I am officially forsaking politics for time and all eternity (well, at least I'd like to). Getting called "Crap For Brains" (Although not as nicely) by your english teacher for thinking that Lt. Ehren Watada should go to jail isn't the nicest experience ever.

I think its impossible to avoid politics in the school system now. The one behavior that is absolutely forbidden is being a conservative, which like it or not, I am. I have been called everything from ignorant to a racist at school because of my political standings. I know for a fact that I put in more research and study into my political views than most other students who blindly agree with everything their teachers say.

I'm tired of political intolerance and polarization.

Which is why I'm no longer have plans for college.

Rather than put up with four-plus more years of that, I'm just going to jump into the job sector. I've got a few tech certifications, and a job lined up with a small tech firm in Seattle to work tech support. Is this an extreme step? Yes, it is. Am I throwing my future away? Perhaps. I'm simply tired of having my core beliefs attacked on a cruel level. I recognize this is probably the most cynical I've ever been here, but I need to vent. At least here, the comments won't be directed at my face.

So this is sort of a rant thread, where you can complain about everything that's wrong in politics, namely, the polarization that is slowly tearing this country in two.

Have fun.

I'm sorry to hear that.
You should do whatever you feel is bad, and not get discouraged one way or the other. There are, regardless of what you are told, conservative students and professors on campus, for the most part there tends to be somewhat of a healthy debate on campus.

I would describe myself as politically liberal, but most of my friends I made in college are conservatives.

Politics can and does tend to be generally very mean and hurtful, because a lot of people view it as attacking personal believes. Just remember to open yourself up to different points of view, you can choose on way or another to accept or reject them. Even then labels are not everything, it's the person inside that matters.

Change fields if you have to, but I'll be blunt with you on this one topic: get a degree. Doesn't matter what in, but finish a degree. Your salary will thank you in a few years.

I think I reached the same point of :headwall: sometime last year. I used to be quite active politically, and did my best to explain my viewpoints whenever discussions went into those areas.

I had an epiphany though. I realized that all the stress I was enduring and the utter nonsensical irrelevant drivel that kept spewing out of people's mouths wasn't worth the hassle. The vast majority of people make up their minds on political issues based on the impressions they get from the news media they see while they're folding clothes waiting for the weatherman to tell them if they need a jacket tomorrow. Or perhaps they're sheep just following the herd. Beyond that, they're not going to listen to the musings of a stranger. The only people they are going to listen to are their personal heroes and family/friends they respect.

So, I decided to save myself a lot of time and stress and said :pfft: to the whole damn thing.

I honestly got a bit of satisfaction the first time I answered a political question with, "I don't care." I don't even remember the topic now, just the look on the guy's face.

There are a few people on the "other side" that I don't mind discussing politics with, just because I know it's not going to turn into a "Have you accepted Obama as your personal savior?" session. It's good to know what other (thinking) people think, even if you don't agree - it gives you insight and makes sure you know why you believe the way you do.

And ultimately, that's what matters. Make up your own mind - don't let someone else do it for you. Vote your conscience and talk to people that are willing to listen.

For everyone else, pick an answer from my Magic 8-ball:
"I don't care."
"I'd buy him a drink."
"Cut off his tallywhacker."
"Glass parking lot."

Politics are much more tolerable when they're all :realmad: and you just make fun of them for contributing to global warming. :jenn:

Lane, I withdrew from politics after 2004. I remember the day after the election, driving through campus and saying to my boyfriend that if people wanted to vote for the jackass who was going to raise their taxes while cutting them for his rich buddies, people could screw themselves over all they wanted because if I stay in the business world, pretty soon I'll benefit from the Republican economic policies myself.

And the day my brother went to Iraq, I stopped watching the news. I still don't know half of what's gone on. As I said in the other thread, I know a lot of people have been annoyed at McCain lately but I haven't got a kriffing clue why.

But I've never managed to stop caring, and I still can't stop myself from talking about it. Maybe I'm a glutton for punishment, but it's so much a part of me and the way I think. I've always gotten the same feeling from you.


And what Arin said: get your degree. Certifications or not, get a degree.

I suppose what I'm really getting at is that I'm tired of all the crap brought about by the two-party system. Anyone who thinks that a political party has all the answers for everyone is horribly, horribly misguided and foolish.

