# If you cry over politics, you're a pansy. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 6, 2008, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-cry-over-politics-youre-a-pansy/471394 "2008-11-06T01:47:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![muttrox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a8b319/32.png) [@muttrox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muttrox)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-cry-over-politics-youre-a-pansy/471394/101 "2008-11-06T18:25:37Z")
> [@Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](#): > > The fact that somebody would literally shed tears over something as remotely disconnected and intangible as an election means that they’re either… oh, this all sounds familiar. You see this election as disconnected and intangible from your life. Fine for you. Not everybody does. ---
**Author:** ![groo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecd19e/32.png) [@groo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groo)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-cry-over-politics-youre-a-pansy/471394/102 "2008-11-06T19:00:08Z")
Ich bin ein pansy. For the past several years, the phrase has been, “If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention.” I don’t think you need to cry, but if you didn’t have some emotions mixed in with the dispassionate, manly policies you voted for or against, you definitely have not beeen paying attention. Seeing the coffins on the cargo plane made me wince. Seeing the pictures of Abu Ghraib made me feel very unsettled. Seeing the Terry Schiavo debacle made me sad. And oh, we attacked a country for no compelling reasons on March 19, the day that was once reserved for the swallows coming back to San Capistrano. That’s my birthday, and some years, the only good thing I could see on my birthday was the “happy news” reports of the ushering in of spring. Now it’s a day for retrospectives on a stupid, callous and bitter decision that has cost thousands of lives, and for pictures of the thousands of blind, paraplegic or otherwise mangled soldiers whose lives are forever cursed for no real reason. Sue me if I’m wrong, but IMO these issues had something to do with politics. ---
**Author:** ![buttonjockey308](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@buttonjockey308](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buttonjockey308)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-cry-over-politics-youre-a-pansy/471394/103 "2008-11-06T19:35:13Z")
I must admit to having welled up at a speech of Obama’s. If that makes me a pansy, so be it. When I’m moved, I show it. Next time you’re in Chicago, ISOT, lets’ you and me run into a burning building and talk about politics and pansies. ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-cry-over-politics-youre-a-pansy/471394/104 "2008-11-06T19:39:13Z")
> [@Q.E.D](#): > > Skunk cabbage? _d & r_ That would be me. I would suggest toadstool for Luci. ---
**Author:** ![ToeJam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dfb087/32.png) [@ToeJam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ToeJam)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-cry-over-politics-youre-a-pansy/471394/105 "2008-11-06T20:30:21Z")
> [@Death\_of\_Rats](#): > > Thank you! You have given me hope and something to strive for! Does it count if I cry at the end of “Old Yeller”? Pfff… WUSS!🆒 Now if it were _Where the Red Fern Grows_… then you’ve got yourself a case. _sniff_ Man… i love that book. ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-cry-over-politics-youre-a-pansy/471394/106 "2008-11-06T23:26:17Z")
I bawl like an infant just thinking about Where the Red Fern Grows. Also the last two sentences of Charlotte’s Web. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-cry-over-politics-youre-a-pansy/471394/107 "2008-11-06T23:29:51Z")
This reminds me of when manly men have to one-up each other over everything. - I cried at the end of Hoosiers. - Fuck, that’s nothing, I wept openly at the end of Ol’ Yeller - Pussies! I sobbed like a little girl just looking at a flower this morning. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-cry-over-politics-youre-a-pansy/471394/108 "2008-11-07T00:25:55Z")
> [@Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](#): > > Condescending trolls who say ‘get a life’ will be first against the wall when the revolution comes. See if they aren’t. I can’t believe I am reposting to quote this again. I have no idea why this is tickling the hell out of me. I have laughed to tears and I have been using this at work all day. “People that don’t refill the coffee pot will be the first against the wall when the revolution comes. _See if they aren’t_” Is this a common saying, or is this strike of comedic brilliance all yours? I haven’t the foggiest why I am delighted by this quote. But thank you. Thank you, Soul Brother. ---
**Author:** ![ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-cry-over-politics-youre-a-pansy/471394/109 "2008-11-07T00:29:49Z")
No comment as to Soul Brother’s comedic genius 😉 but with a quick google of: “first against the wall” revolution I’m currently at 65 pages of results and counting… ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-cry-over-politics-youre-a-pansy/471394/110 "2008-11-07T00:33:34Z")
> [@Omegaman](#): > > How do you know it’s not pink? I dunno, it looked lavender to me. FWIW, I didn’t cry. Not until I heard the song “Yes We Can” on the former “Sarah Palin as President” website, of all places!-which has now been remodelled. Then I got a wee bit onion-eyed. The song, mind you, not the site itself. _If you believe they put a man on the moon…_ ---
