I have been reading a good number of posts lately about politics. should you post about them ? Should you comment on posts about them? What about other sensitive subjects ? So without further ado and with vim and vigor here is my one and only political post.
First let me excerpt something from a blog by Danny Thornton. Definition, Horse Sense: The unique intelligence possessed by horses which prohibits them from betting on people. Now maybe I do not have any horse sense to post about this subject or maybe my sense comes from the other end of the horse. Here goes.
I am not a Republican, Democrat, Liberal, Conservative or anything. I am an American who likes to make informed decisions. All those preceding other names are LABELS. Labels in politics are things used by politicians to help you not think. If you can label someone a liberal, you do not have to listen to what they have to say. If you call someone evangelical you can categorize them and tune them out. So Labels are a great mental shortcut that allows you not to burn calories thinking about issues. So my first rule about politics is don't think in labels. Also you might want to be wary or folks who speak in labels trying to get you not to think.
My second rule of politics is demonization. Once you buy into a label it is easy for the labeler to demonize the labelee. At the turn of the 20th century in this country there was a great movement in the South called the Populist movement. It had such colorful leaders like Sockless Jerry Simpson and others. It was a real movement for poor working folks in the South. One it's more well known leaders was William Jennings Bryan. You may remember him in Inherit the Wind. A great movie with Spencer Tracy playing Clarence Darroll. ( I felt they were a little unfair about the way WJB was portrayed). In any event this movement was very strong. So strong in fact that the powers that be felt that they were going to be unseated. So they used a label and raised a demon. In this case it was Black domination. In the South at this time, the late 1800's. African Americans could vote and held office. So they were poor and they were a part of the movement with poor whites. The only way the movement was defeated and the poor stayed poor was to break up the party by dividing it strength using the label of race and demonization. So rule number 2 Don't be demonized
Last rule rule number 3, is Judge folks the way you would want to be judged. In other words judge people by what they say, not what others say about them. Listen to the debates make up your mind about people based on what THEY say not their opposition. Want an example, I know that all you Realtors only care about your commissions. Get it now ?
So my three rules for politics are , Avoid labels, avoid demonization , and judge in the same way you would want to be judged yourself.
That's it. This is my first and more than likely my last blog on politics. I Look forward to reading more .
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