This forum is in permanent archive mode. Our new active community can be found here.

How Did You Find a Political Stance?

edited September 2012 in Politics
Just wondering how some of the more political members of the forum came to the conclusions they did when it came to their place in the political spectrum. I found that some just go along with whatever their families are or base it on their outlook on life due to their conditions of living. In short, I'm just curious today.
Post edited by Viga on
«13

Comments

  • The Andrew Jackson Jihad album "People Who Eat People Are the Happiest People" awakened me to the joys of nihilism through what even I will admit was probably two or three leaps in logic on my behalf. Before that I was a Socialist, which was brought about by Michael Moore and Bernie Sanders (though I consider them a little milquetoast now).
  • My high school government class was super hands on in that we actually ran a country in our class. Me and three of my classmates owned practically all of the businesses in our country and also held just about every position of government power.

    Believe me, we abused the shit out of the massive amount of power that we had amassed for ourselves.

    After I retired from two terms of presidency and was sitting on a massive mountain of imaginary money, I realized that people should not be able to actually do the shit we pulled in real life (seriously, we had nuclear waste from power plants that we had to get rid of, so we made a dirty bomb out of it and launched it at one of the other periods and blamed it (successfully) on another class who tried to take over all of the periods).

    And that is how I got into politics.
  • Dude, your government class kicked ass. Maybe I'm just tired, but I actually laughed out loud when I read "...and launched it at one of the other periods..."
  • I might have earned the title "The Gray" a long time ago.
  • edited September 2012
    Since I can remember, I've been interested in the future. Reading about space travel, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and the like shaped my early worldview, and I've been a staunch supporter for technological progress since I was a little kid. (I spent most of my elementary school days playing old Maxis games and drawing massive, intricate space battles.)

    In middle school I read Hagakure, a biography of Musashi, and Starship Troopers all in a very short amount of time. I've always been pretty outspoken, but got really caught up in the "service guarantees citizenship" idea. I used to give impassioned political speeches in the lunchroom, and my friends and I sort of took over the neighborhood and created a series of fiefdoms, all under a constitutional monarchy. I think I might still have a few drafts of the constitution (and a few laws that we wrote) somewhere in my mom's house. We would spend our days after school warring with the other kids for control of the neighborhood (and the woods beyond), spending hours finding the best fighting sticks and building shoddy bows. I'm surprised none of us got seriously injured; it was pretty brutal.

    When 9/11 happened, I saw the panic and snap judgements made by the politicians in charge, and realized exactly how incompetent the "authorities" were at clear-headed decision-making. I started speaking out against the war in Afghanistan, and then Iraq, and people started labeling me as a "liberal."

    In the first year of high school, I moved to California, land of sunshine and happy people. And I realized that I had probably been depressed for most of my life previous to that (I had gone to a string of school counselors, but I moved around too much for any kind of stable relationship, and I think my files eventually got lost or something). My freshman English teacher was basically a slightly younger Kurt Vonnegut, and he recommended I read "Stranger in a Strange Land." I did, and realized I had been caring about a bunch of silly, inconsequential stuff (I was basically a left-leaning, militarist totalitarian by that point) and that many of the "great issues of the day" amounted to little more than bitter old-fashioned people trying to prevent others from doing things that harmed no one.

    I learned more and more about history, and began to see civilization as a march toward greater and greater cooperation between groups of people, where scarce resources could be shared and brutal wars could be prevented. I learned about the wondrous advancements in science and technology that made our current society possible, and the many failed experiments we've had along the way (free market capitalism, totalitarian communism, Italian fascism, etc).

    Throughout all this, speculative fiction has been keeping up with the times, and certain things that seemed completely far-fetched now appear to be almost within our grasp (within at least 100 years from now). Neuroscience is shedding light into the last bastion of the superstitious, and medicine is advancing at a blinding pace. Nanotech and personal fabrication has the possibility of becoming a reality, and serious men and women are already contemplating the repercussions of a post-scarcity economy.

    In light of all of this, misogynistic, homophobic, Objectivist, and nationalistic ideas seem not just quaint but dangerously barbaric. Flat tax proponents seem like they should be donning robes and sandals, for their ideas belong in pre-Diocletian Rome. Warmongers and chickenhawks sound like petulant children, who should let clear-headed adults conduct the business of government. A government based on evidence and rational analysis, that looks to the mistakes of history and tries not to repeat them.

    I'm far to the left of most American politicians, and far more scientifically-minded than the fringe radicals. There are very few politicians I would even trust to run a country, much less agree with their policies and stances. I am completely disenfranchised in this country's political system.
    Post edited by YoshoKatana on
  • Rational thought on current and past events.
  • Rational thought on current and past events.
  • edited September 2012
    When I was 17 I spent a month reading studies and history in order to determine my fiscal views, something I had never given a shit about before, because I was approaching voting age. Came down heavily on the side of "Man, fuck Reagan." Social issues were a no-brainer, though; I've been a pro-feminist since before I knew fully what the term meant and I'm socially progressive in pretty much every way, the only hiccup being I am generally very pro-military as a device of deterrent and international stability based on historical knowledge.
    Post edited by open_sketchbook on
  • The Andrew Jackson Jihad album "People Who Eat People Are the Happiest People" awakened me to the joys of nihilism through what even I will admit was probably two or three leaps in logic on my behalf. Before that I was a Socialist, which was brought about by Michael Moore and Bernie Sanders (though I consider them a little milquetoast now).
    So in other words, you're a teenager.
  • My family is super conservative Republican, except for my father. I guess I got my shove towards staunch Socialism from him. The older I get, the Lefter I get. I've gone through my "homosexuality is squicky" phase, too, but I suspect most people my age did.

