Political Conclusion
...So here's my conclusion on those political thoughts I've been having.
Politics is a red herring*.
People speak of politics in terms of its effect on their lives and the lives of those around them. But those effects are very rarely driven by politics: they are driven by society. So when I person is, say, ranting about the legality of abortions, they are misdirected by the politics of it: society's stance on abortion is what they have an issue with. I just sat through a lunch where I listened to three older men talk about how unfair it is to be providing bailouts for those people who are in fear of foreclosure: they were ostensibly comments about politics, but what was really on their mind was how stupid society has allowed itself to become in terms of money-management. And my (unspoken) argument with them may have seemed to be about how the behavior of banks (telling people they can afford these huge loans) is criminal... what I should be thinking is that society shouldn't consider it okay for a bank to lie about a person's financial potential.
Political thinking is a ruse: the real problems, solutions, and effort should be placed on people. We shouldn't work on changing the laws, we should work on changing people's minds.
* Insomuch as, the only real influence politics has is its influence on society. ...Which, granted, is considerable. But probably far less than the media and marketing we are exposed to every day. It's influence is somewhat compounded by how much emphasis we place on it, but I still think it's less influential than it first appears.
Politics is a red herring*.
People speak of politics in terms of its effect on their lives and the lives of those around them. But those effects are very rarely driven by politics: they are driven by society. So when I person is, say, ranting about the legality of abortions, they are misdirected by the politics of it: society's stance on abortion is what they have an issue with. I just sat through a lunch where I listened to three older men talk about how unfair it is to be providing bailouts for those people who are in fear of foreclosure: they were ostensibly comments about politics, but what was really on their mind was how stupid society has allowed itself to become in terms of money-management. And my (unspoken) argument with them may have seemed to be about how the behavior of banks (telling people they can afford these huge loans) is criminal... what I should be thinking is that society shouldn't consider it okay for a bank to lie about a person's financial potential.
Political thinking is a ruse: the real problems, solutions, and effort should be placed on people. We shouldn't work on changing the laws, we should work on changing people's minds.
* Insomuch as, the only real influence politics has is its influence on society. ...Which, granted, is considerable. But probably far less than the media and marketing we are exposed to every day. It's influence is somewhat compounded by how much emphasis we place on it, but I still think it's less influential than it first appears.
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