Politics in Space

If there's one topic of conversation that I like to steer clear of, it's politics. Why? Simply put, talking about politics ruins everything.

Okay, so maybe that's a bit extreme. But it's almost true.

Every time I've witnessed a political-- ahem-- "discussion" between two individuals with opposing viewpoints, it usually ends in heated tones and both parties being dissatisfied with the other. And then there's a general consensus to "talk about something else," which sometimes results in not-so-subtle jabs back and forth disguised as normal conversation. Which, if we're being honest, usually evolves into a revisiting of the former discussion on politics.

Or, on a good day there's a discussion with good amount of humor thrown in, followed by an unspoken agreement that all parties consider the world of politics to be a mad, mixed up world that really isn't even worth fighting about on such an insignificant level. Those are the kind that I like to have.

People with the same or similar viewpoints, of course, can go on for hours about how the other guys are just complete idiots, and who-do-they-think-they-are-anyway, etc. But some part of me feels like that's unhealthy.

And then there are people like Glenn Beck and Keith Olbermann whose sole purpose is to make this country so much more difficult to live in by giving the ignorant masses ammunition to use against the other ignorant masses.

And really, it's the media we have to blame for all their spinning and biases.

*[Insert world-weary statement, followed by profound-sounding-but-really-kind-of-stupid/obvious rhetorical question here]*

And now, instead of rambling all day about how people need to chill out (seriously) and accept that different people have different opinions based on their social upbringing (seriously.) and we should really all just get along and try to be informed voters without shoving our views in each others faces (seriously), I'll just post this thing from collegehumor.com that sums up my view on political conversations perfectly.

I'd like to say that I'm usually "the thoughtful one" in this scenario, but I usually assume that everyone's too wrapped up in their own argument to succumb to reason, so more often than not I end up being "the peacemaker." To which someone replies "haha" then continues the argument.

Oh well.