    The funny thing about traveling left or right on the spectrum is that Authoritarianism crops up on either end.
  • Ironically, I came to my political philosophy through my dad, who was a union Stewart, and showed me the ways that corporate management will work as hard as possible to screw over the workers beneath them over the shareholders taking any sort of loss. My dad also taught me moderation and looking at both sides of the issue, he was always a conflicted republican. Who would toss votes to other parties whena candidate was quality enough. Which is why in his old age, it is depressing to see the man who shaped my political opinion slide down into ignorant right wing B.Sery.
  • I figured out my stance by arguing it out with my friends here on the forum. We still argue about tax rates. :-P
  • A combination of rational thought and, believe it or not, my Catholic upbringing. While there isn't a whole heck of a lot of it that stuck with me to this day, one thing that did stick was the "corporal works of mercy," which, for those who don't know, basically consisted of commandments to "feed the hungry, clothe the naked, give drink to the thirsty, and heal the sick."
  • I like this thread. It's interesting to see where people get their ideas in this arena. Backgrounds can be so varied.

    I'm almost on the same page with Lou. Though I didn't grow up Catholic, I was part of a christian community for a while whose key message was to be a "servant of all," especially the poorest, most disenfranchised people. Which in action not only included feeding people, but taking political action on behalf of those communities whenever and however they could, in a very simple, realistic way. Though I'm not religious anymore I still try to volunteer and join causes when appropriate, and I think that's important.

    My parents weren't opinionated at all when it came to politics, so I think my views also came from a process of just trying to uncover the truth on my own - a lot of reading and listening and little activism and just paying attention, and from not sticking to one source and, most importantly, questioning everything.

    Once a person has the truth in hand I think it's then really up to them to decide what the political action should be, and that action should ultimately be what shapes a person's views, because succeed or fail they'll learn from it, for the better or for the worse and in spite of whatever they were clinging to beforehand. If they don't learn.. god bless them.
  • Lately this is how it works for me: Poltician or news source says a thing -> I assume they have some kind of hidden agenda -> connect this to the plutocracy's plan to hoard all the resources and eliminate the lower classes
  • This sounds kinda hipster-ish but I think placing labels on "political positions" does more harm than good. Average people seem to immediately associate themselves with people who represent their "side" without knowing what their side is doing.
  • Are we average people? :-p
  • No, but we influence average people.
  • edited September 2012
    Most of you are probably more politically knowledgeable than I. I not only don't know much about politics but I try and avoid it as much as I can. Why? Because I don't care. It seems like a lot of people want to let the world know what their position is and everyone is going to stand up for their position any chance they get. It's all opinion, and changing people's opinions is very difficult. I have my own opinions that I've formed through my own research and I just keep them to myself. I couldn't tell you anything about any of the candidates except for a few key issues. But I do know that none of the candidates share my views close enough to where they deserve my vote anyway. So I just don't pay attention :P.
    Post edited by MATATAT on
  • Sufficiently granular labels are perfectly useful so long as they are precise and correctly used.

    For example, "conservative" means fuck-all these days.

    I am a radical techno-progressivist by common ideology, but have specific stances on all practical issues.
  • Pride in civic opt out is a cancer.
  • RymRym
    edited September 2012
    Most of you are probably more politically knowledgeable than I. I not only don't know much about politics but I try and avoid it as much as I can. Why? Because I don't care.
    Frankly? That's a shit attitude. Political causes affect you deeply regardless of how much attention you pay. Conservatives and reactionaries get their way more often than others primarily because they unify and actively fight for their ideology. There's almost no counter-movement from progressives or rationalists.

    Not caring leads at best to a government like Japan's: reasonably capable, but unmoving and static, unable to address modern concerns. At worst, it leads to disaster. Why set the bar so low? Why sit idle knowing that the best possible outcome is mediocrity?

    Post edited by Rym on
  • Pride in civic opt out is a cancer.
    I'm also not bound to the US. Having dual citizenship if shit goes down here I'll just move to Australia and lounge in the sun.
  • Dude, your government class kicked ass. Maybe I'm just tired, but I actually laughed out loud when I read "...and launched it at one of the other periods..."
    My government class was probably the greatest class I have ever taken. It was honestly better than any of my art classes, and that is saying something.

  • Pride in civic opt out is a cancer.
    I'm also not bound to the US. Having dual citizenship if shit goes down here I'll just move to Australia and lounge in the sun.
    This just makes you sound like a giant asshole.
  • If you're interested at all in how national stage politics actually works in the US, I highly recommend NPR's It's All Politics.
  • Pride in civic opt out is a cancer.
    I'm also not bound to the US. Having dual citizenship if shit goes down here I'll just move to Australia and lounge in the sun.
    This just makes you sound like a giant asshole.
    Sorry I can't hear you from Australia
    If you're interested at all in how national stage politics actually works in the US, I highly recommend NPR's It's All Politics.
    As long as you can assure me I won't be listening to incessant arguing then I'll check it out.
  • It's actually very amusing and non-argumentative. The ending music they choose at times is hilarious because it relates to what they talked about. (See: Blagojevich episode)
  • Pride in civic opt out is a cancer.
    I'm also not bound to the US. Having dual citizenship if shit goes down here I'll just move to Australia and lounge in the sun.
    Then it sounds like you have to know the basics of politics of two countries instead of one. ^_~


  • Pride in civic opt out is a cancer.
    I'm also not bound to the US. Having dual citizenship if shit goes down here I'll just move to Australia and lounge in the sun.
    Then it sounds like you have to know the basics of politics of two countries instead of one. ^_~


    Kangaroos don't have politics... or do they?
Sign In or Register to comment.