a short little rant...

So as I was checking my email today, I stumbled upon this article on yahoo (linked in the title). Elisabeth Hassleback, one of the stars of the morning show "The View," is getting frustrated with the political debates that occur on the talkshow. As the lone Republican, thrown in with a group of strong-minded Democrats, she often finds herself overshadowed and disregarded by her fellow co-hosts. To me, this article was especially off-putting, and frighteningly similar to the actions of the American public today.
Perhaps my view is unique to me since I can honestly say that I am not yet very opinionated when it comes to politics. I have my views, but I am not dead-set on anything. With a little bit of knowledge or negotiation, my views could very possible be changed: not by a lot, but I could definitely concede a few points. However, I feel as though many people have gotten to the point where they have an absolutely hatred for people that have different views than themselves. In fact, I found an article that expresses very similar views. Here's a quote from the article:

"Here's why: Hate has the annoying tendency to turn into hypocrisy. I laugh with glee when my side catches the other's lies and follies. To a point, that's healthy and cathartic.

But you don't hear me laughing when the other side returns the favor. Then I discount the point and quietly fume at the attack itself. Don't they understand our side is the good one?"

During the Bush/Gore campaign 8 years ago (I was about 9 or 10 at the time), my neighbors across the street were one of the few Republicans in my neighborhood. Despite the majority of people that disagreed with them, they stood up for what they believed in a proudly put a Bush/Cheney sign on their front lawn. After a couple of days, my parents had heard that someone had broken the windows at the side of their house. A couple days later, there was dog poop smashed all across the sign and the lawn. After my neighbors cleaned this all up, people still managed to write obscenities all over the sign with sharpie markers. One day, I happened to arrive home from school right at the time that someone was vandalizing my neighbor's property. To my amazement, these kids were young (they looked like they were from Borel, so they were probably in their 12s or 13s), and they were viciously marking up the sign and didn't even bother to move or run away when they saw me. First of all, vandalizing someone's property is absolutely ridiculous. When an opinion is so strong that one feels the need to take it out on someone elses things, the beliefs of that individual must be considered unhealthy. But what really threw me off was the age of these people. When I was a 6th grader, I practically knew nothing about politics. That's not to say that these kids truly did know nothing, but they didn't look like the people that were seriously educated and informed about current events and politics. Chances are, they probably had very strong-minded and opinionated peers or parents that swayed them into acting in that way. That's what is beginning to annoy me...is when people, especially teenagers, mindlessly believe in everything that their parents believe in, or everything that their peers pressure them into believing. I myself, come from a family that is pretty politically diverse. I have family members that are on polar opposites of the political spectrum, and I don't plan on letting any of them sway me into believing everything that they are saying. I definitely respect their opinions and the "facts" that they give me, but when it comes time for me to vote, I would like to say that I made my own decision based on what I believe...not on what someone told me to believe...

well I could continue but I have a game to attend and I'm sure you guys get where I'm going with all of this. anyways, GO DONS!