Established 1826 — Oldest College Newspaper West of the Alleghenies
OPINION

Talking about politics isn’t for everyone

Creative Commons Photo

Milam's Musings, milambc@miamioh.edu

There's this great Kurt Vonnegut quote about what young people ought to do with their lives. He says, "...the most daring thing is to create stable communities in which the terrible disease of loneliness can be cured." The weekly white space on the Miami Student Opinion page can often feel quite lonely. Not to say anything, either, of the space occupied between my ears.

For my new Musings column, I had an idea about how politics is and has always been about optics, the theater of "doing something," even if doing something isn't the right choice.

I was working on the opening line, sipping on hot chocolate, which in typical fashion, burned my tongue and getting into the "zone" with the help of the Jurassic Park soundtrack slowed down 1000 percent (seriously, seek it out).

But then, I stopped, overwhelmed by the meta musing: Does it matter? Does the ink I'm "laying down" even matter?

Often I am asked why do I care about politics and more to the point, why do I write about politics. After all, detractors say, what happens in Washington and certainly what happens in, say, Iraq, has no bearing on my day-to-day living.

That's technically true. A roadside bomb that killed seven people in Egypt the day of this writing doesn't change that I have to wake up at 3:30 AM tomorrow and go to work.

However, this line of questioning gets at this weird grey area politically-minded young people find themselves in.

The older generation snidely attacks us for our naiveté. If we're engaging in politics, then our voices are drowned out by the label of inexperience. Such an odd criticism when you consider that a young person can't help that they are young. Oldness does not equate to rightness, either, even with a wealth of experience.

Then if we're not engaging in the political process, we're lambasted for being apathetic. This presents a no-win situation.

Our peers are no better, as they come at us with the "why does it matter" question.

Enjoy what you're reading?
Signup for our newsletter

And to be honest, I took about an hour break after I wrote that last sentence, re-filled my hot chocolate mug -- burned my tongue again -- and did my usual Internet clickety-clack procrastinating to come to the conclusion: I don't have an answer. I don't know why politics should matter to you.

Just as people don't understand why I'm a political junkie, I don't understand why people aren't. I don't have the answer to bridging that gap.

On Jimmy Kimmel Live Oct. 7, he sent a crew on the streets of Los Angeles to ask people who Joe Biden is. Now, obviously, since it's television, I assume it takes a lot of interviews to get the right people to make the segment funny. Nevertheless, the segment is filled with people that have no idea that Joe Biden is the Vice President of the United States.

I couldn't imagine not knowing who Joe Biden is. But at the same time, if my dad or brother, both long-time Dallas Cowboys fans, asked me who the running back of the Cowboys is, I'd stare back with a stupid look on my face. I have no idea (after consulting with said dad, it's DeMarco Murray, the leading rusher of the NFL).

Likewise, they can't imagine not knowing who Murray is.

My best friend works seven days a week at a factory, often 12-hours or more a day. Since he has low seniority, this past week he spent a considerable chunk of his time scrubbing toilets.

When he gets home and just wants to play Destiny, can I fault him for not reading the New York Times' latest long-form investigation into chemical weapons in Iraq?

People lead busy, hectic lives with issues right in their face: A child with a fever, a student loan payment to be made or a car breaking down. The protests in Hong Kong are a peripheral problem that doesn't compare.

As a political junkie, I think you ought to care. I think you ought be concerned with things bigger than yourself or your immediate situation. It's worthwhile to exercise your empathy, to care about the "other," and all these things.

But I can't make you and I get why you don't.

I get why people tune out of the hyper-connected world we find ourselves immersed in. We bounce from tragedy to tragedy, hashtag activism to hashtag activism, along with scandal and corruption among the political class. It creates cynicism, pessimism and apathy.

Sometimes I lose myself in this gap between those who care and those who don't. The effort to write, talk and share the happenings of the world often seems like a futile endeavor.

Sometimes I also lose myself in the gap between my ears. Inundated daily with news stories and the need to get my "fix" with politics, it becomes easy to lose perspective.

When I read that New York Times investigation into Iraq's chemical weapons, I get a swelling of indignation and intensity to where I wanted to bellow from the rooftops, "Do you feel this way, too?"

No, a lot of people don't and that's hard to reconcile.

Then I'll get an email from someone thanking me for providing the voice they didn't have on an issue and it reminds me why I write. I write because I want to make people feel, connect and to think when they read my words, "I care, too."

I'm not the type of person that's going to lead a march through Washington D.C. or shout from a megaphone. I can only transmit my voice, my "musings," through ink and hope it reaches someone.

Kurt Vonnegut also said, "Many people need desperately to receive this message: 'I feel and think much as you do, care about many of the things you care about, although most people do not care about them. You are not alone.'"

Selfishly, yes, even desperately, I like to hear that it matters, too.

Read More

Trending