Mitt Romney Taught Me to Love (and Hate)
I began working in Radio in February 2005; it was a glorious time. I worked at an FM hot talk station and the elections and the inauguration had come and gone, meaning the people at this particular station couldn’t care less about anything political. Sure there was the 2006 election, but that was local issues and just seemed to come and go with nary a whimper. (Interesting aside: 2006 was the same time Mitt Romney joined NRA.)
Jump to 2008; It’s a whole new ball game. This spin around the sun I’m working on two AM talk stations. Which means everyone and I mean every single person I come in contact with during my work day wants to know what I think on the issues and most importantly to whom do I intend to give my vote. Until now, I’ve tried to stay largely apolitical, but now people with actual informed opinions are asking my opinion and instead expecting me to be flippant want my actual opinion. And worse yet, expect me to reinforce it with facts.
As Sam Beckett would put it, “Oh boy.” Time to actually do some research. I layed out every candidate. I read news articles, read all of the respective websites and some third party websites. (including wikipedia, which is always dangerous.) And over the course of a couple evenings, I came to find my favorite candidate out there, was Mitt Romney. Quite a shock to my generally liberal mind. (I also liked Obama, just not quite as much.) But look at Romney’s voting record: He supported states rights when deciding gay marriage, he supported gun control laws like the Brady Bill, and he wanted to rein in political spending. All things I believe in. (No, I don’t want to discuss the issues. Save it for later.) He was a conservative, but he was a moderate conservative in the style I like.
Then I noticed the change. Noticed he joined the NRA in 2006. In his debates, he spoke out against allowing same sex “unions.” He changed from a moderate conservative to one of the worst kind of hard court right-wingers, which I equate with nut bags like Rush Limbaugh. Of course, he was “appealing to his base.”
Where did my candidate go? Why did our politicians have to be hard left or hard right? Who is out there for the middle of the roaders?
I realized… Nobody.
Society has stopped caring about moderatism. It only wanted the extremes. I think I blame MTV’s “Real World,” but this was the thing that really woke me up. Life has been categorized, simplified, and subdivided.
It’s not just in politics either.
One of my other great loves is comic books, and it used to be fine to just be a comic fan. But no more. Now you’re either a Marvel Zombie, a DC Decagenarian, or an Independent comic snob. (Which seems to be the label even if you read Dark Horse, BOOM! Studios, IDW, or any other smaller, but not actually indie comics.) And if you happen to read multiple publishers. Well you still fit into one category, though you may toy with others. As if your comic reading is “less serious” than someone else’s.
Or if you get past that stigma, are you one of the dreaded “completists?”
Of course, I’ve seen this behaviour before, Microsoft vs. Apple vs. Unix and Nintendo vs. Sony vs. Microsoft (again). But I thought these were distinct, unique “nerd fights.”
it seems they’ve permeated every part of our culture. Everybody has chosen a side. Have you? You can no longer stand in the middle. You can’t like Pepsi and Coke; iPods and iRivers; or Blu Ray and HD-DVD. It’s time to choose a side and take a stand. And you have to be unfaltering about that side, no matter what you decide. It’s not even important if you have an informed opinion, as long as you have a single pointed, absolute opinin.
This is no time to be wish washy. We’re at war! A cultural war. A war it took Mitt Romney to show me was right in front of me all along.
Now, it’s your turn.
Have you decided? Are you ready to stand up and scream your opinion, no matter what or how misinformed it may be, from the rooftops? No? Then get out of the way because culturally, you don’t matter any more.
Now, 