Politics

I hate politics. Or I should say, I have a hard time with people whose ideas I strongly disagree with and are very outspoken about them. This is for three reasons. 1. My opinions are generally based on gut feelings and are therefore very hard to defend in a rational manner which I feel is important. 2. For some reason, outspoken people tend to come across as very antagonistic and I tend to feel personally attacked. 3. My views tend to be very conflicted. It seems like I often don't know what I think/feel because I can see both sides of an issue and they both have a point. Take, for an example, the issue of illegal immigration. As a stickler for rules, a part of me is saying, "Hey, these people are breaking the law and that is wrong". Meanwhile, another part of me comes back with "Yeah, but they are people who are doing what they can and working hard and we need to support them as children of God". In this particular issue, my response tends to be, so change the rules as they are obviously not working but then what rules would work better?

Another problem with politics is that people tend to use extreme examples to illustrate their point. For example, how many immigrants, illegal or legal, are actually terrorists and yet they are aways the example that comes up. It's like it has to be either one side or the other. There is no room for a middle ground. Jason says it's a slippery slope. The left side thinks anyone on the right is on the far right so they go even farther left to counter that. Meanwhile the people on the right perceive the people on the left to be farther then they are and they go farther right when in reality most people are much more in the middle. Darn those loud minorities.

I was going to write about something much different and lighter but I read an email that I got and it left me all bristled. That's another problem with politics I find I have a hard time just letting things roll off my back. I tend to get all upset and stay that way for a while after. It's very annoying.