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Political Intimidation
Jun. 16th, 2004 08:31 amI'm not a student of politics. I don't keep as close an eye on the government as I feel I should. I'm busy with work, home, and my other interests, and have neither the time nor the inclination to spend a few hours a week doing my homework and reading up on the backstory and legal details of the latest political scandal of the week.
Sometimes it feels like I don't know enough about politics to have an opinion. That I, who don't pay attention to the vast majority of the political action going on, have no right to form an opinion about something that's complex enough that I have to study it before I know if my opinions on how it should be are at all feasible.
It feels like every time I try and formulate an independant half-baked idea about politics, something based on what I'm seeing and where I think it's all heading (handbaskets are involved), someone with more political knowledge, or maybe just a grudge, comes along and tells me that I'm naive and clueless and obviously haven't been doing my homework or I'd know why my idea was half-baked to start with, and tells me what I should believe, or that I should examine everything more closely because just because it looks like a good idea doesn't mean it is, and just because it looks like a bad idea doesn't mean it is.
And while some further examination is probably always in order -- I don't have the time nor the interest to spend upwards of fifteen minutes on every issue on a regular basis. Politics is not my cup of tea, nor is it my bread and butter, nor is it what gets me up in the mornings. It seems to me that when people of politics are trying to encourage others to take an interest, they do so in such a bloody backasswards way that it winds up discouraging them instead.
So I tend to let others do the deep thinking and get outraged and do the research for me. I can't be arsed to care because every time I look like I'm caring and stating my own political opinions, instead of parroting someone else's, I don't have enough experience to be taken seriously, and I wind up huffing off to sulk somewhere anyway.
So that's why I don't tend to post any deeper thoughts on politics, as a rule. I'm used to bad things happening, and I'd rather remain politically less-visible than get told what I'm doing wrong by the bloody tactless.
Sometimes it feels like I don't know enough about politics to have an opinion. That I, who don't pay attention to the vast majority of the political action going on, have no right to form an opinion about something that's complex enough that I have to study it before I know if my opinions on how it should be are at all feasible.
It feels like every time I try and formulate an independant half-baked idea about politics, something based on what I'm seeing and where I think it's all heading (handbaskets are involved), someone with more political knowledge, or maybe just a grudge, comes along and tells me that I'm naive and clueless and obviously haven't been doing my homework or I'd know why my idea was half-baked to start with, and tells me what I should believe, or that I should examine everything more closely because just because it looks like a good idea doesn't mean it is, and just because it looks like a bad idea doesn't mean it is.
And while some further examination is probably always in order -- I don't have the time nor the interest to spend upwards of fifteen minutes on every issue on a regular basis. Politics is not my cup of tea, nor is it my bread and butter, nor is it what gets me up in the mornings. It seems to me that when people of politics are trying to encourage others to take an interest, they do so in such a bloody backasswards way that it winds up discouraging them instead.
So I tend to let others do the deep thinking and get outraged and do the research for me. I can't be arsed to care because every time I look like I'm caring and stating my own political opinions, instead of parroting someone else's, I don't have enough experience to be taken seriously, and I wind up huffing off to sulk somewhere anyway.
So that's why I don't tend to post any deeper thoughts on politics, as a rule. I'm used to bad things happening, and I'd rather remain politically less-visible than get told what I'm doing wrong by the bloody tactless.
