Why I Hate Politics

Actually, this is more of a question: why, in fact, do I hate politics?

I was thinking this week about news because of Katie Couric's debut where she reported on Suri Cruise and how that wasn't really news. I actually didn't see the broadcast - I heard about it on a morning show (Kid Kraddick). Scarlett Johannsen was giving a quote that she thought it was lame for Couric to report on the Suri thing. Go Scarlett.

So yeah, there's other news going on in the world. I tried listening to NPR. Bush arguing for why he should be given leeway to spy on Americans. Calling on the legislature to act. Ted Koppel has a program coming up on the Discovery Channel (no, it's not on how aliens made the pyramids with the help of sharks, surprisingly) about how laws have changed since 9/11. People mad about the Iranian president at UVA. Blockade being partially lifted from Lebanon.

These are, to me, all really "sexy" stories - meaning, I have personal interest and/or investment in the content. I admired Katami's efforts to help Iran loosen up. I am extremely concerned about the loss of rights since 9/11. I am absolutely incensed with the way Israel seems to get away with bullying its neighbors because to hold it otherwise accountable would be to seem anti-holocaust or anti-semitic.

So why am I not as engaged with these stories as I should be? Why am I not reading about them or watching the news or listening to more than a couple minutes to NPR? Am I a fat, self-satisfied American? Am I oversaturated with news? Am I dispondent about the world? Am I superficial?

Maybe all of those things, but I think, even worse, is this: at the heart of it, the political issues I listed above are really not that much different than any of the Hollywood star-debacles or junior high brouhahas from my past. The fact that they are presented with "serious voices" of maturity, restraint, nonpartisanship - which frankly, makes the stories dry and boring and disingenuous - only somewhat disguises the true nature of what's going on.

Think about it:

Presidential power, spying on Americans, etc. = whiny guy who wants to do what he wants without any oversight because he's doing it for the good of others and claims the moral high ground and bullies other people into going along with it, and if people complain he's overstepping their bounds, he says they are just anti-God or anti-America or anti-Republican
- how is this different than michael jackson wanting to have boys over for sleepovers without any oversight, he's doing it for the good of others, to help them overcome cancer, and when people criticize him, it's racism


Israel bombing Lebanon - how is this different than the girl in school who is confined to a wheelchair but who secretly picks on the pretty blonde but no one can say anything because to do so would make them seem anti-disabled?

People mad at Katami - this is just like when on Lost, the french lady warns everyone about the others, but no one wants to listen because she's previously been an ass

Koppel on post 9/11 laws - our rights are being diminished in the interest of security. Yet, we're all just taking it. kind of like how we all just take this ridiculous Tom Cruise craziness. We all know he's crazy. We even say he's crazy. But he has a cute kid, and we still say 'aw' instead of 'who the f-cares, the dude is crazy?" ok. Maybe people do say that. But they should be saying it about the laws, too.

The problem is, we do say Tom Cruise and Michael Jackson are crazy. We're not as afraid to state an opinion about that because their stories aren't cloaked in faux-intellectual draperies. But to say Bush is a wacko jacko, too, subscribing to the cultish religion of power-mongering - well, that would just sound uninformed, right? We can't just say he's nuts, because we're afraid... afraid of sounding stupid, and unsubtle, and maybe of the consequent fbi visit...

I guess my point is, I find it hard to listen/watch/read "real" news because it's frustrating and overwhelming and, at the base of it, human behavior is childish, selfish, and repetitive, no matter if it's a politician or a socialite. The latter is easier to take because the stupidity there doesn't cause the deaths of innocents. Only the death of innocence...