Pointless Politics

Discussion is really a futile enterprise these days. I've been watching a lot of the cable news stations lately, and it just gets horribly depressing. They mask discussions of issues and current events by pitting extremists from both ends against each other on the air. What results is nothing short of jumbled arguing due to the fact that each side raises his or her voice simultaneously to be the predominant figure so much so that nothing is actually learned by the viewers it is intended to enlighten. They are so busy preaching, they forget about teaching. By the time it finishes, I have no greater understanding of the issue at hand, jut a greater disdain for the people trying to force me into their camps of thought. Then you go out into your own surrounding areas and hear people trying their best to have the same arguments, but because they don't even understand half of what they are trying to spew, they end up looking foolish and uneducated. But it's so incredibly pointless to even engage in political talks, no matter at what level. On the one hand, if you are unaware of the issues and why people on the right oppose the views of the left, you are automatically unqualified to speak out from either side and sound ridiculous if you choose to do so. On the other hand, if you are completely up to date on all the issues, such as the people arguing on television, then it is still ultimately a waste of time to engage with the opposition about politics because neither party will be swayed to change their opinion. I am closer to the latter. I have had others try to come down on me for my views, and in the past I have tried doing the same, but I finally realize it's a completely empty effort. No one will change my mind by preaching to me and trying to guilt trip me. I won't have the same effect on anyone either, so I no longer care. If you have gotten to that point in your beliefs as I have, what's the point of wasting time? Besides, most people you run across will only be able to spew back bullet points they receive from their media of choice and let's be honest: it's Fox News for the right and MSNBC for the left. No one wants to be bothered with reading these days, so they watch Glenn Beck or Rachel Maddow to speed up the process.

The talking points are more noticeable from the right. I recently saw a short film by Alexandra Pelosi from the McCain-Palin campaign trail in 2008, where supporters railed off these points with unwavering gusto. The expected answers:

Obama is a socialist. (Be honest, you don't even know what socialism is.)
Obama is the next Hitler. (Bush is the current. Ask Iraq.)
Obama is a terroroist. (Because his middle name is Hussein, right?)
Obama went to Harvard and doesn't understand the working class.
(Bush went to Yale and Harvard and doesn't understand the English language.)
America isn't ready for a black president.
We will be attacked if Obama is president. (9/11. Who was president?)
Foreigners are taking our jobs. (That's because Americans are really lazy.)
Obama is anti-American. (As his record of public service indicates.)
Blame it on liberal media.
(You mean the same liberal media that is airing a pro life ad but not a gay dating site ad during the Super Bowl?)


The list goes on forever, and it is robotically spewed by southerners with thick accents who would stand to benefit financially if they knew anything about what they were talking about.

Liberals in a sense are just the same as neocons. They just automatically revert to the same bullet points. All they have to do is watch Bill Maher for an hour and they are set. While right leaning analysts on television tend to be either gorgeous women in their 30s-40s or square white men in the throes of a midlife crisis, their liberal counterparts tend to be ugly, self righteous, and bland. This is what they love saying:

Obama will create jobs. (Big time bullshit.)
Obama will get us out of the wars in the Middle East.
(Afghanistan didn't get the memo.)
Obama will only tax the rich. (So striving for greatness is eventually punished.)


Both sides are full of major shit. I belong to one side, but I am trying to distance myself from the unwavering support that resonates from both ends. If someone could actually convince me to believe otherwise, I might give some consideration. It will take more than just running down the Bill O'Reilly crap. If I raise an objection, it won't help to raise your voice and say the same thing again. Actually, I take it back. I don't even want to talk about it, because I know how to educate myself and it doesn't involve a television. We are all peons in the grand scale of the Earth, the cosmos, the never-to-be-discovered pockets of the universe and so forth. The planet is billions of years old. Measuring our importance or better yet, picking this moment in time out of an immeasurable hat would be like pinpointing a particular grain of sand from all the world's beaches combined. Better to just let bygones be bygones. I'd rather just have a beer and watch the game.