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You are here: MacNN Forums > Community > MacNN Lounge > Political/War Lounge > Is politics starting to look like a game/movie to you?

Is politics starting to look like a game/movie to you?
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macintologist
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Aug 1, 2008, 12:46 PM
 
I've become so disillusioned with politics in the last two years, after listening to Free Talk Live, taking many classes in college on public policy, Constitutional law and foreign policy, seeing how ****ed up everything is and how impossible it is to fix, I've started to see political news as just a game. McCain/Obama is just a drama or soap opera that's fun to keep track of on a daily basis.

From this strictly drama/game perspective, I'm rooting for Obama because he is more interesting or "bad ass" of a character than McCain. I don't give a crap about substance or policies because my life will not be any different and things will hardly change depending on who actually ends up in the White House.

McCain in the whitehouse would suck ass and would be boring as hell. Obama would look cool and make me feel better, policies be damned.

Ron Paul was actually an inspiring candidate and gave me a little hope. But he lost so that shattered any optimism I had left that things could change.

I'll still vote in November, probably for Bob Barr and 3rd parties for all the local elections.

Anyone else see politics as a game?
     
Uncle Doof
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Aug 1, 2008, 01:03 PM
 
Yep, it's all just a circus to distract us from what's really happening.

Obama or McClain - it doesn't really matter who gets in, whatever the puppetmasters want to happen will happen.
If you don't want to be eaten, stop acting like food
     
besson3c
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Aug 1, 2008, 01:07 PM
 
I definitely see it as a game, but I tend to blame the media and general public more than I do the candidates themselves. The candidates themselves play the game, but I think that if they didn't they wouldn't get themselves elected, so it's all rather circular. However, I tend to think that it is the media and general public that are driving this bus.

Once elected, while you are right that many issues will be turned into political football, many others won't... For instance, the whole wiretapping/FISA thing just seems like a little too cerebral an issue for Joe Sixpack, as does the Rove inquiries. That is, there will be people cheering on the sidelines across the usual partisan lines, but what determines the outcome of this has more to do with the nitty gritty of laws than political activism. Therefore, I think it still makes a little difference who gets elected, since somebody is needed to champion and drive these sorts of issues.
     
TheWOAT
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Aug 1, 2008, 04:19 PM
 
Its more like wrestling... and McCain is The Undertaker.
     
Helmling
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Aug 1, 2008, 04:21 PM
 
Don't you mean he'll soon need an undertaker?
     
subego
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Aug 1, 2008, 06:03 PM
 
Somewhere around the 3rd or 4th season, the writing for the villainous mastermind character...



got like, waaaay over the top.

Shamelessly lifted from Jon Stewart & Co.
     
el chupacabra
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Aug 1, 2008, 07:43 PM
 
The person in the white house has a lot of power. I blame the average man for the "game show" it's become. The whole "I hate politics, I don't wanna learn it..... It doesn't make any difference anyway".

If people actually did their duty and payed attention to whats going on in the world rather than their own immediate worthless excuse of a life 24/7, we might have a decent congress.
     
smacintush
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Aug 4, 2008, 08:41 PM
 
It's always been this way people. Nothing new.
Being in debt and celebrating a lower deficit is like being on a diet and celebrating the fact you gained two pounds this week instead of five.
     
CRASH HARDDRIVE
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Aug 4, 2008, 11:20 PM
 
Originally Posted by el chupacabra View Post
If people actually did their duty and payed attention to whats going on in the world rather than their own immediate worthless excuse of a life 24/7, we might have a decent congress.
You know, I hear this sort of thing trotted out a lot, and it's one of those things that seems to sound good on the surface, but in reality doesn't mean much.


If people just stop living their own lives 24/7 and.... do what, exactly? Spend inordinate amounts of time worrying about what some bunch of stuffed shirts and bureaucrats are supposedly going to do for them?

I know the sentiment you're expressing, but actually, in the real world, I think it's a load.

I think a larger problem is exactly the opposite- more and more people don't spend enough time and effort focusing on their own lives, IE: how to actually live them productively, healthy, and wisely- and instead are taught that some "better" bunch of stuffed shirts and idiot bureaucrats are going to someday, somehow do it for them.

There is, and never will be a substitute for learning how to live your own life, and take care of self (and beyond that family) first and foremost. All the political crap in the world scores way down the list from that.
     
el chupacabra
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Aug 5, 2008, 10:45 PM
 
Originally Posted by CRASH HARDDRIVE View Post
If people just stop living their own lives 24/7 and.... do what, exactly? Spend inordinate amounts of time worrying about what some bunch of stuffed shirts and bureaucrats are supposedly going to do for them?

I know the sentiment you're expressing, but actually, in the real world, I think it's a load.

