Friday, June 24, 2005
Another Rant on Politics (please skip if you're thinned skin or have been on the recieving end already)
While surfing the expanding ring of blogs that I read regularly, I couldn't help but notice that criticism of the war is finally becoming bipartisan. I've been labelled (perhaps not incorrectly) a liberal for a while now just because of my statements since September 11th, and especially since we started sending troops to Iraq. Now, thank goodness, a bipartisan bill is finally out there to at least get a timetable set up for this mess. As always, it's catching crap from both sides, but at least some from either side can agree.
I wish the same could be said on the home front. Between work, school, home, and the vast layers of instant messages I zip through each night, I typically overhear at least 2 political discussions a day, and am involved in at least 3 a week. When Republicans think you're too liberal and liberals that think you're too conservative, stuff like this happens. And yes, I’m a little bit of an instigator. I don't like being labelled, I don't like being generalized, and I don't really enjoy having my beliefs criticized (unless I'm doing it to myself, anyway). Walking away isn’t easy for me. It’s part of the reason I shy away from these things, oddly enough. I know that when I share my opinion, I usually do so in a less-than-peaceful manner.
So I'm just walking away.
After I get through with this, anyway.
I didn't vote for Gore (I couldn't, I was 16), I didn't vote for Kerry (I was overseas and not organized enough to get a ballot before I left). I've actually never voted. So I'm clean-slated here.
At my office we have a cafe with a wall covered in political comics. There's one with the Republicans' Elephant and the Democrats' Donkey shooting at each other. Off to the side stands a guy with a gun to his own head and a nametag identifying him as the American Public. I think it's a little more split than that (more like ranks of republicans ploughing through just as many democrats), but I often feel like that guy. I'm not caught in the crossfire. I've learned to dodge the bullet. I'm just tired of the racket. Certain political figures try to turn the war on terror into a war on policy, and others think burying their heads in the sand is the best method of survival. What do I do? The same thing dozens of other authors do. I roll my eyes at it, ignore most of it, and turn what's left into fodder to drive my writing.
Lately there's been a big enough pile that I should be able to write full time for the rest of my life.
Just not about them.
Is this running away from my duty as a voting American? Maybe. Maybe I could use my talents to win the victory for the "right" candidate. But what if I'm wrong? Do I really want to be responsible for putting a terrible person into office to represent not just me, but everyone?
I think I'll sit that one out.
It's amazing. The further you put yourself from politics, the more political you seem to become.
I don't think there's a way around it.
Tolkien had his work compared to the Great War. We all know about CS Lewis’s religion, and his political commentary really never was that quiet. Hemingway was probably a communist. Etc. Writers are still human. We have our opinions, and our writing may reflect them, but those opinions should never define our works. The writer is striving to create something greater than himself. I want whatever I write to be greater than my politics as well. ¶ 0 comments
I wish the same could be said on the home front. Between work, school, home, and the vast layers of instant messages I zip through each night, I typically overhear at least 2 political discussions a day, and am involved in at least 3 a week. When Republicans think you're too liberal and liberals that think you're too conservative, stuff like this happens. And yes, I’m a little bit of an instigator. I don't like being labelled, I don't like being generalized, and I don't really enjoy having my beliefs criticized (unless I'm doing it to myself, anyway). Walking away isn’t easy for me. It’s part of the reason I shy away from these things, oddly enough. I know that when I share my opinion, I usually do so in a less-than-peaceful manner.
So I'm just walking away.
After I get through with this, anyway.
I didn't vote for Gore (I couldn't, I was 16), I didn't vote for Kerry (I was overseas and not organized enough to get a ballot before I left). I've actually never voted. So I'm clean-slated here.
At my office we have a cafe with a wall covered in political comics. There's one with the Republicans' Elephant and the Democrats' Donkey shooting at each other. Off to the side stands a guy with a gun to his own head and a nametag identifying him as the American Public. I think it's a little more split than that (more like ranks of republicans ploughing through just as many democrats), but I often feel like that guy. I'm not caught in the crossfire. I've learned to dodge the bullet. I'm just tired of the racket. Certain political figures try to turn the war on terror into a war on policy, and others think burying their heads in the sand is the best method of survival. What do I do? The same thing dozens of other authors do. I roll my eyes at it, ignore most of it, and turn what's left into fodder to drive my writing.
Lately there's been a big enough pile that I should be able to write full time for the rest of my life.
Just not about them.
Is this running away from my duty as a voting American? Maybe. Maybe I could use my talents to win the victory for the "right" candidate. But what if I'm wrong? Do I really want to be responsible for putting a terrible person into office to represent not just me, but everyone?
I think I'll sit that one out.
It's amazing. The further you put yourself from politics, the more political you seem to become.
I don't think there's a way around it.
Tolkien had his work compared to the Great War. We all know about CS Lewis’s religion, and his political commentary really never was that quiet. Hemingway was probably a communist. Etc. Writers are still human. We have our opinions, and our writing may reflect them, but those opinions should never define our works. The writer is striving to create something greater than himself. I want whatever I write to be greater than my politics as well. ¶ 0 comments
