The Weird and The Wacky Meet

Where YouBetIAm comes to write….

I Can’t Believe She Just Said That!

Can You Keep Your Friends and Your Job in a Polarized Political Climate?

                 It happens to everyone, because everyone has an opinion.  You’re sitting in the cafeteria, and one of your friends makes an off-hand remark about politics.  You’re shocked: How could someone so intelligent have such an ignorant view?  The sad thing is, they’re thinking the same thing about you when you open your mouth to correct them.

                 You try very hard to be profound and intelligent in your thoughts about politics, religion and philosophy, but in this climate, having opinions about any of those things can isolate you completely.  Perhaps there are circumstances under which reasonable people can disagree on these delicate topics without hurt feelings, but our current political climate is so polarized that there’s hardly any room for a comfortable middle ground where people can see some merit even in what they consider mistaken.  I don’t know if it’s because of the 2004 elections, the economy, or if everyone is just tense, but it’s harder to talk to people.

It’s made me think that being profound is overrated.

It’s not just affecting my friendships; it’s affecting my career as well.  Two years ago, I came to the journalism program at HCC determined to change the world with my hard-hitting news stories and well-argued editorials that would change everyone’s mind to the left.  But after all this time, I’ve found that I write editorials, I pour my heart and soul into them, and then nothing happens.

I'm burnt out on politics, because being the most liberal person I know hurts. I swear I'd give Noam Chomsky a run for his liberal money.  My editor keeps encouraging me to write more editorials spouting off my liberal views. But I lack the passion to do it anymore. It's like tilting at windmills and completely pointless to say anything liberal in today's political climate because things are so polarized. Either the reader agrees wholeheartedly, so you’re preaching to the choir, or their disagreement is so overwhelming that nothing could overcome it.

So, where does that leave the profundity?  Surely there are other topics to be all insightful about, other than politics, religion and philosophy.  Besides, sometimes life is in the details of the nine to five job or the vanilla soy milk or Harry Potter quiz.

Occasionally, in sorting through the various letters to the editor, I’ll get feedback on one of my editorials, and while I appreciate the feedback and the time people have taken to write, all of the letters about my editorials fall into one of two categories.  Either people agree with me on every point, or they attack my intelligence.

In one such case, I received a letter from a guy who said, "I'm the only one who has the sack to stand up to idiots like you."  I wanted to print it, but my Editor-in-Chief talked me out of it.  Still, I wish people would be more centrist.  But, I'm not centrist, so why should I expect others to be?

Civility can be a virtue.  But to be honest, sometimes the conservatives irk me just as much as I irk them. I've tried to be open-minded. I try to listen and be polite, but it just comes down to my conscience and logic.  How am I supposed to sit down and have a drink with someone and talk about a subject when I think they're completely off their rocker?

“I want to be able to go out with a conservative person and have a drink and not care that they're a conservative, or have to dance around political topics. We're all Americans; we shouldn't be enemies,” said Lane Haygood, a University of Texas student.

With my more conservative friends, I tend to just tip toe around politics, which feels wrong, because politics, religion, and philosophy are so important to me.  Friends should not need to hide themselves behind a wall of silence to avoid becoming enemies.

This has led to a crisis with my chosen career.  My editorials have lacked passion because I lack passion.  I've not been able to feel passion about politics for a while now because of all the bad blood between conservatives and liberals.  I don’t want either full agreement or full disagreement.  All I want is someone to say, “You’re right here, but have you considered this?”

Will this go away in a few years?  Could the current political climate be entirely responsible for what I am feeling?  I do not have the answers to these questions.

It isn't that I'm content with the current administration, it's that I feel extremely useless in this climate, which doesn't make me feel any better about the direction I want to take my career.

Of course, nothing limits me to writing editorials.  I’ve thought about focusing solely on Arts and Entertainment, such as movie reviews and profiles, but people keep telling me I'll feel unfulfilled if I don't keep up the political writing. I don’t have the answer to what I want to do either.

So, what does all this mean?  I know that progress requires civil discourse. But the solution to getting that discourse seems impossible and simple all at once.  Everyone should speak their mind and not be offended when others do the same.  But when the stakes are so high, it’s hard to that.  I don’t have the answers.  As much as I hate to admit it, I just don't know.

Copyright 2005

“They fight! And bite!

They fight and bite and fight!

Fight fight fight! Bite bite bite!”

By Amanda Evans

Date: 04/14/05