I don't care about politics because....

[Troy Spiral (13)]

I don't care about politics because....

Many of us have a lot of apathy toward the political scene, which, in terms of how heavily it affects our lives in the long run, feels counter intuitive. What is your reason for generally not caring?

[Destroit]

Because it is a frustrating loop of hidden truths and deceit. Some good can come out of it with the right people in place, so I do try to at least pay attention to what is going on (or what they're letting us know *plops out tinhat*) and choose wisely at the ballot boxes.

I used to think that I wanted to be in politics because I know that I would NOT be a corrupt asshole. That's actually a part of the reason I really pushed to be a mod also, because I know that I'm able to be unbiased and that is a great asset to the board. Relatively the same as a political position in that aspect. The problem is that over time with lobbyists and pressure, it changes people and their minds become swayed and lean toward personal agendas. So I guess I don't want to be President after all . I'm sure I couldn't anyway because I inhaled .

Edited June 21, 2011 by Chernobyl

[Class-Punk]

Good question.

For the most part I am less involved in politics because I have no control over politics. If I can't control something, I don't worry about it. I vote, and then I forget about it. I could sign petitions, but they're only petitions, so its variable. Worrying about one thing easily becomes worrying endlessly since its a pattern of behavior.

Edited June 21, 2011 by Coffeenated

[Enishi]

I get sick of political discussions mostly due to the following trends (not always true on an individual level but far too frequent on a macro level):

1. Liberals think Conservatives are evil and don't want to acknowledge they might have any good suggestions.

"What's that? You say deficits are bad? BASTARD!! YOU WANT TO FEED GRANDMA TO THE CROCODILES!!"

2. Conservatives think Liberals are evil and don't want to acknowledge they might have any good suggestions.

"What's that? Other countries with single payer systems spend less on healthcare yet have higher life spans among their populations? OMIGOD COMMIES!!"

Edited June 21, 2011 by Enishi

[Slogo]

I'm still convinced I'd make an awesome emperor

[candyman]

Because people think they have the answer and pretty much write off the lessons taught through history for some reason...maybe because we are "more advanced" today so we can do it better than they did before.

I do get in quite a few political fights...but those people are never going to change and if there is mud being thrown between two sides I gotta jump in the middle of it...and throw more mud.

Your political views don't really matter because in the long run nothing will change...

[phee]

I have an odd question...

If you truly don't care... why start a thread about it? Would that not imply that you do in fact care?

[Joey Deadcat]

I'd rather talk art, music, aesthetics, and philosophy.

[Destroit]

I have an odd question...

If you truly don't care... why start a thread about it? Would that not imply that you do in fact care?

Troy never directly said, or implied, that he didn't care for politics if I read it correctly.

[phee]

Troy never directly said, or implied, that he didn't care for politics if I read it correctly.

Hmmm when he said "I don't care about politics"

[Destroit]

Hmmm when he said "I don't care about politics"

Yeah, but I interpreted it to mean that we're supposed to finish that sentiment, like a complete-this-essay kind of deal you'd get in school.

[Troy Spiral (13)]

Because it is a frustrating loop of hidden truths and deceit. Some good can come out of it with the right people in place, so I do try to at least pay attention to what is going on (or what they're letting us know *plops out tinhat*) and choose wisely at the ballot boxes.

I used to think that I wanted to be in politics because I know that I would NOT be a corrupt asshole. That's actually a part of the reason I really pushed to be a mod also, because I know that I'm able to be unbiased and that is a great asset to the board. Relatively the same as a political position in that aspect. The problem is that over time with lobbyists and pressure, it changes people and their minds become swayed and lean toward personal agendas. So I guess I don't want to be President after all . I'm sure I couldn't anyway because I inhaled .

A lot of "good people" that started out in politics , just due to the nature of how much cock you have to suck to get to the top, slowly end up being so compromised by the time they get to the top that they forgot what they started out to do in the first place. Unfortunately.

[Troy Spiral (13)]

I have an odd question...

If you truly don't care... why start a thread about it? Would that not imply that you do in fact care?

I tried to be intentionally vague as to not bias the responses.

One of the reasons people don't follow politics is just its plain boring to them. In an age when pure entertainment is everywhere, reality, especially reality like politics, to many is just boring. Or the oversimplification of "its pointless since its ALL corrupt" so why bother? Which often I think is just an extension of the "its boring" response, since corruption is something many people do find interesting.

I really should focus on it more, but I don't. Why? I'm not totally sure sure honestly. I do listen to the news / read articles on and off, but its not nearly enough to really 'stay informed'.

I think this is one of the most important subjects for mankind, that is, government / politics , yet , somehow I'm not "into" it in the way I'm into say Science / History / Music / Film. Despite my constant preaching AGAINST what I call "The Cult of Entertainment" that same cult is probably one of the reasons I don't have time/energy left over to focus as much as I should.

