==WARNING== LONG POST
Seriously. It's healthy in moderation, and helps the country's government system, I'll admit that.
But having it run our lives and opinions is ridiculous.
People go "Ok, this guy is a total dipwad...but he's from my party, so I'll vote for him anyway, since if I don't, everyone I know will hate me." Is this what George Washington and Thomas Jefferson had in mind? My guess is no. In fact, Mr. Washington himself specifically discouraged political parties.
To an (fairly large) extent, I don't CARE who did what. I wish people would realize that wrapping yourself in the flag or otherwise and playing a gigantic blame game about 9/11 will not bring those 3,200 people back. Was it Clinton's fault? Dubya's fault? Gore's? Bush Sr.'s? Or maybe we should put old Christopher Columbus on trial, because without him there would be no USA. In few cases is there ever use crying over spilled milk.
It's gotten to the point where the news...wait, what news? DEMOREPUBLISLAMOCOMMUNAZISERVATIBERAL NAME CALLING, LOLS!!!!1!1one. "You're an evil anti-USA liberal!" "Oh yeah? Well you're a neo-con! So there!"
...k.
...That doesn't say anything except "I can't think of a better argument except for telling you something you already know and putting a spin on it." Fair? Balanced? Nonexistent. Everyone leans one way or another, and "weasel words" are common. "Some people say (insert controversial issue here)." Translation? "I think (controversial issue), BUT I'll get in trouble if I say it directly...hmm." And why do they get in trouble? Just because the people they disagree with think they're right and will do whatever they can to silence the other view. And like it or not, this goes for everyone...not just the people you don't like.
Let's deal with the issues. Not whose fault the issues are. What should've been the political parties: Good, bad. Instead, we have two incredibly vague, arbitrary definitions for "Democrat" and "Republican", which can be revised, broken, twisted, mutilated, and crossed at any time (thank you, Mr. Lieberman, for proving this.). Howzabout our government says "how can we deal with x" instead of finger-pointing, saying "X IS YOUR FAULT", and in the end not getting anything done.
The media - both sides of it - isn't exactly helping either. Especially radio and print. Scattered within the news agencies are political nuts who are hell-bent on saying "lols, vote for my candidate...this has been a completely fair and unbiased report by me", instead of giving an actual fair and unbiased report, which so happens to be the point of the media itself, outside of editorials (God forbid).
Which brings me to the next thing. Religion. Yes, organized religion. Good idea. Bad execution. What is religion nowadays? "MY GOD > YOUR GOD". Indeed. Time for Logic 101. Now, if "your god" is superior to "everyone else's gods", and everyone else is saying essentially the same thing, then pick one:
A. Everyone is better than everyone else. (attempt to visualize this with an imaginary staircase with every step higher than every other ones. exactly.)
B. At least one of the people screaming "my religion > yours" is lying.
Or C. "I'm an arrogant prick and think I'm the only person in the world, therefore I am always right."
For your sake, I hope you didn't pick C. And if you did, go /wrist for a while. Then come back and I'll slap you in the face about 15,000 times. A? Impossible, unless logic doesn't exist, which it does (even though us little humans sometimes like to think otherwise). Remaining option = B. Unpleasant? Goes against what the great and holy You believes? That's too bad.
As it turns out, people are willing to fight over this. Hopefully with words. And if they're really angry (or just feel like dying), AK-47s and Galils. Which ties this right back on to politics. Go to war? Negotiate? Get other nations involved? UN talks? Peacekeepers? Threaten? Nah, let's argue about religion and our PR first, then we can deal with whatever this little tawdry scuffle in the dirt (or, as it would happen, sand) is. As a result, the decisions made for us are delayed by anywhere from 6 to 96 months. And somewhere along there comes a critical mass, where the situation quickly detoriorates, the dam of self-restraint breaches, and all hell breaks loose.
And when all hell breaks loose, we're too busy being "patriotic" or "political" to do anything immediately.
There. I've said it, and put up my flame shield too. I'm done. Carry on, post, or whatever.
