dylan Meader, Maryland

As told by Dylan Meader
Frostburg, Maryland

Story Narrative:

Dylan has a black knit cap on and headphones. He sits in front of a telescope and colorful painting.

This snapshot was gathered in conjunction with the Maryland Voices initiative at Maryland Humanities, specifically to supplement the "Voices and Votes: Democracy in America" traveling exhibition from the Smithsonian's Museum on Main Street program. This collection, made up of stories of first-time voters between the ages of 18 and 24, showcases the experiences of young people as they wrestled with the 2020 presidential election, issues around social justice, the environment, immigration, and the pandemic. 

Dylan Meader (00:00): My name is Dylan Meader. I live in Frostburg, Maryland. I was born in Maryland, so I've been here my whole life, but I was born in Silver Spring, Maryland. And then, we moved to Allegany County and I've pretty much been like around this area the whole time. And yeah, I go to the nearby high school, Mountain Ridge.

Dylan Meader (00:24): The Capitol riots, that was a big major thing. So yeah, I mean, that's another thing that, it's another example of the divided nation pretty much. And it's kind of a shame that there was a group of Trump supporters that did honestly believe that the election was rigged. There could be maybe some fraudulent votes in some of the states, but with the electoral college it's not popular vote.

Dylan Meader (01:06): So even if one state has a few fraudulent votes, it's not going to change the outcome. If you have California, if California has a bunch of fraudulent votes and let's say that they were put in for a Republican and it's a Democrat leaning state, it's not really going to affect the outcome, even if it's a lot in California, because there's so many people that vote Democrat. And I honestly... It's just the whole thing with people saying, "Stop the vote" and "stop the count," stuff like that. It's just absolutely crazy that people are so... It's a clouded view, where they believe that Trump did win and that he is right. And that all of the cases and stuff were true, even though they were litigated and they were ultimately dropped.

Dylan Meader (02:18): And even now I'd say that there's still some people that still hold onto that. And I think the problem is that people who are really far to one side, they start to believe in conspiracy theories, such as QAnon or stuff like that. And they get more left behind by others. So whenever they get left behind, they kind of go deeper down into the rabbit hole and then they start believing in more conspiracy. And then it's really just a cycle. And I think for them, it is hard to get out of that. And I think that they do need assistance, I guess, to help get out of that cycle.

Dylan Meader (03:10): I think ultimately it's the anger that people feel... Basically getting out of the anger that they feel dictates how many laws they believe that they can break. And it was really evident with the Capitol... Sorry. They felt so much rage that they were willing to storm the Capitol. Commit crimes from the same way goes for rioting in Portland and other cities.

Dylan Meader (03:40): And the problem is that it really overshadows the majority of people. Because I don't think it's... The majority isn't going to be this extreme. And it really is the people that take it to the extreme that are doing this violence. And I believe these people, they should be prosecuted.

Dylan Meader (04:06): And yeah, it's a shame how even the media will further propagate this notion that these extremists... Because they're not the majority. Most of the BLM protests across the country, I'd say, were quite peaceful. Even here in Frostburg. I remember shortly after that, there was a protest for a day. There was no violence, there was nothing like that. And yeah, that's pretty much that.


Asset ID: 2021.03.09.e
Themes: Extremism, Capitol Riots, protest, polarization, divided nation, Donald Trump, elections, electoral college, conspiracy theories, anger
Date recorded: January 29, 2021
Length of recording: 04:47 m
Related traveling exhibition: Voices and Votes: Democracy in America
Sponsor or affiliated organization: Allegany Museum, in partnership with Maryland Humanities
More informationhttps://www.mdhumanities.org/programs/museum-on-main-street/2021-2022-tour/

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