My job as mod here doesn’t require me knowing that stuff. I don’t mod forums where politics are heavily discussed.
Is that all that “politics” means to you?
I can understand not thinking that your vote matters and that voting is just a waste of time. I can also understand someone thinking that the issues are just too complicated and that they don’t have information or knowledge enough to make an informed decision.
But, today, in Arizona (the state listed in your location), they’re voting on whether or not your friends & neighbors get sick leave. I don’t understand not caring about that (either “wow, that’s going to be really expensive for ___ who might need to go out of business because they can’t afford it” or “that’s going to be great for _____ who won’t have to stumble to work when they’ve got the flu or risk losing pay.”).
At least some of the people you know are going to be personally affected by that vote…I don’t understand how you can care about those people and not care about the stuff that’s going to happen to them. (Now whether or not it makes it worth your time to vote is a different question)
If someone is so tuned out that they don’t know the difference between a conservative and a liberal, or a Republican and a Democrat, or even, apparently, what those words mean, it’s probably for the best that they don’t vote.
I vote in DC, which is absolutely useless. Stein and Johnson will probably beat Trump here. There is possibly a housecat who will get more votes than Trump. We have no Congressional representation other than Eleanor Holmes Norton, who I like but is essentially running unopposed. But I did it anyway, mainly because i like to feel like I’m part of the process, along the lines of what Octopus posted above.
But ignorance is a compelling reason not to vote. If you somehow have no idea who Trump or Clinton are or what they believe, if you would just be picking a name at random, then please stay home. There was some school board selection I skipped because I knew nothing about the candidates. I’d hate to find out I’d voted for a lunatic over a qualified candidate.
Regarding people who protested for civil rights in the 1960s: I’m curious if you ever think to yourself whether you could/ought to display the same selfless devotion to any cause that these people did, though the cause may be different today; or if you have any regret if the answer is, “No, I could not see myself trying to change things the way that they did.”
Do you think the people who marched for civil rights are born different than you? Not in terms of race or whatever, but in terms of conviction, morals, ethics, or other matters of character? How so?
Last question, and I’ll take a pause to let others continue beating up on you. Is it difficult for you to judge other peoples’ words and actions in terms what you believe is right or wrong? Like, maybe you rarely think about such questions, or you feel like it is too subjective an issue for you to reach conclusions, or it isn’t appropriate for you to do so?
Well, like I posted in the election “Who Voted?” thread, I feel I wasted a half hour standing in line to cast a vote that was absolutely meaningless (for Prez).
Really only went for local Question One and Two.
You know that legalizing marijuana and raising the minimum wage are both on the ballot this year, right?
His Mom throwing out his Jackie Collins books, and after he’d underlined the dirty bits in orange crayon too.
Wow. That’s amazingly contemptible.
I appreciate the fact that you choose not to vote, if you are not interested in the subject matter enough to read up about it and get informed. There are enough uninformed voters out there as it is. Democracy’s flaw is the uninformed electorate.
If there’s no way to get your attention long enough to inform you how to play football, for example, then you definitely shouldn’t be on the field. That just leads to fumbles.
This ranks right up there with choosing not to donate to a charity. It is your money. It’s not a crime to not donate, and it’s not a crime to not vote. It may not be the best outcome, but it is better than you donating to like a hate group that wants to change the laws and jail all the gay people or something.
I understand the arguments that say it is not. Being unaligned and not involved is a freedom that I respect. Just like being a conscientious objector in warfare. Just like choosing not to subscribe to a newspaper, or choosing not to have access to the internet. Choosing not to join a political party. Choosing not to join a church.
I don’t really care what the underlying reason is. Neutral is also fine. Agnostic is fine. Not a soldier is fine. Not a subscriber is fine. The moment it becomes not fine, a loner like me is going to start getting pretty pissed off. I want the right to be left alone. In fact, that’s the entire reason I’m involved politically. I want busybody religious conservatives to keep their beliefs away from my rights. Believe what you want, do what you want, leave me the hell alone. Bottom line.
So,
TLDR, my position: Neutral is also fine.
Switzerland didn’t stand up to the nazis. Doesn’t make them evil. Gandhi wouldn’t have either, and I consider him quite moral.
Actually, I think the OP speaks for a lot of people who aren’t voting today. Even those with no voice have a voice. They’re indifferent because they’re too exhausted to see their efforts go to waste, and lack of voter turnout can mainly be attributed to unappealing candidates and labyrinthine issues.
Idle’s thoughts have certainly generated a lot of interest. I’m lucky to get more than a couple of responses to any of my OPs.
