Someone asked me recently if there were any activities that I had had to put aside that I really missed. The answer was easy: blogging about social issues.
People now take politics very seriously and some people, mostly liberals to be honest, take politics extremely personally. Conservatives and liberals can be very passionate in their beliefs but in my experience, liberals are a lot more likely to hate someone for having a different ideology than themselves.
One of the sites I used to hang out regularly was Quarter to Three. But once the regulars learned I was politically conservative and started reading my blog, some of them (just some) started to become militantly opposed to me on all topics. If you want a taste of the political views of the regulars there, go here.
I enjoy discussing politics but I must confess, I’m not passionate about it. I couldn’t imagine going to a rally or a protest march or anything about that. I’m as interested in debating politics as I am in debating Protoss vs. Terran strategies which means, I’m pretty interested in discussing and debating it but it has no real deep seated meaning to me one way or the other.
But other people take it very seriously. They get very angry and it takes up a major part of their emotional identity.
As I’ve become more “notable” I’ve had to largely cut down on my postings because the media has been inclined to take bits and pieces about what I write and senationalize it. So I’ve had to become much more careful about what I say online. Such is life.
I do believe that ideology matters a great deal in the bigger scheme of things. I care a lot about the political ideologies of our elected representatives – they control the men with guns. But I can’t imagine disliking a private citizen for their political beliefs unless they were shoving those beliefs down my throat (i.e. if I’m at a concert, don’t make me sit through a tirade on how much you hate some politician).