Saturday, September 06, 2008
It's simply not enough....
... to only consume the arsenic-laced kool-aid rhetoric you believe in.
I don't like conflict. I've been accused of being too nice. Of not having a strong opinion. Of not standing up for myself. But I'm at the point of primal scream.
I do have strong opinions. And I feel I'm an educated person. I read. I investigate. I listen - to BOTH sides even. I don't voice my opinion much, though. When I do, I sometimes suprise people. You probably wonder where I'm going with this. You know. Its 2 months to Nov 4. Its frikkin' politics that has me in a lather.
I'm almost 35 years old. I'm no longer an idealistic, naive 21 year old. I have formed some firm opinions and I'm not interested in changing them, for the most part. They aren't all that controversial or aborrhent. I guess some are left-leaning (reproductive rights, gay rights), others are somewhat right-leaning (taxes). I'm probably 50% in agreement with my liberal-kook friends/family/neighbors and about 50% in agreement with my conservative-nutjob friends/family (99% of my neighbors would fall in the liberal-kook category).
Glass is half full for me in both camps, right? Wrong. In the past week I have received a wrath of sh!t from all sides. Some of it has been downright disrespectful. Unbelievable. To quote Molly Ringwald in Sixteen Candles, these people "...have gone totally outer limits."
When I was 13 I formed an opinion - you might call it a personal credo - that I later learned is basically the Libertarian philosophy. With an emphasis on personal responsibility, I firmly believe that my rights end where your's begin and vice versa. For this reason (not to mention the fundamental point that we live in a FREE COUNTRY), I respect everyone else's right to believe that they want even if I think its an apesh!t way of thinking. I'm not going to vengefully argue with adults who have clearly formed solid personal opinions. And I ask for the same respect in return.
But I'm not getting it. I've had to resort to declaring a 10 foot zone of "no politics" around myself. Which of course I'm violating with this very blog rant. I'm all for friendly, spirited discourse about controversial topics. But in otherwise friendly conversations, I've been accused of having "appalling" beliefs, being ignorant, falling prey to agitprop and not having a good understanding of the way things are because I'm not "well traveled" or "educated beyond a liberal arts degree."
Well excuse the eff out of me!
To all my well meaning (but in my eyes SANCTIMONIOUS) liberal-kook and conservative-nutjob friends, family, and acquaintances... this is fair warning... I have taken the stance that politics are personal. I'm not going to ask you about your sex life, your colon health or your social security number and I'm not gonna tell you about mine. Let's keep it the same way with politics.
Until November 4th, if you violate this rule, I'm going to punch you in the head.
I don't like conflict. I've been accused of being too nice. Of not having a strong opinion. Of not standing up for myself. But I'm at the point of primal scream.
I do have strong opinions. And I feel I'm an educated person. I read. I investigate. I listen - to BOTH sides even. I don't voice my opinion much, though. When I do, I sometimes suprise people. You probably wonder where I'm going with this. You know. Its 2 months to Nov 4. Its frikkin' politics that has me in a lather.
I'm almost 35 years old. I'm no longer an idealistic, naive 21 year old. I have formed some firm opinions and I'm not interested in changing them, for the most part. They aren't all that controversial or aborrhent. I guess some are left-leaning (reproductive rights, gay rights), others are somewhat right-leaning (taxes). I'm probably 50% in agreement with my liberal-kook friends/family/neighbors and about 50% in agreement with my conservative-nutjob friends/family (99% of my neighbors would fall in the liberal-kook category).
Glass is half full for me in both camps, right? Wrong. In the past week I have received a wrath of sh!t from all sides. Some of it has been downright disrespectful. Unbelievable. To quote Molly Ringwald in Sixteen Candles, these people "...have gone totally outer limits."
When I was 13 I formed an opinion - you might call it a personal credo - that I later learned is basically the Libertarian philosophy. With an emphasis on personal responsibility, I firmly believe that my rights end where your's begin and vice versa. For this reason (not to mention the fundamental point that we live in a FREE COUNTRY), I respect everyone else's right to believe that they want even if I think its an apesh!t way of thinking. I'm not going to vengefully argue with adults who have clearly formed solid personal opinions. And I ask for the same respect in return.
But I'm not getting it. I've had to resort to declaring a 10 foot zone of "no politics" around myself. Which of course I'm violating with this very blog rant. I'm all for friendly, spirited discourse about controversial topics. But in otherwise friendly conversations, I've been accused of having "appalling" beliefs, being ignorant, falling prey to agitprop and not having a good understanding of the way things are because I'm not "well traveled" or "educated beyond a liberal arts degree."
Well excuse the eff out of me!
To all my well meaning (but in my eyes SANCTIMONIOUS) liberal-kook and conservative-nutjob friends, family, and acquaintances... this is fair warning... I have taken the stance that politics are personal. I'm not going to ask you about your sex life, your colon health or your social security number and I'm not gonna tell you about mine. Let's keep it the same way with politics.
Until November 4th, if you violate this rule, I'm going to punch you in the head.
// posted by Stephanie Cake @ 9/06/2008 10:24:00 PM 
Comments:
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You go girl! You follow your mom with don't discuss politics with me....I hate it and I have my opinion and leave me alone about it! Hugs from your mom! Just go knit some...make some of your projects muzzles to hand out to some of the crazies!
is this the downside to fixed election dates? we are also into an election (as of yesterday), but since the election date october 14th, it means much less time avoiding the whackos...
I find it funny that you are being accused of being uneducated. As I was reading your rant, all I could think was, "wow this woman is very well educated." your 'english' is impeccable and VERY impressive. I feel smarter just for reading it LOL.
btw I think politics are personal too. You seem to know a lot more about the candidates than I do, but even if I did know all of the issues and what each of them claim to stand for, I still wouldn't debate it with anyone. It's wasted breath. Everything will just go on being what it is no matter what we think or debate. So.....go on wit your bad self. LOL
~just a curious blogger who hopped from your mom's blog to yours by way of our swap blog.
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btw I think politics are personal too. You seem to know a lot more about the candidates than I do, but even if I did know all of the issues and what each of them claim to stand for, I still wouldn't debate it with anyone. It's wasted breath. Everything will just go on being what it is no matter what we think or debate. So.....go on wit your bad self. LOL
~just a curious blogger who hopped from your mom's blog to yours by way of our swap blog.
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