Shoot the Rationalist #1: Politics as a Sport

in #blog5 years ago

This is my first post on the new blockchain. Hopefully it won't be my last. I have thought much about how I would return to blogging regularly now that I don't have anything else to occupy my free time. Since everybody also happens to have lost their minds, I found an opportunity to do what I enjoy doing. Providing unwelcome thoughts deconstructing trends that don't make any sense.


Fragmented.png

My target this post happens to be the sports hooligan. You many ask why I would care about sports hooligans given that sports are the last thing on anyone's mind? Well, given that everybody's favorite sportsball teams are now sitting indefinitely on the sidelines, it appears that folks are out lurking like rabid dogs looking to score points for their favorite politician and dunk on the political naive who happen to disagree.

However, unlike the sports team that our avid fanatic passionately roots for, the politicians they cheer on make decisions that actually effect their well-being in both the short term and more importantly the long term. Stephen Curry's ability to shoot the deep three in the clutch doesn't impact the amount of taxes you'll be paying in 2021 or effects the economic environment that your grandchildren will grow up in. But rest assured that those kids will be Warriors fans and progressive-loving social democrats.

Hopefully for those grandchildren they select their politicians selfishly because that's the rational thing to do and it's what these fans should be doing. Looking at candidates records and picking the one that benefits them or their loved ones selfishly. That's how democracy is supposed to work. You vote in hopes of winning policy for yourself, not hoping the Red Party beats the Blue Party because your daddy was a Red Party fan. Now we have folks that don't know what they are talking about and happy to contradict themselves in order to petal candidates that in all honestly don't really care that their fans exist.

Maybe I'm just annoyed that we can't come together and agree on the same definitions and facts and start building from there. That some of us are too busy in these self-created echo chambers to see that our beliefs are more informed by our political heroes scoring victories against the other team than say a careful review of the available evidence.

Now I get denying the truth. I like to deny that the Lakers had a good chance of winning a championship. Why? Because as a fan of basketball parity and underdogs, I hate the Lakers. And I'll look for any piece of evidence that indicates that they won't win a championship so I can sleep better at night. Well, maybe I would if basketball was still be played. But what I'm am trying to get at is that same nature that gets one to talk shit about the Lakers is the same nature that gets one to convince themselves that Hillary Clinton controls the media and operates an underground slave trade operation that only our lord and savior's appointed holy angel Donald J. Trump can save us from.

Rooting for teams is fun, but rooting for politicians has potentially negative consequences and gets you into unnecessary fights with your neighbors and your extended family. Instead of throwing trash onto the field with propaganda laced perspectives, we could respectively find common ground, find where we disagree and understand why and make sure what we believe is compatible with our dreams and desires. Now that requires a little thought, but it isn't that hard. But I expect it will be too hard for most folks.

Now I could be apathetic about this whole situation, but staying a few steps ahead of the crowd is a good idea when the crowd is often unaware of the fragility of their situation until is the often too late. Because there's a lot more to worry about than Donald Trump's last press conference, Tiger Kings, and toilet paper.