Seriously. It's healthy in moderation, and helps the country's government system, I'll admit that.
But having it run our lives and opinions is ridiculous.
People go "Ok, this guy is a total dipwad...but he's from my party, so I'll vote for him anyway, since if I don't, everyone I know will hate me." Is this what George Washington and Thomas Jefferson had in mind? My guess is no. In fact, Mr. Washington himself specifically discouraged political parties.
To an (fairly large) extent, I don't CARE who did what. I wish people would realize that wrapping yourself in the flag or otherwise and playing a gigantic blame game about 9/11 will not bring those 3,200 people back. Was it Clinton's fault? Dubya's fault? Gore's? Bush Sr.'s? Or maybe we should put old Christopher Columbus on trial, because without him there would be no USA. In few cases is there ever use crying over spilled milk.
It's gotten to the point where the news...wait, what news? DEMOREPUBLISLAMOCOMMUNAZISERVATIBERAL NAME CALLING, LOLS!!!!1!1one. "You're an evil anti-USA liberal!" "Oh yeah? Well you're a neo-con! So there!"
...k.
...That doesn't say anything except "I can't think of a better argument except for telling you something you already know and putting a spin on it." Fair? Balanced? Nonexistent. Everyone leans one way or another, and "weasel words" are common. "Some people say (insert controversial issue here)." Translation? "I think (controversial issue), BUT I'll get in trouble if I say it directly...hmm." And why do they get in trouble? Just because the people they disagree with think they're right and will do whatever they can to silence the other view. And like it or not, this goes for everyone...not just the people you don't like.
Let's deal with the issues. Not whose fault the issues are. What should've been the political parties: Good, bad. Instead, we have two incredibly vague, arbitrary definitions for "Democrat" and "Republican", which can be revised, broken, twisted, mutilated, and crossed at any time (thank you, Mr. Lieberman, for proving this.). Howzabout our government says "how can we deal with x" instead of finger-pointing, saying "X IS YOUR FAULT", and in the end not getting anything done.
The media - both sides of it - isn't exactly helping either. Especially radio and print. Scattered within the news agencies are political nuts who are hell-bent on saying "lols, vote for my candidate...this has been a completely fair and unbiased report by me", instead of giving an actual fair and unbiased report, which so happens to be the point of the media itself, outside of editorials (God forbid).
Which brings me to the next thing. Religion. Yes, organized religion. Good idea. Bad execution. What is religion nowadays? "MY GOD > YOUR GOD". Indeed. Time for Logic 101. Now, if "your god" is superior to "everyone else's gods", and everyone else is saying essentially the same thing, then pick one:
A. Everyone is better than everyone else. (attempt to visualize this with an imaginary staircase with every step higher than every other ones. exactly.)
B. At least one of the people screaming "my religion > yours" is lying.
Or C. "I'm an arrogant prick and think I'm the only person in the world, therefore I am always right."
For your sake, I hope you didn't pick C. And if you did, go /wrist for a while. Then come back and I'll slap you in the face about 15,000 times. A? Impossible, unless logic doesn't exist, which it does (even though us little humans sometimes like to think otherwise). Remaining option = B. Unpleasant? Goes against what the great and holy You believes? That's too bad.
As it turns out, people are willing to fight over this. Hopefully with words. And if they're really angry (or just feel like dying), AK-47s and Galils. Which ties this right back on to politics. Go to war? Negotiate? Get other nations involved? UN talks? Peacekeepers? Threaten? Nah, let's argue about religion and our PR first, then we can deal with whatever this little tawdry scuffle in the dirt (or, as it would happen, sand) is. As a result, the decisions made for us are delayed by anywhere from 6 to 96 months. And somewhere along there comes a critical mass, where the situation quickly detoriorates, the dam of self-restraint breaches, and all hell breaks loose.
And when all hell breaks loose, we're too busy being "patriotic" or "political" to do anything immediately.
There. I've said it, and put up my flame shield too. I'm done. Carry on, post, or whatever.
Last edited by k30dxedle (2006-10-17 17:48:50)