I used to be so completely wrapped up with my own political beliefs. I was addicted to television news and the information that was fed to me which fueled my absolute conviction that I was right, I understood the subtleties and complexities of every issue I had an opinion on and that everything I opposed was absolutely, verifiably, incontrovertibly wrong.
Then I bought my first issue of The Economist.
I stopped watching television news and talking head bitchfests of any sort and I read - books, magazines, newspapers. It changed my life in so many ways.
There
is a middle way. And when you're in the middle it becomes obvious that from one's former position on the far right or left it is impossible to open yourself up to multi-hued complexity of reality because you are so busy trying to make all available information conform to your pre-conceived notion of it. If you spend a lot of time on forums whose sole emphasis is on political discussion you see this. You see both sides take the same information - the !!Breaking News!! of the day - and use it to quantify their arguments. It's bizarre.
Now I'm not trying to say that I have this perfect, crystal clear vision with an unshakeable grasp on what is real, I realize that what I know is only as valid as the reliability of the information I have read. And I have relapses and I sometimes feel myself spiraling back down into abject partisanship. But now I am aware of it when it is happening...and it doesn't feel good. It feels egotistical and trifling. Like I'm taking these issues that are of life and death importance to the people living with them every day and using them to pad my selfish, petty, insignificant yammerings.
I don't know what this has to do with anything...blah, blah, blah, blah, blah...just thought I'd share.
