Nathaniel

Shockey

Read Nathaniel's bio and previous columns here

June 30, 2008

Sports Junkies, I Get; Political Junkies Are Just Creepy

It is my hope that the art of conversation is not inborn as much as learned, because I frequently find myself feeling out of place in social situations. I’m not good at being funny on the spot, and I’m extremely poor at feigning interest in things that just don’t interest me. In fact, the only two things I really enjoy talking about, besides myself, are sports and politics.

Sports and politics, what strange bedfellows.

This worries me because sports – although I adore them and can rationalize more value from them than anyone alive – do not matter the way politics do. And yet I tend to talk about them with the same sense of urgency. Well, almost the same.

Make me a case for pacifism and I’ll ask you if your hometown has ever been bombed. Tell me you think Kobe Bryant is as good as Michael Jordan and I’ll just laugh in disgust and reconsider ever spending my free time with you again.

But as uniquely awkward as I may be, and as special a case I have concerning my inappropriately similar feelings about sports and politics, I know I’m not alone.

I don’t care if people take sports too seriously, unless of course we end up neglecting our responsibilities. But political junkies are a problem.

You may notice there is very little middle ground between those obsessed with politics and those who end up on Jay Leno’s street-walking and can’t name a city outside of Burbank.

We all have at least one friend who can name the lead singer of every famous band in the last 40 years, is familiar with about 40 different kinds of vodka and can throw a Frisbee like you wouldn’t believe – but gets instantly uncomfortable if you ask them what they think about a presidential nominee. They start squirming around, rolling their eyes, looking like a chain-smoker halfway through a performance of Tosca.

Granted, I think it’s better that people take responsibility to know what’s going on in their country and who the president is, at least enough to vote on more than good hair. But we must realize that the main reason there are so many ignoramuses out there is not laziness. It’s the political junkies. I think that on some level, almost everyone agrees that government and country matters. But who really wants to talk about politics if they know the other guy watches Hardball and The Factor every night and is just itching to prove what he’s learned? No one likes to be talked down to, and we all hate talking to someone whose only real goal is to show off.

We must learn that there is a giant valley between passion and obsession. One is addictive. The other is creepy.

Much of what we read and watch concerning politics is completely irrelevant to anything meaningful. It’s just empty fodder for the junkies who just can’t get enough. But politics matters, and it is unfortunate that the word itself has become synonymous with gossip in the minds of a large percentage of Americans.

Politics is another word for government affairs, and the government is supposed to represent the people. It affects the way we educate our children, the percentage of our earnings we get to keep and, most importantly, our safety from enemies both international and domestic. It affects us all, and whether or not we care to admit it, every one of us affects politics. And yet we must realize that even though our country is obviously damaged by those who fail to acknowledge their part, it is also damaged by those whose political involvement goes about deep as their desire to appear informed.

We must be careful that we are passionate, not obsessed. Politics is not a dirty word. But for those who see it that way, it’s the junkies providing most of the dirt.

© 2008 North Star Writers Group. May not be republished without permission.

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