Anyone who subscribed to the Xanga that I created Freshman year knows that I'm terrible at this sort of thing. I was good at posting for about 2 weeks and then...nothing. From time to time, my Xanga still futily reachs out to me from the vastness of cyberspace begging me to use it, but to no avail. Hopefully, this blog won't suffer the same fate. But on to the more important things...
The whole reason that I've started this blog is to give me a place to rant. Not general ranting about day-to-day things like work or school, but the single topic that inevitably causes a surge of frustration or anger to well up inside me: politics.
This election season has nearly driven me to drink. Heavily. I am so saturated with the (to steal a phrase Dr. Holland) "oral rot" that pours forth from the liberal media on a daily basis that I could slap someone (Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Randi Rhodes, or all three :). I feel as though reality is so distorted, manipulated, and in some cases completely obscured that people have no chance of seeing things for how they really are. Will the prevarications never end?!?!? But rather than draw their own conclusions and do their own research, the majority of Americans, in typical American fashion of late, swallow the exhaulted opinions of the liberal media and believe it as gospel truth. {Side note: does one capitalize gospel truth in this context?}
And though I'm typically referring to people of the liberal persuasion, I'm finding that its true of many Republicans as well. The difference is that, though they often don't really know why the believe what they believe, they happen to believe the right thing. That's another thing that I'm tired of: people who believe whatever they believe simply because they inherited it from their parents or they heard it on the news or their barber told them. I used to be one of those people. I respect my parents beliefs a great deal, but until about two or three years ago, I hadn't really made them my own. But I reached what I consider a watershed moment in the development of my own political philosophy: I had class with Linda Raeder. Undoubtedly one of the most brilliant people I have ever known, Dr. Raeder challenged me to examine my worldview and make it my own ("worldview" strikes me as a bit trite, but there isn't another word that will suffice). She showed me how complex a worldview is a how important it is to understand your own worldview and really subject it to scrutiny. If it's based in truth, it'll hold water. Since that time, I've been going through the process of really solidifying my worldview. I feel now that I don't have to make any apologies for my beliefs because I've spent alot of time thinking and praying about what I believe.
But I guess what I really struggle with is coming to grips with the fact that, despite the fact that truth of my beliefs seem as plain to me as the nose on my face, a majority of Americans think differently. How dare they! I vacillate between feeling like I know the truth and wondering if I missed the boat somewhere. I feel that if I really was RIGHT, then people would leave the wicked ways of liberalism and come over to the enlightened side of conservatism. In my mind, the justness of my beliefs and the worthiness of my cause should be readily apparent and appealing to everyone. Pretty arrogant and self-focused, isn't it?
I know this a really weird place to stop, but I'm tired of trying to organize my thoughts. I think this will be enough for now. Tune in for part two tomorrow...or maybe the day after.
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