It's not just the anger
A haphazard thought....

I stopped listening to partisan political radio and all TV several years ago. For background noise while working, I listen solely to 'money-talk' radio.

The reason for this choice was simple. Partisan talk raises my blood pressure and stirs up adrenaline. Same effect from both sides. If I listen to the side that's somewhat closer to my feelings, I'll get uselessly angry because the 'good' side is missing all the important stuff, or not fighting hard enough against Those Horrible Otherpartyans. Listen to the side that's farther from my feelings, and I get directly angry at the Horrible Otherpartyans.

Anger is the sole purpose of those talkers, of course.

Money-talk is generally dull and numerical and non-partisan. Most of the talkers are on the R side but they don't spend a lot of time and energy on Today's Official Party Message. Their goal is to sell their own books and CDs, or to front for an 'adviser' service. They want to maximize the potential customers. Proper straightforward business.

I realized today that the POINTLESSNESS of political jabber is vastly more important than ANGER in this comparison.

When Rachel or Rush or Al instructs you to be ferociously angry at Those Horrible Otherpartyans because they are Otherpartyans, there is NO USEFUL OUTLET for your anger. Yeah, you can make nice decorative marks on ballots, but those marks don't move anything in the System or in your own life. Precisely zero consequence. Total waste. Or you could write sizzling letters to those Horrible Otherpartyans, which will only get you placed on the Terrorist Watchlist. Zero consequence to the System except that it's spending more money to monitor Terrorists (ie YOU), which is exactly what you didn't want.

But when Dave Ramsey or Bob Brinker or Clark Howard tells you how to get out of debt or buy I-bonds or find the best prices (respectively) ... You can actually do those things and they will actually change your life. Especially Dave's Get Out Of Debt advice. If you follow his broad precepts, your life WILL improve dramatically. Best of all, you will be in a more authoritative position versus the System. You won't have to work as hard, and you won't have to take demeaning jobs. You will have some degree of 'strike power'. There's nothing you can do in the political realm that actually increases your authority. You are not Michael Bloomberg and you are not Jamie Dimon, and there's no physical way to become Michael Bloomberg or Jamie Dimon. Those positions are filled. All other positions have zero power.

Labels: Zero Problems

  ¶ 3:13 AM