Politics - Not Just For the Informed Anymore

I'm not a political guy. I'm not. I have no dedicated affiliation with either the Democratic or Republican party, and I do not follow those things as closely as I probably should. But as a consequence of my lack of knowledge, I feel it is important that I don't run my mouth off like an idiot. If someone is discussing the latest decision regarding the war in Afghanistan, I don't feel the urge to run in waving my arms and foaming at the mouth to interject “I hate war!”. Obviously I am alone in this trait, however, because it seems all intelligent conversations regarding politics either end with “Screw Sarah Palin!” or “Obama hates America!”, or very likely both. Politics is always going to be a touchy subject simply because politics covers such a wide spectrum of things that it's impossible not be affected by it at some point in some way. People like their money, people like their guns, people like their freedoms, people like their comfort, and people like their drugs. So naturally, people hate the one thing that has supreme rule over all of that: politics.

Robinson 2032

Pre-2008 election, I heard a girl say she wanted to vote for Obama. Obama had obviously captivated the young (18-30) demographics in America at a startling rate, so I asked for her reasoning, which I was well aware would most likely be ridiculous because she was wearing a Blink182 shirt. Her response was that Obama was black, which was surprisingly stupider than I had expected. She was not especially attractive so I didn't feel it necessary to flatter her idiocy, and instead launched into an insulting tirade full of unnecessarily large words and dripping with patronizing tone. I shot off about how people like her are the ones that elected Bush Jr. into office TWICE and then called him the worst president ever immediately after placing their ballots...twice. However, she took this rant in stride and came back with a knockout blow, simply stating she didn't care to talk to ignorant racists such as myself before excusing herself. Somehow I didn't see it coming.

A lack of knowledge is obviously something that currently and always will afflict subjects of all sorts, be it the inability to construct a nuclear power reactor or the incapability to differentiate how to “Dougie” from how to “Jerk”. However, when I am unable to construct a nuclear power reactor, I do not walk into a nuclear power plant and start banging a wrench on things and hope to put together some semblance of a functioning reactor. Traditionally, this is how the majority of society operates in regards to most things. If something is not your area of expertise, you stray away from it and withhold your likely useless opinion. However, something in politics seems to sap that common sense away from people, and just about everyone has something to say.

The worst part of this political idiocy is that everyone has a strong opinion about something, regardless of if they have any knowledge pertaining to that subject. If I were to ask a political novice like myself how they felt about Obama, they would likely respond with either “He's the best! Healthcare!” or “He's a communist! Healthcare!”, but seldom would someone respond “I don't follow politics very closely. Although my father/mother are staunch Republicans/Democrats, I have chosen to inform myself politically before passionately advocating one side or the other instead of adopting their opinions loudly and blindly. Additionally, I feel that I am not well versed enough in such issues to take a strong position either in favor or against them. Perhaps I can better equip myself for this conversation in the meantime, and we can resume this discussion at a later point.”

But that's just me.