# Why do people feel the need to politicize everything? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 2, 2015, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-feel-the-need-to-politicize-everything/721490 "2015-06-02T23:37:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kimbosquee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@Kimbosquee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimbosquee)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-feel-the-need-to-politicize-everything/721490/1 "2015-06-02T23:37:10Z")
You could be having a discussion about toothbrushes or watching a video on YouTube of goldfish and someone will inevitably find a way to bring up politics. Next thing you know, there is a huge political debate/fight that is way out of place. I notice this happens more often with conservatives, and I’m not even a “liberal”. I just see the words “liberals”, “libtards”, and “Obama” way more often in irrelevant matters than the alternative. Whatever the political side, why do you think people are this obsessed with politics? It has nothing to do with the fact that it’s an election year, since this happens all the time. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-feel-the-need-to-politicize-everything/721490/2 "2015-06-02T23:40:54Z")
Do you know who…nahhh, I just can’t. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2015, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-feel-the-need-to-politicize-everything/721490/3 "2015-06-03T00:28:38Z")
You were going to blame Taft, weren’t you? ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2015, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-feel-the-need-to-politicize-everything/721490/4 "2015-06-03T00:32:30Z")
To me it would seem that to have a huge political debate/fight that you need two people. Why don’t you change the subject, say nothing at all or leave? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Joker\_and\_the\_Thief](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e79b87/32.png) [@The\_Joker\_and\_the\_Thief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Joker_and_the_Thief)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2015, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-feel-the-need-to-politicize-everything/721490/5 "2015-06-03T00:43:53Z")
Only [liberals/conservatives] politicize everything. More seriously, a lot of people have a great wealth of knowledge of politics and political arguments. Tying everyday situations back into politics allows them to make higher quality arguments with less effort than they would otherwise. It isn’t really different from a statistician who always mentions probabilities and regressions or an economist who can’t stop bringing up opportunity costs and game theory. People talk about what they know. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2015, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-feel-the-need-to-politicize-everything/721490/6 "2015-06-03T01:39:23Z")
The irony of the OP poking conservatives in a thread against politicizing everything is tasty. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2015, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-feel-the-need-to-politicize-everything/721490/7 "2015-06-03T02:03:01Z")
Why does the dog lick its own genitals? ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2015, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-feel-the-need-to-politicize-everything/721490/8 "2015-06-03T02:05:21Z")
Because life, the universe, and everything (including goldfish and toothbrushes) is, in truth, all Obama’s fault? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2015, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-feel-the-need-to-politicize-everything/721490/9 "2015-06-03T02:25:19Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Why does the dog lick its own genitals? Because they’re there? ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2015, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-feel-the-need-to-politicize-everything/721490/10 "2015-06-03T03:33:07Z")
If my spine were only a little more flexible, I’d never wear pants again… ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2015, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-feel-the-need-to-politicize-everything/721490/11 "2015-06-03T04:32:26Z")
I remember on “Democratic Underground” years ago when Bush was in office, it seemed like the whole thing was one big anti-Bush rant. And the things they blamed Bush for; Bad movies - Bush’s fault. Cant get a date? - Bush’s fault. Sky isnt blue enough? Bush’s fault. No I’m not kidding they were blaming everything on Bush. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2015, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-feel-the-need-to-politicize-everything/721490/12 "2015-06-03T05:15:26Z")
Pardon me, but hogwash. We opposed GWB on specific policy items, such as his proposal to privatize Social Security, or his mishandling of Hurricane Katrina. We didn’t blame him for the color of the sky. If anything, today’s Republicans are the ones engaged in excessive blame, such as the manufactured outrage over Benghazi. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2015, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-feel-the-need-to-politicize-everything/721490/13 "2015-06-03T22:12:26Z")
The one incident early in Obama’s first term which really boiled my blood was when he gave a speech at the beginning of the school year. It was one of those, “study hard, work hard” speeches , but it caused a controversy and parents kept their kids out of school to avoid a socialist indoctrination. Give me a break! ---
**Author:** ![Tiktaalik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7cd45c/32.png) [@Tiktaalik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tiktaalik)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2015, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-feel-the-need-to-politicize-everything/721490/14 "2015-06-03T23:10:18Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Why does the dog lick its own genitals? Because it can’t make a fist. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-feel-the-need-to-politicize-everything/721490/15 "2015-06-04T05:31:09Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Pardon me, but hogwash. We opposed GWB on specific policy items, such as his proposal to privatize Social Security, or his mishandling of Hurricane Katrina. > > We didn’t blame him for the color of the sky. If anything, today’s Republicans are the ones engaged in excessive blame, such as the manufactured outrage over Benghazi. Oh how soon we forget. “Bush derangement syndrome” was very real and democrats were freaking nuts! ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-feel-the-need-to-politicize-everything/721490/16 "2015-06-04T07:12:19Z")
I’ve seen people politicize FOOD! Remember freedom fries, people can associate random objects or places with the political spectrum. “yea I bet you’re an Obama voter if you do/eat/like X!” Apparently anything healthy, a bit exotic, vegetarian, or vaguely foreign is associated with left wing politics in the USA by nutters. You see it anywhere you have highly polarized parties though. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-feel-the-need-to-politicize-everything/721490/17 "2015-06-04T10:17:18Z")
I have seen this to some degree. There is a certain kind of right-winger who really hates Obama and/or progressive movement and can be provoked to rant about it easily. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-feel-the-need-to-politicize-everything/721490/18 "2015-06-04T10:52:25Z")
I had a co-worker who was black, and conservative, and was constantly making political jibes. One time another co-worker who was also black saw me showing him how to do something and said something like “man, they really got you slavin’ over that right?” And I could see my conservative co-worker mull over that phrase, and I was nervous, not because I was a white guy next to two black guys talkin’ ‘bout me slavin’ over them, but because I thought conservative co-worker was gonna say “you know, OBAMA is trying to make us slaves!” ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-feel-the-need-to-politicize-everything/721490/19 "2015-06-04T13:56:38Z")
> [@](#): > > Why do people feel the need to politicize everything? Because of Republicans. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-feel-the-need-to-politicize-everything/721490/20 "2015-06-04T14:57:19Z")
> [@The\_Joker\_and\_the\_Thief](#): > > More seriously, a lot of people have a great wealth of knowledge of politics and political arguments. Tying everyday situations back into politics allows them to make higher quality arguments with less effort than they would otherwise. It isn’t really different from a statistician who always mentions probabilities and regressions or an economist who can’t stop bringing up opportunity costs and game theory. People talk about what they know. I have a different theory. The vast, vast majority of people know diddly squat about politics. The people inserting discussion about Obama in some Youtube comments for an off-topic video probably don’t know the name of the Senate majority leader. They probably don’t know what party he belongs to. What they _do_ know, often, is what political tribe they belong to. And humans love to sort things by tribal affiliation. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-feel-the-need-to-politicize-everything/721490.md?page=2)