Politics, as a practice, whatever its professions, has always been the systematic organization of hatreds. —Henry Adams
Politics have no relation to morals. —Niccolò Machiavelli
In politics, stupidity is not a handicap. —Napoleon Bonaparte
This article is being published earlier than you might expect, as the presidential election is still a long way away. I want you to vote for the candidate you believe is the right choice. This is how democracy works, even if you are not thrilled with your options. As we get closer to choosing our leader, one of two things will be true. First, people will start to argue about who should lead the United States. During the last election, I watched a friend argue with his parents on Facebook. It ended badly, with this person unfriending his parents. Yes, that is correct, he unfriended the person who carried him in her body for nine months before delivering him.
Because we have experienced both of our choices, there may be less arguing about who does not deserve your vote.
Understanding the Influence of Internet Memes on Political Discourse
The word meme doesn’t mean what you believe it means. On the internet, laughing babies or outrageous cats constitute a meme. You may enjoy this definition. However, there is another definition, one that is quite different from what you will find online.
You may believe that you have ideas. This is not true, as it only feels like you have ideas. The truth is that ideas have you. A meme is an idea virus. If you share the same religion or faith tradition, you were infected by your family. Unless I am wrong, and you spent time shopping for a religion.
If you went to college, did you think to yourself, “I want to go to college because your parents talked about the importance of getting a degree?” For that matter, your friends also may have helped you believe college was important. Despite this, you may still be paying your student loans and back to eating Ramen noodles again now that inflation has limited your groceries to what you ate in college.
You don’t remember when you chose your political preference. It's doubtful that you studied politics. For that matter, you may not spend a lot of time reading about the people you vote for because their brand tells you what to do. This is how memes work.
The Complex Challenge of Altering Political Beliefs and Opinions
Let’s go back to the idea of how you ended up with the religion you practice. Other people have their own beliefs that are not what you believe. You will try to change a person’s politics believing you can—and should—change their mind. Why then, do you not try to change a person’s religion? I don’t have the experience of trying to change a person, say, from Catholic to Buddhism, but it may be easier than changing their politics, as in the United States, politics is religion.
If you watch cable television news, you have two varieties to choose from: Fox News for conservatives, or MSNBC for liberals. This is the result of the media giants deciding they could make more money by dividing us against each other. Were you to turn the channel to the politics you don’t like, you would be angry, and you would still have the same politics you started with.
Your life will be richer when you have friends with different opinions, tastes, and preferences.
The Detrimental Effects of Daily Political News Consumption
Too much reading, watching, and listening to politics is poison. When politics is your religion, and you allow the media and the political folks to divide us from each other, you become overly political. Ingesting this poison will make you more negative more of the time. It is a daily dose of anger, fear, anxiety, stress, and discouragement.
At one time in my young life, I was infected with the political memes. I happened to be a libertarian, making it easy for me to argue with both the right and the left. I enjoyed a good argument while majoring in political science, followed by law school, a great place to argue. Then one day, one of my professors told me I was angry. The advice he gave me was to give up politics. I wasn’t ready, but six months later, I stopped watching political news (that was in 1996), and I never went back. Over 30 days of nothing negative, especially politics.
Implementing a Negativity Fast to Enhance Well-being and Achieve Success
Around 6,000 people have bought The Negativity Fast, my sixth book. Many people who were kind enough to send me an email or an InMail said they gave up the political news and they feel a lot better.
Turn off the news. I know, you are going to ask, “How will I know what is going on?” You have nothing to worry about, as all the negative news watchers will be excited to tell you about all the bad things in the world.
Take precautions to avoid the overly political types. I understand your uncle Enrico, the conspiracy theorist, is difficult to avoid at family get-togethers. Find your way to the kiddie table, where the conversation will cause you to smile while avoiding a conversation about the earth being flat.
The best thing to do to avoid an argument about politics is simply to say, “Thanks for sharing that with me, but I am not up to speed on any of this. I’ll investigate it,” and as soon as possible, sneak away from your interlocutor.
I still vote, but I am post-political. Tonight, I am having dinner with dear friends who may not share my politics. There are a lot more important things than politics.
