Political apathy

I'm a pretty active poster on another message board, but over the last year the "off-topic" section has been awash with nothing but political topics. It's kind of understandable, since certain types of communities tend to attract more people of the same political beliefs than others. For example, I wouldn't expect a message board about Hip-Hop or a message board focusing on hunting to exactly draw a real cross section of society into its membership. Even understanding that, the echo chamber this other message board is becoming is feeding into my political apathy.

I didn't vote this election for a few reasons: 1) I'm deployed and know those ballots are only opened when a race or ballot measure's final count is within a certain threshold, 2) At the state and local level where I live is very partisan (statewide, the best a losing candidate performed was barely over 40%), and 3) I have little faith in any politician or government to actually change things for the better. Not voting is a big deal to me since I have not skipped any election since 2004 (deployment reasons).

The "discussion" - if you want to call it that - on the other message board is saturated with partisan commentary and reposting of "news" that only reinforces those political beliefs. The same groups of people who decry the other political side's reaction to the news of Justice Scalia's passing or Justice Ginsburg's recent injury behave in a very similar manner to the actions criticized when it's the other side's Supreme Court Justice in the news. There is no consistency. There is no decency. Everything is a war against the other side for the survival of our nation. I hate it.

I reactivated my Facebook account to keep in touch with friends and family while I'm overseas and in a large part due to the political B.S. I haven't checked it in almost a month. A guy I went to high school posted something from a very biased source, I simply said that the way something was edited and the brevity of the clip that caused his outrage isn't really enough to give it proper context. I know he was a very intelligent guy in high school so his response to me was not as thoughtful as I'd expect, to say the least.

Did he think because I commented on something he posted without overtly agreeing with him that I was trying to attack him or his opinion? I don't know. What I do know is that thoughtful discussion of opposing ideas is rare today. Every news source is biased and no one will give any credence to a news source they think is biased towards the other political side. Moderate politicians from either party don't exist in large numbers anymore, and they represent their consistency. A pro-Second Amendment Democrat? A pro-choice Republican? An anti-Universal Healthcare Democrat? An pro-Green Energy Republican? These types of politicians and people are very few in quantity right now.

I feel strong enough in my political beliefs that I don't need to remain in an echo chamber. I welcome someone asking me why I think what I think. Maybe I can change their mind. They might ask questions that lead to me reaffirming my beliefs. They might change my mind for the better. And all of that is okay.

It's good to see TW hasn't devolved into what I'm seeing at the other site. Thank you all for being reasonable to each other.

 

The mods go to extra lengths to keep TW politics free.

 

I know, which is why I chose my words carefully to avoid seeming like this was a political post.

TW really is a breath of fresh air.

 

Well off topic, but for the 11th of November, THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE! If you don't mind me asking where are you stationed at?

 

I have gotten rid of every form of social media for this very reason.

I have some pretty strong beliefs on about every point of the spectrum and With everything being so polarized I finally had enough.

 

Thanks for your service man.

 

Thank you for your service as well.

I'd rather not say where I am stationed. There are only a few of us here and our presence in this country is a very sensitive topic to the host nation and to the politicians (ugh...) back in the states.

 

Nice post OP. I hope the mods keep this thread open for a bit. I like the topic and want to contribute later, but have to go to work at the moment. I find TW a breath of fresh air too, folks here are downright civil to each other compared to other social media sites.

 

Well thought out post. I will say, however, that it is important to express your opinions by voting. There are two races in my state that still have not been decided. In those cases an individual's vote can make a difference.

Of course, if your opinion differs from mine, I'd just as soon you didn't vote.

 

OP I feel the same way and I'm 55 now. Thank you for your service.

 

This is a political post though. Even though you aren't shouting support for a particular side you are still potentially opening the gates to that kind of a discussion. Threads like this can devolve into that quickly, even if that wasn't the OP's original intent. Which I'm sure its not, but its almost a bait to open the discussion further you know?

You seem like a great guy, and all I'm saying is be careful, the ice you are standing on may be thinner than you think and you might not know it until after it breaks...

Folks are civil here precisely because the banhammer is strong .

 

If other non-political forums had the same policy as TW, maybe those forums would be as informative for those communities as TW is to Tacoma owners.

That was the point I was making, not to bait anyone into a political argument.