I am not a political person. In fact I pretty much refuse to speak about politics at all. There will be the very rare occasion when I will feel the need to voice my opinion on the topic, but that really is not normal for me. It is not that I do not have opinions, oh far from it. It is just that I do not want to discuss my opinions, and honestly I don't want to hear yours.
The thing is, politics is an ugly subject matter. People feel very strongly about their politics. I find that people can be almost as fanatically over zealous about politics as they are about religion. Wars are fought over these two topics, which in my mind makes them mostly unfit for dinner conversation. Anything that is in the top five of war starting issues has to be bad for digestion.
There are some people out there that are capable of having differing political positions and can carry on intelligent and passionate debates, and in the end still be friends. The husbeast is one of these people. He loves to talk about what he believes, and hear what you believe, and then passionately debate the merits and flaws of both sides. He is the exception to the rule though.
Most people can not have that sort of debate and still end up friends in the end. So why discuss such things in the first place? If all you are going to do is fight and in the end get your feelings hurt then why talk about it at all? I get that if you and a friend have radically different views it might be hard to be friends, but I personally think that is a deeper issue than your political affiliation.
It bothers some people I know that I won't express my personal political views when the topic comes up. This being an election year, I am having to avoid the topic more than usual. I sit quietly and listen to people on all sides spew hateful ignorant things and it just sort of makes me ill. The valid sensible educated comments are so hard to find that it is ridiculous.
So while everyone else is standing screaming at the top of their lungs how horrible each individual candidate is, and ignoring any bigger pictures or rational thought, I will be over he keeping my mouth shut. I will quietly do my research on the topics, and issues, and candidates and I will come up with an informed decision that I will not be sharing with anyone else.
Who I vote for, or even whether I vote or choose to abstain* from voting is none of anyones business.I am not going to ask you about your voting record either, because it really doesn't concern me. Also I just do not care.
So for the rest of the year I am going to spend a lot of time politely excusing myself from conversations, turning the channel, and hiding Facebook posts. Come voting time I will or won't vote depending on the research I have done and the decisions I have made. Then I can live in relative peace for another few years before I have to throw up the walls for the next big election year.
*Abstaining from voting is a valid choice when it comes to voting. Trust me, if I decide not to vote on something it is because I came to the decision after heavy research that I can not in good conscience vote on that issue or for any candidate. If you don't like that fact, keep it to yourself.
I agree with this approach completely!
ReplyDeleteThat is exactly why it's important for me to know the political ideas of the people I keep close around me (not including Blogger, obviously. Internet people are a different trip.) I want to know if (general) you're the type of person I need to keep far, far away from me so the next time I mention my girlfriend (again, general) you don't come raging in about how we're destroying Ameriica and generally hurting all my loved ones. (As an example.)
ReplyDeleteIn my life particularly I can't afford to keep people around me who would work against my very existence. I used to do that and it almost ended with me being unable to sit here and talk about it. Most of those people I can't change their minds, but I can keep them far aaaawwwaaay~ haha.
I understand the need to keep that sort of influence away from you. I don't invite around people I know will proselytize at me ever chance they get because I am not Christian, any more than I spend time with people who feel the need to throw a tantrum if I eat meat in their general vicinity. I mean I have nothing against anyone believing or doing what they want, I just don't really want to be badgered with your beliefs every time we are together.
ReplyDeleteI like you for who you are and don't expect you to change. I expect that same common courtesy in exchange. It is possible to agree to disagree, and if not it is really easy for me to tell you goodbye.
It is a hard lesson to learn about letting go of negative people like that, but I am glad you did. Not being here is not a great alternative.