Amiable Enemies

[homais]

There are a lot of people and groups out there whose agendas I oppose, sometimes bitterly. I'm less opinionated than some, and a heck of a lot less opinionated than most of the people who go into my particular line of work: I don't have strong feelings on cap-and-trade, for instance. I just sort of shrug diffidently when asked what I think about

Comments

[dubaiwalla]

What good does a strong opinion actually do, other than provide intellectual stimulation and occasional spirited conversation?
I imagine it would help you vote.

[homais]

Oh, come now. Developing a comprehensive set of stances to educate yourself on how to cast (one) vote (out of zillions) intelligently is like lighting a furnace to burn a hair. Especially in America, where you don't even have a lot of choices.

[dubaiwalla]

Didn't see much about comprehensiveness/depth in the original post. In any event, regardless of whether you have even a basic grasp of major issues, you can rest assured that some other people will. And their interests/agenda might not match your own. Which means if you're not careful, they will have an undue influence on policy, and potentially, your future. So it's one thing not to have a strong opinion on OSHA compensation policies for people who break their wrists in industrial accidents at warehouses, but if you could care less about the existence of workplace safety laws, Bad Things can and will happen.

[homais]

I disagree. I've heard that line before - if you don't have an opinion, other people will, and they're going to cause you grief - and in practice I don't buy it. Any one person can only have a small handful of issues on which they'll be even remotely effective - meaning either giving time or money to doing something about it - simply because of time and resource constraints. So on that small handful of issues - which you should pick carefully - yes, have an opinion. But for everything else, all you get to do is vote, which is really low-granularity. Rest assured, of all the reasons that made me vote for Obama, his stance, whatever it is, on workplace safety wasn't very high up there. And yet I'm (generically) pro workplace safety. What good would it do anyone for me to flesh that opinion out, or express it more intensely?

[henkkuli]

There are two axes along which I hate politics (jeez, stilted, but that's how it came out in my head). The first is the horserace aspect -- George Packer had a hilarious sendup of the style typical of it here -- which is hugely irrelevant but somehow all-dominant. The second is how politicians and the pundit class (the latter a waste of carbon and total leeches on society who perform approximately zero work of any value, material or intellectual or otherwise) cast their opponents not just as wrong, but also as terrible, terrible people.

It's frustrating to me because I am genuinely interested in policy from a wonk standpoint, but the way the relevant information is structured and processed and accessed, I must necessarily expose myself to politicians and the pundit class to a degree. I think this is the root cause of the Politics Junkie Who Hates Politics phenomenon.

**Edit: I need to distinguish "pundits" from "journalists." The line is blurred but there is a difference.

[homais]

Whereas I'm not even a true wonk. Not really. If I were, I wouldn't be getting a PhD. I'd be policy-wonking.

But I'm still a recovering politics junkie, and the hatred comes from a similar place as yours. If your interest is in something other than the self-referential, choking dust cloud of commentary, well, engaging with political life gets stressful.

For the record, I don't consider the Shouting Classes to be illegitimate enemies, in my parlance. They're not even enemies. They're distracting and bad for my blood pressure.

[john1082]

**Edit: I need to distinguish "pundits" from "journalists." The line is blurred but there is a difference.

Yeah, pundits make more money and sell books pushing their punditry, thereby making even more money.

Journalists, well, just look to Uncle Walter.

Who do you trust?

[spiffieus]

Another reason to develop a political opinion: If you say your opinion rather well, then *other* people will start thinking/talking about the issue, and eventually it will get to somebody who will actually do something about it.

For example, I think yours is the only blog that I read that mentions politics, so I'm unlikely to encounter a political conversation at all unless you happen to mention your view on it. Not to, like, pressure you to write about politics. I'm just offering another potential reason than mental exercise.

Also, standing for something is a way to know yourself -- man, I like arguing things.

There's nothing wrong with considering your opinions and taking a while to develop them. Perhaps I'm reading into it, but you sound kinda defensive about this. Why?

[homais]

Oh, you're not over-reading to say I'm a little defensive about this. Of course I am. My way of doing things isn't the norm, and it bears a close resemblance to an ugly moral relativism, or just moral cowardice.

Also, standing for something is a way to know yourself

I agree. That's why I wrote this thing. Partially, it was to figure out my own thoughts. But I can do that in a private journal. I put it here because I am taking a stance. It's meta - a stance about taking stances - but it's something I believe, and I want to come out of the closet about it, because I may not be the only one out there who feels slightly bullied by people with strong, well-defined value systems who have firm stances on everything.

I mean this rather seriously - it's an issue I cared enough about to write a blog post, because I do think that we are faced with a world that is too complex to really understand, too many important issues to choose from, and no clear guide on how to choose between them for our attention. Feeling that you 'have' to care

[latestarter]

Thoughtful post and thoughtful comments.

I agree that opinions can have an effect on others, especially on those who have come to trust the opinion giver. That might be as benign as going to see a film that a reviewer has raved about; or as potentially dangerous as mistrusting or maligning a person, or whole cultural group, because of taking on board a misplaced opinion

[homais]

Alas, the comments. This is an old problem, and unfixable without completely redoing the page style. I've tried before, and I just tried again. The background color on the comments bar is also the color of the border between different parts of the page with the style I'm using: lightening the comment background makes everything else look really stupid. I'm pondering a total redesign, but I have to admit I otherwise really like this format.

[john1082]

Traditional political discourse has been lost. It is now a zero sum game with the best financed pundit winning.

My path to personal nirvana; YMMV

[colinmarshall]

No opinions on policy issues, because I don't know anything about the issues -> opinions on policy issues, because I know something about the issues -> no opinions on policy issues, because I know more than something about the issues.

(This may turn out to be a cycle.)

Re: My path to personal nirvana; YMMV

[homais]

YMMV? I feel like I should recognize that,but I don't.

Re: My path to personal nirvana; YMMV

[colinmarshall]

Why, Your Mileage, it May Vary.