Speaking for myself, I don’t want to see Trump elected, but I’m not sure Hilary is a better choice. She’s going to be continually butting heads with Repub congressmen who still bear a grudge for Bill, and they’ll probably derail all her efforts sheerly out of spite. All we’ll see for the next four years will be more pissing and spitting in DC, and nothing will get done. The reason why all these contemptible maggots are in Washington is because we VOTED for them. See how not voting can be preferable?
I don’t even care whether he votes. A lot of people don’t. But why is it threadworthy? Why do posters create threads to announce that they’re ignorant and like it that way? Or to boast about some asshole thing they did, like stiffing a delivery driver for some petty non-reason? Not everything needs to be shared; in fact, quite the opposite.
For example: the other day I was pissing at a urinal and the end of my belt slipped down and got splashed with urine. I had to rinse it off in the sink, hoping nobody would walk in and see me. Did I come here to tell everyone about it? NO! I mean, not until now…
No, those things could happen, but you obviously don’t care, or you would ensure that your rights aren’t taken away.
Those are things you say you care about, but what I said was that your definition of “caring” may be different than mine. You haven’t explained what you mean when you say you “care about” something.
When I care about something, I want to ensure that it has a place in the world; that is not going to be removed or destroyed or killed or injured. Things that I care about are things that I seek to improve the stature of in the world, to resist their erosion. People that I care about I seek to keep on the planet, to keep in my life. Things that I care about are not just things that I spent time doting on, they are things that I spend time making sure that I will have time to dote on them.
Could you elaborate on what you mean when you say you “care about” something?
I wish I had the motivation and level of enthusiasm to, but honestly, I don’t. I’m a supporter in things like that, but I have to admit I’m a bare minimum supporter. I’m the “I say I support it and do my best to stand up for it and fight against it if I see it happening online or in real life” type, but not the “actually go out and march or do anything that would probably make a huge difference” type. My level of laziness is just too high.
They had more drive than I. More get up and go and pep. I get tired just thinking about getting up to go check the mail.
Far be it for me to judge anyone about anything unless it’s very clearly morally or illegally wrong.
I didn’t. It doesn’t really change my opinion of if I should vote or not, though.
I hope they win. I have faith and trust that they will even without my one vote.
Pretty much. It’s a large part of it. To me, politics is like an interest or subject in school. I’m not good at it, I don’t find it interesting or intriguing, I fall asleep or get easily distracted when talking about it or when it comes up. I just haven’t really had anything about it keep my attention or invoke a compelling or strong enough reason in me to ever care more so about them.
[QUOTE=Snowboarder Bo]
Could you elaborate on what you mean when you say you “care about” something?
[/QUOTE]
If I care about something, then I actually want to learn about it and find out all I can about it. It deserves my attention.
ETA: I’m sorry, I falsely attributed a quote made by Bo to Ravenman, accidentally. I’ve tried to fix it.
My response is more of “That’s incredibly lazy and ignorant of you, and I think less of you as a result.” It’s certainly his right to do so, but it’s not a good look.
I have a feeling I’ll miss the edit window with this, so:
Idle Thoughts, do you have pets? I do.
I care for my pets.
I love them, I love having them around. I love to pet them and play with them. They are a source of great joy. So I care for them that way.
I also care for them by feeding them, by cleaning their letterbox, by making sure they have fresh water. I take them to the vet when they are sick. I’ve paid large sums of money for their healthcare because I don’t want them to die or be sick.
My cats deserve to be maintained and looked after, IMO, if only for the selfish reason that I want them to stay in my life and be the healthiest, happiest cats they can be.
Even if it gets reduced down to “I care about them because I care about me”, the result is the same: my cats are well-fed, healthy and comfortable, with as little as possible actively threatening their lives. I work hard to keep things that way, because I care about them.
So what do you mean when you say you “care about” something?
It’s probably a good thing that people like you, with shitty attitudes towards civic responsibility, don’t vote. You’d vote for assholes like Trump,
Not voting still sucks.
Nah, I wouldn’t vote for Trump. If I did vote, I’d be voting for Hillary, although my first choice for voting was Bernie Sanders, to be honest.
Snowboarder Bo, I don’t know how to better answer your question than I already have.
Not voting is basically saying "I want everyone else to do the work of a civil society - I can’t be bothered to understand the issues or get my ass off the couch. But sure as hell I will bitch and complain about “the government”.
To the OP:
I am curious as to what your view is on other elements of collective responsibility,
Examples:
Littering: you throwing your individual burger wrapper out the window won’t ruin the view, but if everyone did it it would be bad.
Conservation/recycling: One person won’t have any affect on the environment but everyone reducing energy use could make a big difference.
Along similar lines I would be interested in your response to this post
Since this seems to be an accurate description of your view. Other people vote, so you don’t have to.
AKA: “I’m ignorant, and sort of proud of it. I don’t plan on learning anything new in my life, even if it’s important.”
Keep on waving your proud ignorance flag.