General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsI find the whole emotional attachment/opposition thing to politicians to be kind of weird...
... and counterproductive. Then again I'm the type of person who would rather stare at the wall in a Dr.'s office waiting room than flip through a People magazine or US Weekly. Could I be the only one?
Union Scribe
(7,099 posts)And that wall will probably be there longer than those people will be famous, for the most part, so it's a better thing to study if one must choose between the two!
devils chaplain
(602 posts)Union Scribe
(7,099 posts)VanillaRhapsody
(21,115 posts)Politics is a messy business...
devils chaplain
(602 posts)polichick
(37,152 posts)although I did fall a little bit in love with Caroline Kennedy the day we registered voters together.
devils chaplain
(602 posts)nomorenomore08
(13,324 posts)to have voted for him twice. Of course, there was also the whole voting-against-the-Republican thing both times, more so in 2012.
polichick
(37,152 posts)one policy at a time and agree or disagree with that.
Little Star
(17,055 posts)And like you I also find him likable, in fact very likable.
devils chaplain
(602 posts)people here "love" him or "hate" him. Frankly, a leader who is very concerned about how loved she or he is makes for a dangerous one.
nomorenomore08
(13,324 posts)Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, etc. etc.
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)would you.
QC
(26,371 posts)We have always had heated discussions here, to put it mildly, but in the past those arguments usually had to do with policies and events.
Fluff was for the Lounge.
Now, way too much of the energy here is devoted to sophomoric discussions of personalities and juvenile insults. Try to discuss an issue and half the replies will be along the lines of "You're just a meanie!!!" and "You never really loved him!!!" That makes serious discussion pretty much impossible and has caused many of our smart, thoughtful posters to go elsewhere.
It's hard to believe that this is the same place where a person could once get a phenomenal education in politics and current events.
The personality thing has wrecked DU and the community we once had here.
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)pipi_k
(21,020 posts)than just politics.
And even if it were only politics, being interested in them is a whole different story from being emotionally involved to the point that it could be called a personal relationship.
IOW, supporting a politician/voting for him or her is not the same as identifying so closely with him that a bad word spoken about him is taken as a person attack upon oneself.
Hey, we voted for them...we didn't give birth to them and raise them from babies.
polichick
(37,152 posts)You still see it in movies.
VanillaRhapsody
(21,115 posts)polichick
(37,152 posts)Llewlladdwr
(2,165 posts)polichick
(37,152 posts)devils chaplain
(602 posts)The Stephen King novel about time travel to stop the assassination of JFK. I don't really read SK anymore but it was a fun read. It would make a fantastic movie if done right. I hope it is, most of SK's popular stuff is done eventually.
polichick
(37,152 posts)to have someone make a movie out of his book - because the writer loses control of it and just has to watch them mess it up.
devils chaplain
(602 posts)were all SK books that turned out great, although he says he hated The Shining. If you do have the time, check out the JFK book or audiobook, it's interesting on a few levels.
markiv
(1,489 posts)it wasnt just that it was a breakthrough in both categories to be president, it was that he was also perhaps the most glamorous president, perhaps of all time, to boot. The guy women wanted to have, the guy other guys wanted to be. He *still* is, to many people
So for Irish Catholics, he was a supercharged image and morale booster. President, young, rich, powerful, good looking, 'for the common man', with a young stylish wife and good looking young kids. He wasnt just 'a credit to his group' (Irish Catholics), he was "It". And he was all that at what could be the all time peak of American prestige (whether he has anything to do with it or not - he sure hadnt created it by inaugeration day, but it looked good on him)
For all his strengths, he was also very flawed, in my opinion, having affairs in the middle of the cold war? Talk about reckless and selfish.
But, I digress, and fully agree that i dont get putting personalities above issues, i sure as heck dont
But i do get the exception of the JFK mystique
devils chaplain
(602 posts)Pride is one thing, but actually adjusting ones' stance on the issues because "your guy" is for this or that or because "the other guy" is for or against this or that is not only vacuous, it's god damned dangerous.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)deutsey
(20,166 posts)I saw a painted portrait of JFK, RFK, and MLK hanging on the wall inside one of the homes.
I don't normally look into people's homes, but the image was large and caught my eye.
pipi_k
(21,020 posts)in my bedroom.
A newspaper front page photo of JFK
But then, I was only 10 years old at the time.
last1standing
(11,709 posts)n/t
Tierra_y_Libertad
(50,414 posts)quinnox
(20,600 posts)"People get all gooey..."
jsr
(7,712 posts)DesMoinesDem
(1,569 posts)OnyxCollie
(9,958 posts)who used to post Dick Cheney picture threads similar to that one.
That's the kind of stuff you can't unsee.
cui bono
(19,926 posts)No wonder some people can't see the policies separately from the man.
That is really frightening, to think people who post stuff like that vote for president.
QC
(26,371 posts)that she is a grown woman in her 60s.