There is, and never will be a substitute for learning how to live your own life, and take care of self first and foremost. All the political crap in the world scores way down the list from that.
Well I agree in part about people taking care of themselves. Living their own life. I was very vague I see. I said 24/7 because I think somewhere in the week people can and should take an hour or so away from the 10 they spend getting drunk, and wasting money on the latest fad, to 'pay attention' to whats going on; in the world, In their community, their state, city, nation ....any one of those. They should do this because it affects them in a big way.... and most people on macnn at least know why they're voting for who they are... so can everyone else, and it's not like we live for politics or anything.

I think a larger problem is exactly the opposite- more and more people don't spend enough time and effort focusing on their own lives, IE: how to actually live them productively, healthy, and wisely- and instead are taught that some "better" bunch of stuffed shirts and idiot bureaucrats are going to someday, somehow do it for them.
so... I could say the same. in the real world, I think it's a load. because people will never take care take of themselves in all the ways they can..... regardless of whether or not they should. I think your sentence should say "focusing on leading responsible lives".
Part of focusing on whats important in people's lives should involve politics. I realize conservatives don't want any government.
But we need government. This isn't 1800. Part of the problem has to do with weapons technology. The big organizations have it...the people don't. there can never be a revolution again against the major power. Thats one reason why we should be glad we're not in too opressive of a society and do what we can to keep it that way. We can't defend ourselves from warlords trying to seize power. This is the age of multibillion dollar organizations, monopolies, a corrupt medical system run by insurance & drug companies (driving the price out of control), cartels, slavery, crime, natural disasters, extremely limited land and resources, international trade and with it comes disease & invasive species.

Government regulates these things and organizes us into civilized society. Without it everyday and every place would be a mix of Somalia and Katrina-chaos . If the government wasn't in control, a corporation would be. Worrying about our own immediate selves will not solve these problems the way government does.

You view them as bureaucrats and stuffed shirts because thats what the population has made them by not participating. The whole point of the system wasn't so you could get stuffed shirts to "run your life for you". It's so you could participate and voice your opinion on decisions that will be made with or without you. They have to be made. People have made a habit of getting riled up and angry once the decisions have already been made and the damage has been done....Then they feel entitled to having everything fixed because they didn't want to be bothered with it when it was being discussed. As a result of all this constant complaining our government has shifted if's purpose to cater to complainers. And when the few of us that see it as a game show, stuffed shirts etc, give up completely it's all going to hell. At least for now our local polics arn't quite as bad as the presidency.

Politics isn't hard... I don't think people should make it a hobby. But Im tired of asking people why they chose who they did and hearing "Because Obama Rocks!!!! Hillary ugly!!1!!!" "Ron Paul racists!!!!" "Naders crazzzyessss !!"
"Kerry's not Bush!" "Romney mormons bad rarr !!!" "Im gonna tape a captain morgans to each hand tonight !!! I'm gonna go do a beer bong ....just like I did last weekend and the weekend before that!!! woooooo!!! Im so cool!!!!!1111111111111111
( Last edited by el chupacabra; Aug 5, 2008 at 11:01 PM. )
     
Helmling
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Aug 5, 2008, 10:58 PM
 
Originally Posted by smacintush View Post
It's always been this way people. Nothing new.
Tru dat
     
brugesman
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Aug 6, 2008, 04:50 PM
 
Governments can only screw the people only if the people aren't paying attention.
     
vmarks
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Aug 6, 2008, 05:07 PM
 
Jim Carville, political consultant to Mr. Clinton, once said "Politics isn't just a game, it's the only game that matters."
     
Doofy
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Aug 6, 2008, 06:21 PM
 
Politics is showbusiness for ugly people.
Been inclined to wander... off the beaten track.
That's where there's thunder... and the wind shouts back.
     
Chuckit
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Aug 6, 2008, 06:57 PM
 
Originally Posted by brugesman View Post
Governments can only screw the people only if the people aren't paying attention.
I think most people are well aware that the tax code exists.
Chuck
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el chupacabra
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Aug 6, 2008, 07:33 PM
 
but how many people have read it?
     
Doofy
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Aug 6, 2008, 07:37 PM
 
Originally Posted by el chupacabra View Post
but how many people have read it?
I'm gonna go with "zero". Uh huh. Not even the guys who wrote it have read it all. I mean, it's three and a half million words long or something stupid like that, no?
Been inclined to wander... off the beaten track.
That's where there's thunder... and the wind shouts back.
     
Chuckit
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Aug 6, 2008, 07:59 PM
 
Originally Posted by el chupacabra View Post
but how many people have read it?
Do you really need to read it to be aware you're getting poked?
Chuck
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