As far as college, I'm probably only going to take online courses. I'm sick of campus life.

And people are mad at McCain because he has the "nerve" to be more centrist than the far right/left politicians who are screwing this country into the ground.

Wow, that's just ridiculous.

I've been lucky so far in that I've had liberal and more conservative teachers, but all of them were tolerant of any thought out opinion.

The polarization of politics seems to almost have less to do with actual beliefs as just picking a side to make all things clearcut black and white. Life's a lot simpler without shades of grey...

I'm only beginning to get active in my local politics (even if I failed to register as a voter), but I'm already getting a little sickened by the DELIBERATE exploitation of ignorant voters by our despotic 'traditional politicians'. Instead of cutting to the cheese to present political platforms, some candidates in our upcoming elections are resorting to using showbiz fame and freebies to drum up support.

No offense really to the Americans here, but I hate how my country's policies kowtow to the USA. Our justice system got screwed over because of the Visiting Forces Agreement. I understand the importance of keeping the Philippines on good terms with the USA, but I disagree with having such a strong American military presence on Philippine soil.

Wow, and I thought I had problems with teachers. Actually, I don't recall ever discussing politics in college, not a single time for 5 years... We used to have political battles at school, but in university things like getting a lab done suddenly became more important. Before we could vote everyone wished they could, but than didn't even bother somehow.

Can't agree more... It's painful to see how practically EVERY country sucks up to US. I'm starting to think that bipolar world with PRC vs. USA would actually be better.

I'm politically active in that I vote in everything I'm entitled to - council elections, local elections, general elections.

I might not get the result I want, but at least I've registered my opinion. If you don't vote, you've got no right to complain.

I tend to view American politics with a horrified fascination, especially the powerful Christian influence. Overtly linking politics and religion is rarely a vote-winner here, and tends to make people suspicious. I don't mind that Tony Blair is a church-going Christian - that's his business. I would object if his policies, and hence my life, were openly affected by the church's beliefs. For example, I don't want a politician telling me I can't be taught evolution, because his church insists that their beliefs are the only acceptable beliefs.

The ironic part of the whole Christian influence and the claims that the US is a Christian nation is that we flat-out aren't.

Our government is forbidden from endorsing a particular religion. And yet....

That is, perhaps what pisses me off the most about our politics here.

The problem is that religion is important to a lot of people and I'll admit they'll take it to varying degrees. You have to remember that among the Founding Fathers there were varying degrees and different religions among them.

If I remember Sam Adams was very religious, where as others were deist, and thought that God had no hand in anything past creation of the world.

Religion is excluded from politics, primarily because of what happened with Europe. The struggle for power between the Catholic Church and the Kingdoms of Europe.

I'm probably lucky in that my school is generally apolitical, and the few teachers that do discuss politics tend to do so from both sides. Debates are always fun. Same thing for Religious Education lessons. Most of the RE teachers were Christian, but I had some good debates with them without them being overly condescending.

And I'm going to agree with the "Rest of Worlders" in saying that too many governments suck up to the US. Bush says jump, Blair, Merkel and Howard ask "How high?" It gets tiring after a while, to the point where we're amused to see France standing up to the US. Of course, when that did happen, I saw loads of posts on message boards saying that the US should go to war with France because of it...

Makes me wonder what some Americans are brought up to think, if they reply to a simple threat of veto with warlike tendencies. Hell, the US pushes through more vetoes than anyone else, but no one gets up in arms about that...

America going to war with _France_?!? Oh, I can picture that - thousands of refugees pooring to British Ilse on boats, American airforces bombing Louvre, Eifel Tower lying in peices... By the way, anyone saw "American world police" cartoon? How they *liberated* Paris?

Yeah, I loved that movie!
You know, France isn't the only country that tells America where to stick it, tiny little New Zealand did as well.

American military presence:

-Who, in the process of liberating Manila from Japanese rule in 1945, decimated the city with bombs?

-Who can enter the country without a passport???

-And my biggest beef of all: the infamous case of an American soldier who, while going for training here, was supposed to have raped a Filipina he was acquainted with. To think that the USA very subtly pressured our government into helping that man evade our justice system! That's cause, in my opinion, to burn up that Visiting Forces Agreement.

Every superpower the world has seen has, with time, fallen by the wayside. The US will be no exception.