That's a phrase I hear a lot from one of my coworkers. It's their standard response to things like, "Who are you voting for?" or "What do you think about the new tax?" and, "Did you like the election results?"
"Oh, whatever, you know, I'm not political. You know that."
I do, and it makes me sad. I saw a lot of people I know become energized by the recent election, whether it was because they felt they had a candidate to believe in, or they felt they actually had a say, or just because they had to stop the other guy. This coworker missed that boat.
And really, that's not the only one. There's a lot of people I talk to who just don't think of the government as something that involves them. Are they right? The government is a big, unwieldy piece of machinery, and we delegate the decision making to an extreme extent. Does that mean we're at the mercy of that machine, totally helpless?
What do you think? Does being an involved citizen make a difference? Or are we all better off not being "political?"
Tuesday
The HarazQuack Times Family
Years ago, I was following some link-trail into the unmarked, dangerous wilds of the internet. I found an interesting little oasis of satire, sarcasm, and intelligence. The HarazQuack Times.
I've been a faithful reader ever since, because the guy manages to combine a love of sports, awareness of how screwed up the world is, and biting sarcasm into one blog. Throw in a bit of romance (or anti-romance, I suppose) and what you have is a blog that has never failed to entertain me.
Then came a spin off. One feature of the HarazQuack Times is something called the "Evil Leader's League," where people like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Omar al-Bashir square off in a tournament to see who is the most evil. Each round is decided by comparing the "evilness" of news about each player during the preceeding week (i.e, "Kim Jong-Il is discovered to have thrown away more calories after one meal than most of his country was able to scrounge this week" vs "Mahmoud Ahmadinejad continues to threaten U.S. with imaginary an nuclear weapons program." Kim Jong-Il wins).
Dark humor, but smart humor. Go check out the Evil Leader's League, about to enter it's 5th season.
I believe the author realized not everyone was able to sift through the satire and get his point, because a serious version he'd been maintaining since 2005 started to become more of a focus. The HarazQuack Times: International Affairs Edition doesn't post as often, but has all the insight and progressive flavor without the sarcasm and Nationals updates. Perhaps it is more to your taste!
I'm sure I've mentioned these blogs before (indeed, two are already in my blog roll) but I felt it was time to give a bit more appreciation. Have a great weekend kids!
I've been a faithful reader ever since, because the guy manages to combine a love of sports, awareness of how screwed up the world is, and biting sarcasm into one blog. Throw in a bit of romance (or anti-romance, I suppose) and what you have is a blog that has never failed to entertain me.
Then came a spin off. One feature of the HarazQuack Times is something called the "Evil Leader's League," where people like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Omar al-Bashir square off in a tournament to see who is the most evil. Each round is decided by comparing the "evilness" of news about each player during the preceeding week (i.e, "Kim Jong-Il is discovered to have thrown away more calories after one meal than most of his country was able to scrounge this week" vs "Mahmoud Ahmadinejad continues to threaten U.S. with imaginary an nuclear weapons program." Kim Jong-Il wins).
Dark humor, but smart humor. Go check out the Evil Leader's League, about to enter it's 5th season.
I believe the author realized not everyone was able to sift through the satire and get his point, because a serious version he'd been maintaining since 2005 started to become more of a focus. The HarazQuack Times: International Affairs Edition doesn't post as often, but has all the insight and progressive flavor without the sarcasm and Nationals updates. Perhaps it is more to your taste!
I'm sure I've mentioned these blogs before (indeed, two are already in my blog roll) but I felt it was time to give a bit more appreciation. Have a great weekend kids!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
