Why it’s so hard to talk about politics
- by Pixel
It occurred to me this vacation that it was incredibly hard to talk about politics with people.
It shouldn’t make any sense that politics would be a touchy issue. Most of us can’t really affect the situation around us. When it comes down to it, unless we’re particularly active or it’s an unusually close vote, most of our opinions are not going to make a difference. So why all of the sweat?
I think the answer has to do with what politics means to us. Politics are how we believe the world should be run. Politics are what our ideal system would be (or what our ideally obtainable system would be). So in that respect, what we feel about politics is how we extend ourselves to the world around us. A person that thinks humans ought to be self-sufficient will be a libertarian (or something similar). A person that believes all humans deserve health, education, and certain other social goods will be a socialist (or something similar). There are economic, personal, plausibility, social, religious, and other issues. Each of these have both a local level and a level at the wider level of society, but they are fundamentally interrelated.
So when I say that it is unreasonable to allow Class 3 weapons available to the uneducated public, I am projecting my own views onto the world. In a sense, that thought is a representation of me. When it clashes with my friends’ belief that guns are a civil right, on some level he perceives it as a personal attack. The issue is washed out in the process– it is now a discussion that is emotionally laden.
Which seems stupid, because we are getting annoyed at something we can’t hope to change. But it makes sense because it’s not about the world; it’s about us.
Related posts:
- Ind e-Pen # XXXVIII, of Politics and Pornography The Ind e-Pen +++vol+1+++BT+38+++ Introduction ================== So apparently I’d lost it. Oops. My bad. I’ll try not to let Trumpet Rob down again. Anyway, I’m including here my proposal for reforming the current political system...
- Ind e-Pen 2, #III, phoning it in. >>>>>>>>>>>>>> >>>ind e-pen>>> << vol. 2 BT 3 < < <<<<<<<<<<<<<< i’m boycotting this. Who’s with me?...
- Moral Politics I haven’t actually read this book yet, but just reading the comments has enlightened me. Especially the last one that compares liberals to battered wives that stick by their husbands (conservatives) no matter how badly...
Powered by YARPP.
It occurred to me this vacation that it was incredibly hard to talk about politics with people. It shouldn’t make any sense that politics would be a touchy issue. Most of us can’t really affect the situation around us. When it comes down to it, unless we’re particularly active or it’s an unusually close vote,…
The thing that bothers me when talking politics with people is that there doesn’t seem to be a middle ground anywhere… sure, it’s about our worldview, and at certain times, our value system, which is deeply personal, but for a reasonably educated person to be unable to see someone else’s point of view is troublesome.
If we do really live in a democratic type of society, we should believe that understanding and listening to a plurality of viewpoints would lead to some sort of common ground or compromise that works for the whole of society. We should also believe that we progress or evolve when we reach compromise, because democracy is a living, involved sort of political system that requires us to have healthy debates and reach thoughtful conclusions. We shouldn’t demonize an opposing view the way we often do (and the way media and politicians seem to increasingly do). There’s something very unhealthy about the way politics seem to be these days, both where you live and where I live.
Anyway when I’m in a political discussion, and I see the person I’m talking to can’t even start to see what I’m trying to say about things and openly attack me, then I don’t even bother continuing the discussion. I yield and make it seem like I can understand them and then move onto something else.
Politics are hard to talk about because people are opportunists.
If you utter the slightest, smallest, weakest flawed argument, people will exploit it to all ends of the earth because politics is intrinsically about power.
On the other hand, there’s an incredible amount of things out there labeled as politically incorrect, and people hide behind those things a la appeals to emotion, popularity, misery, and absurdity.
Basically, politics are hard to talk about because nobody wants to get real in addressing the issues. They simply want to make others awkward to the point that their own points are, “Obviously… duh.”
Another thing is many people engage in incessant sarcasm when discussing politics. They never really state what they believe in because they’re afraid of being politically incorrect. Also, sarcasm can be used to provoke others into getting frustrated which makes them targets of opportunity to exploit.
Unfortunately, everyone can’t engage in sarcasm because everyone doesn’t have the life experience required to do so. Also, many people are intimidated while growing up such that they don’t know how to have self-respect. Instead, others walk all over them by pressuring them with all sorts of questions that go beyond fair duty of care or burden of proof.
On the other hand, nonsarcastic people aren’t willing to pressure duty of care or burden of proof upon others. They believe in fairness, so they don’t screw around.
The problem of politics is people don’t know in advance what each other’s sarcasm level is, so the rules of engagement that politics itself governs over are being negotiated while people discover each other’s sarcasm.