Often I try to identify flaws in my own time managment / thinking , minus the ego, and figure out what I might do differently. This one, I've not really spent much time on (the "why" aspect). Hearing others reasons/thoughts is helpful.

[Troy Spiral (13)]

I get sick of political discussions mostly due to the following trends (not always true on an individual level but far too frequent on a macro level):

1. Liberals think Conservatives are evil and don't want to acknowledge they might have any good suggestions.

"What's that? You say deficits are bad? BASTARD!! YOU WANT TO FEED GRANDMA TO THE CROCODILES!!"

2. Conservatives think Liberals are evil and don't want to acknowledge they might have any good suggestions.

"What's that? Other countries with single payer systems spend less on healthcare yet have higher life spans among their populations? OMIGOD COMMIES!!"

The "gang" or "my team vs your team" mentality does frustrate me. Rather than saying "ok lets try our best to find the truth or a better way of doing things" its more about which "team" "wins" an argument, rather than really solving an issue.

Unfortunately that is a product of the democratic-republic system. I'm not sure how to fix that, since the best medium (i think) for political process is the democratic-republic system, and inherent in that is a "team" mentality. One thing that might help is getting out of the death-grip the two party system has on U.S. politics in favor of a wider variety of choices. The our-gang mentality would still be there, but with a wider varieity of gangs to choose from it would be less pronounced and more open to intermingling of ideas. Least I hope it would be.

Then just the lack of rational thinking mankind-wide is partly to blame. "Your opinion cant be correct because your a dick!" yeah, thats good logic there.

[Scar My Machine]

1. Liberals think Conservatives are evil and don't want to acknowledge they might have any good suggestions.

"What's that? You say deficits are bad? BASTARD!! YOU WANT TO FEED GRANDMA TO THE CROCODILES!!"

2. Conservatives think Liberals are evil and don't want to acknowledge they might have any good suggestions.

"What's that? Other countries with single payer systems spend less on healthcare yet have higher life spans among their populations? OMIGOD COMMIES!!"

IMO this sums up a large portion of the problem this country has. The other part, people that allow their lives to either be consumed with their own activities to pay attention and try to make a diff, or they just wanna kick back, party, watch the game on the tele and let their brains rot with consumption of other sorts.

Very few people actually care anymore which is the saddest part of all of it.

And people wonder why those in Washington are getting away with murder.

[Troy Spiral (13)]

IMO this sums up a large portion of the problem this country has. The other part, people that allow their lives to either be consumed with their own activities to pay attention and try to make a diff, or they just wanna kick back, party, watch the game on the tele and let their brains rot with consumption of other sorts.

Very few people actually care anymore which is the saddest part of all of it.

And people wonder why those in Washington are getting away with murder.

Good way to put it.

Also there are sort of two different questions being answered in some of the above replies:

1. "care" about politics.

2. "discuss" politics.

In that I think some people (such as myself) inherently feel / know that the subject IS important but for whatever reason dont spend much time TALKING about the subject. So you could care about the subject but just not want to talk about it due to the annoying habbit of people to get really angry if you don't agree with their position. Which, is a really bad trend, hard to make any progress on a discussion if veins start popping out of your neck everytime somone disagrees with your point.

Note disagreeing is different than being insulting. Disagreeing = good for conversations. Insulting = (almost always) bad for same conversations.

[Troy Spiral (13)]

IMO this sums up a large portion of the problem this country has. The other part, people that allow their lives to either be consumed with their own activities to pay attention and try to make a diff, or they just wanna kick back, party, watch the game on the tele and let their brains rot with consumption of other sorts.

Very few people actually care anymore which is the saddest part of all of it.

And people wonder why those in Washington are getting away with murder.

Good way to put it.

Also there are sort of two different questions being answered in some of the above replies:

1. "care" about politics.

2. "discuss" politics.

In that I think some people (such as myself) inherently feel / know that the subject IS important but for whatever reason dont spend much time discussing the subject. So you could care about the subject but just not want to talk about it due to the annoying habbit of people to get really angry if you don't agree with their position or a feeling of hopelessness. Which, is a really bad trend, hard to make any progress on a discussion if veins start popping out of your neck everytime somone disagrees with your point. Even the hopelessness part (which i totally get) I think is a bit shortsighted, on the scale of generations there has been mucho progress (at least in many areas), its just hard to see on a yearly scale due to the endless back & fourth. But I think the overall trend is an upward one. (Whole other topic)

Another problem is just our associations. Many of us don't have too many people to discuss this stuff with in real life, so that trend tends to spill over into "online life" due to many just inherently not being in the habit.

Note disagreeing is different than being insulting. Disagreeing = good for conversations. Insulting = (almost always) bad for same conversations.

[Achilles]

In the beginning democracy was a good idea but now people have found to many loopholes and have exploited the hell out of it, and because of that people have become corrupt to a point.

[slutboy]

Another reason for the general apathy towards politics is the idea that our votes don't count.(I'm refering to Presidential elections)

You could call me an advocate for the elimination of the electoral college.