**Author:** ![Omegaman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e480ec/32.png) [@Omegaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omegaman)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-cry-over-politics-youre-a-pansy/471394/111 "2008-11-07T00:38:17Z")
> [@LonesomePolecat](#): > > That would be me. I would suggest toadstool for Luci. ME TOO!!! The kind that grows in cow shit. Mmmmmm, I’m getting ready to retch just thinking about it. It’s always best after you cack. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-cry-over-politics-youre-a-pansy/471394/112 "2008-11-07T00:39:36Z")
> [@ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](#): > > No comment as to Soul Brother’s comedic genius 😉 but with a quick google of: > > “first against the wall” revolution > > I’m currently at 65 pages of results and counting… Yeah, but the real zinger is _“See if they aren’t”._ ---
**Author:** ![Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/soul_brother_number_two/32/3515_2.png) [@Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soul_Brother_Number_Two)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-cry-over-politics-youre-a-pansy/471394/113 "2008-11-07T00:44:41Z")
Thank yoo. I’ll be here all the week. ---
**Author:** ![Spiny\_Norman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Spiny\_Norman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiny_Norman)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-cry-over-politics-youre-a-pansy/471394/114 "2008-11-07T00:56:03Z")
> [@Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](#): > > The fact that somebody would literally shed tears over something as remotely disconnected and intangible as an election… Perhaps it’s not a given that elections are disconnected and intangible? Events in politics have concrete effects on people. (Sadly, the laissez-faire attitude has its effects, too.) 150 years ago, our current President-Elect would very likely have been somebody’s property, his mind wasted on field work, the world robbed of his talents. _That_ was changed by the power of the polling-box, by people getting engaged in politics, because they knew that the results were very tangible indeed. The old Athenians - who as you know were the first ones to come up with this entire “let’s put it to a vote” deal in matters of state - had a word for those who didn’t want to get engaged in politics, who were too absorbed with their own affairs to take part in running their state. And that word was “idiot”. I didn’t cry, but I might have. Because I _was_ engaged in this election. And I remain engaged in politics - it’s important. ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-cry-over-politics-youre-a-pansy/471394/115 "2008-11-07T01:17:24Z")
I was near Wall Street on 9/11 – when both planes hit and when both buildings came down. I trembled as I walked across the Brooklyn Bridge to get home because who knew if that bridge, as a American symbol, would be targeted. For months I was brave and stoic, but if you showed me one picture any individual who died that day, let alone groups of them, I fell apart and bailed like a baby. We just got rid of the President and the adminstration who ignored the warnings of 9/11 and who can’t – or won’t – go after the motherfucking who plotted that terror. I’m also a child of Mississippi who not only knows history but grew up hearing firsthand about the horrors that happened before the Civil Rights Act, etc. and even after, grew up two miles from Ole Miss where James Meredith and the Federal government took a stand for equal access to education and progress. On Tuesday, I saw a man elected President of the United States who symbolizes another societal giant step for this country and who I believe will make this country better, more united and safer and, if he can, will catch bin Laden. You’re damned right I cried. And for the record, I am a pansy. Fuck you. ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-cry-over-politics-youre-a-pansy/471394/116 "2008-11-07T01:23:24Z")
I “bawled,” I “bawled,” not “bailed” like a baby. And bin Laden’s a motherfucker. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-cry-over-politics-youre-a-pansy/471394/117 "2008-11-07T01:27:40Z")
> [@Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](#): > > Let me clarify: [things](http://www.theonion.com/content/node/89485) you’d be reasonable to cry over. Clockwise from top left: 1. Clearly a failure of politics. 2. An engineering failure, but also a failure of politics. 3. Probably a failure of politics (regulations and all that). 4. A failure of politics on multiple levels. So, it’s OK to cry about the multitudinous _results_ of politics, but never about politics itself, then? ---
**Author:** ![Kozmik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8dc957/32.png) [@Kozmik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kozmik)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-cry-over-politics-youre-a-pansy/471394/118 "2008-11-07T01:43:28Z")
Groundskeeper Willie said it best in _The Simpsons_. I dinna cry when me own father was hung for stealing a pig. But I’ll cry now. ---
**Author:** ![MadPansy64](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@MadPansy64](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadPansy64)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-cry-over-politics-youre-a-pansy/471394/119 "2008-11-07T02:17:45Z")
Pansies is nice. Flowerism is wrong! ---
**Author:** ![jali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecae2f/32.png) [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-cry-over-politics-youre-a-pansy/471394/120 "2008-11-07T02:44:12Z")
The OP is obviously a Vulcan - he doesn’t understand human emotion so I won’t waste my time trying to explain it to him. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-cry-over-politics-youre-a-pansy/471394.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-cry-over-politics-youre-a-pansy/471394.md?page=7)