I take this class at school in US Govt. It's not that I don't know anything about how our government operates, quite on the contrary. But because I prefer not to stress myself out during my second college experience, I load my schedule with classes that are essentially no brainers. I pretty much show up, do the reading, take the tests, write the papers and pass with high marks.So I'm sitting in this class yesterday and the discussion of political apathy comes up. The scourge of American Politics in the 20th century was the simple fact that the American people became disillusioned with the political machine. After the Nixon, Ford and Carter Administrations thru the late 1960s and into the 80s, Americans collectively could not give two shits about what happened in the Beltway.
And can you blame them? No longer could they trust what was supposed to be the most trusted position in the country. They were being lied to about a war no one wanted anything to do with, being lied about where their money was going, being lied to who was really in charge of the country.
So people just ... unplugged from the machine.
The 80s and the "New America" or "America's Re-Awakening" with Ronald Regan changed all that, along with Clinton, the Second Bush, and the current Obama administration, and suddenly people were becoming politically aware again. So aware, that anyone sitting in my government class will not hesitate to tell you their misinformed and utterly ridiculous personal opinion on America, politics and the president.
The class is comprised of a wide slice of Americana; there's old ladies and Eastern European immigrants, and white guys and black girls... it's a fucking United Colors of Benetton ad or a carefully chosen focus group, minus the one-way mirror in the back of the room. So everyone has an opinion, a fear, a need to be heard.
And don't get it mistaken, politics is a nasty river to navigate; there's a lot of emotionally charged topics that lead people to become indignant in defense of their personal beliefs. This, obviously, leads to spirited debates, which will always put a smile on my face. As long as people CARE ENOUGH to debate a topic, there's hope for America.
But when we got on to the topic of why people are still somewhat apathetic towards the American political system, I was stunned at what I heard. The following are some notes I took while other classmates were talking:
Politics are boring. They should make it more like "American Idol."
Valid point, as Americans are more likely to vote and vote often for a candidate seeking the title of "America's Idol" than the President of the United States, and I'm even taking Chicago 1960 into account as well. Why are people more attached to some 20-something with a guitar and a dream than a 40 year old who holds the codes to launch a full-on nuclear holocaust?
It's all about packaging.
"American Idol" is glitzy and the thing to talk about the next morning around the water cooler because people can understand it with little effort. They see a performance and they can tell immediately if it was good or bad, or in the very least repeat some analysis they heard from a radio dj on their way into work that morning. With politics, you have to know what you're talking about, and pay attention. It's also real-fucking-life you're talking about, not some meaningless talent show where the winner will be a big "who?" in a matter of months following his success.
With politics, you have to take a stance with something, or at least you're expected to. With "American Idol" your stance can be as base as "I like her hair" or "they sang 'good'" there's little to no accountability for your beliefs.
I wish I knew more about the political system, like, if there was a show I could watch...
This comment stunned me. Dude, do you not have cable? I mean, we don't have cable but, I know there's like, a million Cable News Networks, including CNN, which is literally the Cable News Network which do nothing but pump popular opinions into people's sensory. Like, dude, sit down for half an hour and absorb.
But I liken cable news to fast food; it's fast food for your brain. While fast food for your stomach will do it's job; take away your hunger, sustain you for the time being, taste kinda good, too much of it will rot your insides. The same can be said for cable news, especially in a political manner.
I make it a point not to pay much attention to what politics cable news happen to be waving on any given day, but I will turn half a deaf ear towards it, just because it's there, similar to how if you ordered a burger and fries, I might snatch a fry or two, because that's my duty as an American given the situation. But sadly, like the fast food epidemic in this country, the majority of people are gorging themselves on fast, non-nourishing, baseless, biased politic punditry every night for dinner, and coming into work the next day brain sick, regurgitating what they heard from Glenn Beck or Keith Olberman as fact.
People, please, there are better alternatives to feed your political appetite. You simply have to go out, work a little bit, just like a wholesome meal. In the end, you'll be fuller, more appreciative, and less likely to puke up rhetoric the next morning.
I wish politicians would just say what they mean....
Ah, yes, the bane of politics around the world. Hunny, a politician will NEVER say what he means, because he's a salesman at heart. Here, he's trying to sell you him or herself or an idea or someone else's idea. It's all about packaging.
If you went to go buy an expensive home appliance and the salesman told you plainly that the machine would only work for you for 190 days a year, or you had to be a white male to really reap the full benefits of the machine, would you buy it (not withstanding, you're a white male)? Of course you wouldn't. If a politician told you the same thing, would you vote for him or her? My guess is probably not.
With politics as a whole, the reward comes from paying attention, learning to read between the lines (I mis-typed "lines" and typed "lies" instead, I think I should've kept it) and developing a commercial grade Bullshit Detector. If you simply only hear what's being said on the surface, you're not getting the full idea of the political system. This takes time and patience and you can't just expect to jump into the middle of things and understand what's going on right off the bat. It's complex and all the double-speak only makes it more so.
Take your favorite drama, be it "The Sopranos" or any other soap opera. Let's say you've been hearing all this wonderful stuff about it, and you decide you want to tune in one night. You watch an episode and you're like "I have no idea what's going on here, this is stupid..." and you turn it off. The reward here comes from doing your research and finding out who the characters and players are, what their back stories are, and how they're all related to each other. You know you would readily do this for some trashy tv show, so why not politics? Just because Tony's not having Mitch McDonald whacked down by the piers, doesn't make it less interesting.
There were more things said in that class, which caused my heart to literally break, including someone calling Jimi Hendrick's rendition of "The National Anthem" at Woodstock "disrespectful." On that, we live in a country where freedom of expression reigns over all.
Also, he didn't mess up the words. (Warning, prepare for a giant, Red White and Blue Boner ahead):
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