It's been awhile, I know. To be honest, I had a very busy month of July, with out-of-state friends visiting and quite a few job interviews. The whole time, I was creating this epic blog about Ramen noodles in my head. Then August came around and things started to get political. This threw me into a whole new mindset, not by choice, but because of certain tweets made by internet-famous people I follow. It's taken me some time to calm myself down so that I can write this out plainly and without overreacting emotions clouding what I'd like to say.
I hate talking politics. I think that if you let politics define you, then you're not someone I'd like to know. Now, I don't mean your political ideals or beliefs. I mean politics. If that's all you can talk about, then I have nothing to say to you. Trust me, this was a difficult mindset to have when I was working for the Governor, but I managed.
I am a self-described moderate Republican. I think that's important to say because of comments I will be addressing later. I don't vote along party lines, I vote for what I believe in. For example, I don't believe in extensive government programs, I do believe in gay marriage. Conservative, liberal. Hence, moderate. I do not understand what I consider "political extremism" - like, the Chik-fil-A fiasco of a few months ago. Why were people surprised that the CEO of a company closed on Sundays because of Christian values is against gay marriage? To be honest, I didn't think he was out of line to simply state his opinion when asked. It's not like he went out there and started railing against homosexuals. The aftershock, with one set of people boycotting and another having a "day of support" was the most ridiculous thing I'd heard of in a long time. There are no less than 5 Chik-fil-As within a 10 mile radius of my house. I've never seen a line of cars NOT wrapped around EVERY store at practically any time of day. I don't think boycotting them is going to hurt them, and I don't think a "day of support" really means anything to them either. They are a company that does well. That's just the way it is. Why would you choose to eat or not eat at a place because of the political beliefs of a CEO that isn't involved in politics? (I'll state here, I personally don't eat at Chik-fil-A because I find their food greasy and gross. The only things I actually like there are their Oreo shakes and their fresh chocolate chip cookies. Oh yeah, and the COWS, gawd, I love cows. It really blows my mind how much people like their food.)
So, that is the clearest way I can describe my personal stance on politics.
Now, this is the part where I have to take a deep breath because I can already feel my heart rate rising. In August, one of my favorite webcomic artists tweeted something along the lines of "all Republics deserve to have a rocket shoved up their ass and die." And the person clearly meant it, as evidenced by many of the liberal tweets in the past and directly following that one. I am not putting the exact quote or saying the name of the person because I don't want people to look it up and bring even more attention to it, and I don't want any recriminations against the person. That is not my goal here. Rather, I wish to state that this was an awful, hurtful thing to say, and yes, I felt personally attacked.
I have supported this person from almost day one, when this person's art was little better than something I drew when I was 10 years old, and when this person's story telling was so awful, I'd have to scroll back and forth between previous posts several times to get a single joke. I have purchased T-Shirts, prints, and printed copies of the online material. I view this person's website at least once a day and do not have ad blockers. Basically, I am one of the people that allows this person to stay at home and draw webcomics for a living, a dream for many webcomic artists out there. Am I saying that this person owes me something? Yes, I am. This person owes me respect. Lumping every single person in a political party together and talking about how much you hate them and you wish they all would die is a wonderful way to alienate probably half of your reader base.
Am I going to stop reading this person's material? Probably not. It's been a routine of mine for so long that I'm not sure I could stop myself from doing so. However, I did lose respect for this person as an individual. I know that I will never go to a convention and seek this person out. I know that I will be much more hesitant about spending my limited funds on this person's products. To be honest, I am much less likely to recommend this person's comic to others, as I have done in the past. I also know I'd really like to punch this person in the face if I should ever happen to pass them on the street.
With all that being said, I must say there is a silver lining. The wonderful Angi Mauri (@angichan), the author/artist of Devil's Cake had what I can only assume was her own political battle on Twitter. She posted a link to a YouTube video and simply said "Wow, Romney fails again, as usual." To me, this is a perfectly acceptable tweet. She is not raging against Republicans as a whole, but rather one person. She's also not mad just because he's a Republican, or because he has different beliefs than her, or because he supports something she doesn't (although the last one is perfectly acceptable in my opinion - being mad at what someone supports is the way politics SHOULD work). She then followed this tweet up with two more: "Btw guys, you can say you don't like something without insulting people who do. #NoNeedToElaborate #NotTryingToConvertYou" and "I'm just saying, that I respect what you like, unless it's harmful, so why the ragging?"
Could it be put any better than that? That whole exchange (and I only saw one half of it!) heightened my respect for her tenfold. This is political responsibility. If you are an internet-presence, who has people who follow what you say (be it on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, or WHATEVER), you have a responsibility to not spread all the hate that is all too present in the news and political discussions on TV. The hate needs to stop. People need to realize that without one or the other party, we could be living in a dictatorship, without being allowed to have our own opinions. Political discussion is necessary and right (but not when it's all you can talk about). Political hatred and vile recriminations are not. No party is perfect. No political viewpoint is without flaws. Only by combining all of our beliefs and values together can we achieve a working country that doesn't run itself into the ground.