Until that point, I had honestly believed that she was a teenager.
liberal_at_heart
(12,081 posts)help citizens. His economics is a lot like Reagon's Trickle Down economis. I try to recognize some of the good this president has done. He has done well on gay rights. I want Single Payer healthcare and am angry he never even mentioned it in negotiations. Still with the ACA my daughter gets to stay on my insurance until she is out of college. My husband and son cannot be denied based on pre-exisisting conditions. I'm not happy with my insurance premiums. But I have to say I am the most angry about education. I have to admit it has made me very angry and bitter. My son has suffered and continues to suffer under Race to the Top and the defunding of our public school system. I'm not happy with Obama's use of drones, the NSA spying programs or his plan to have military strikes in Syria. He has taken a moment to pause which is more than Bush would have done, but I am still not sure if he will listen to the American people if diplomacy fails. I really do hope for all involved that diplomacy wins in this situation. Because there are no good options if it doesn't.
nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)it is dangerous to the well being of a working democracy. Granted, you will have that in the best of them, but over the last ten years at least we have had the rise of cults of personalities that are expanding like viruses.
We had that during the Reagan years to an extent, but they have taken on a dangerous virulency that I find scary.
Marr
(20,317 posts)I do think there's been an increasingly cultish tone to politics in the US over the last 10-15 years or so. I have no idea where it's coming from, but I have to wonder if it's a coincidence that it's been accompanied by increasing "unitary executive" sentiment.
cui bono
(19,926 posts)They put forth a false fight to keep everyone playing a team sport rather than thinking about the issues. And corporate control of the election process as well, but that seems to go hand in hand with the media's role.
tblue
(16,350 posts)or intellectual honesty on the part of the electorate, or something. Some people treat politics like religion. They have unconditional devotion and blind faith, then they judge and condemn people who don't think exactly like them. Ick.
tblue
(16,350 posts)on a machine, I try to hide it as I return it to the rack. Don't want anyone to think I'd read that garbage. So boring and useless.
All I care about is policy. And I don't care who does or doesn't support anybody. I don't spend 1 second worrying about it.
JHB
(37,159 posts)Last edited Wed Sep 11, 2013, 05:29 PM - Edit history (1)
One of the most pernicious things in Democratic politics in my lifetime has been this Pining For Camelot, this need to have a politician you can swoon over (and project all your hopes onto).
It leaves one part of the Democratic coalition too willing to assume "he's on our side" no matter what's being bargained away, while another portion is prone to rally around politicians who sound good but can't get much done.
Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)I have a complex relationship in life with 'celebrity', a lifelong relationship, and so with artists or politicians or anyone who gets press it is easy for me to separate the press imagery from the actual work done. In terms of the 'fans' or those who take up personal attachments to famous people, they are wildly useful and valuable to the celebrity process even if the contribution is along the lines of 'background fill'. People who cast themselves as ardent admirers of a famous person volunteer to have a less than equal relationship with their object and with others, for they volunteer to exist only through the celebrity filter. They are not actual players, it is fine to humor them unless they become a security issue.
Frothy, annoying and necessary, just as those screaming kids were part of how the Beatles got to be the Beatles.
pipi_k
(21,020 posts)me too.
I will usually bring my Kindle or maybe play some games on my iPhone while waiting.
I am one of those people who is insultingly uninterested in the doings of the rich and famous.
bigwillq
(72,790 posts)to like certain people, things, movies, sports teams, etc., and to criticize those things we don't like.
Humans do this for a number of topics, not just politicians.
In the Lounge, there's threads on what movie is your favorite and people will list theirs, and then someone will pipe in and say how much they hate it.
That's just kind of how humans operate.
devils chaplain
(602 posts)Maybe I'm kind of Aspergers-y that way or something. But passions can be overcome with concious thought and often times they should be.
FarCenter
(19,429 posts)Relationships between countries should be described in practical and realistic terms.
Relationships between leaders should be cordial.
devils chaplain
(602 posts)bvar22
(39,909 posts)But THIS is FOREVER:
In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can [font size=3]be established for allregardless of station, race, or creed.[/font]
Among these are:
*The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation;
*The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;
*The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;
*The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;
*The right of every family to a decent home;
*The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;
*The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;
*The right to a good education.
All of these rights spell security. And after this war is won we must be prepared to move forward, in the implementation of these rights, to new goals of human happiness and well-being.
America's own rightful place in the world depends in large part upon how fully these and similar rights have been carried into practice for all our citizens.
Please note that the above values are defined as "Basic Human Rights",
and NOT as Commodities to be SOLD to Americans by "private" corporations.
I have a life long, deep emotional attachment to those VALUES,
and will fight FOR those goals until the day I die.
When a politician moves TOWARD those goals, I will support him/her.
When a politician moves AWAY from then, I will oppose him/her.
Other than that, I don't have much use for politicians.
[font color=firebrick size=3][center]"If we don't fight hard enough for the things we stand for,
at some point we have to recognize that we don't really stand for them."
--- Paul Wellstone[/font][/center]
[center][/font]
[font size=1]photo by bvar22
Shortly before Sen Wellstone was killed[/center][/font]