A Political Decision

[bobquasit]

Since the tone of politics seems to be changing in the USA, and since my political posts are likely to become less popular (or more annoying; your pick) under the new regime, most or quite possibly all of my political posts going forward will be made under my Politics filter. It seems a bit strange that I am feeling forced to climb inside a virtual bunker under these circumstances, but I can't deny the reality of what is going on; dissent is clearly going to be far less "acceptable" from now on. I don't want to have to worry about being flamed or having flist issues every time I make a political post, so I'm going under the filter.

This will eliminate my future political posts from search engines and the public view. Yes, this bothers me. No, I don't see a practical alternative.

If you want to be on the Politics filter, let me know. Unlike most of my other filters, however, I will not be automatically adding anyone who asks to be on it. Sorry, but if I feel that I'll have to worry about pissing you off, that would defeat the purpose of the filter in the first place.

Twelve or thirteen people are currently on that filter, by the way. I'll probably do a post on it later today; if you see it, you're in the filter.

Comments

[oldwolf.livejournal.com]

Stand and fight! Post unfiltered.

[bobquasit.livejournal.com]

It's just not worth the grief...and it's not like I'm actually influencing anybody. For me, political posts are a bad habit of mine - kind of like involuntary farting or something. :D

[oldwolf.livejournal.com]

Or involuntary Turettes Syndrome. Damn!

[tonysalieri.livejournal.com]

Hey there, could you please add me? I always enjoy reading your political and Askville posts :)

[bobquasit.livejournal.com]

You're added!

Askville? Jeeze, I'd almost forgotten it. Have you been active over there? Somehow it got all boring for me.

[tonysalieri.livejournal.com]

No, not at Askville, just the ones you used to post up on here. :)

[donnad.livejournal.com]

I would appreciate being on the filter if I am not already.

On an unrelated note, although I wasn't at Arisia, I saw a copy of Clear Ether and saw the picture of Sebastian in it. Cute! He did a great job on his costume.

[bobquasit.livejournal.com]

You're added.

As you might guess, Teri and I (and an Arisia volunteer) all helped quite a bit with his costume. Marty emphasized that the Kamikaze Kids had all made their costumes completely on their own, but I was there and I know that's not true for most of them.

[(Anonymous)]

Ehhh....I'm not sure what you're talking about. Actually, I have no clue what you're talking about. At the moment there's a new president euphoria, but in three months Obama will be seen to be mortal and there will be plenty of criticism from Left and Right and Hyperspace. Is it just that those who reply to your posts are emotional about it? I'd bet many people believe "For heaven's sake give him a chance to actually do something before condemning him."

[klyfix.livejournal.com]

Dang it, I forgot to log in; we've been fighting with the machine of course and I needed to log in again.

To be sure, I'm only paying casual attention to politics and current news (TV broadcast news, little bit of blog reading, little bit of what's in the paper. Election is over, I can't (or won't; please don't lecture me about how I should become a community activist 'cause I already know that I'm a Bad Person) do anything about the current situation, and I have a tendency towards depression. At base, I fiugre non-expert political discussions are a recreation and not any serious was of Discovering Truth.

[janewilliams20.livejournal.com]

I very much doubt if you'd piss me off, but that's because my knowledge of and interest in American politics is approximately zero. So, as far as I'm concerned, your putting those posts under a filter I'm not on is a Good Thing, because then I can read about interesting things, like Sebastian, without also being bored by foreign politics.

[bobquasit.livejournal.com]

Interesting. I was under the impression that the last eight years had made US politics of much more interest to people outside the US, if only because Bush proved that the results of US politics could really screw up the world very badly. Apparently I was wrong!

I must also admit that the thought of my Sebastian posts being classified as "interesting" bemuses me. :D

[janewilliams20.livejournal.com]

Oh, you're probably right, in general. I'm talking about what I find interesting, not anyone else's views. I don't find my own country's politics interesting, either. Do not confuse "important" with "interesting": though if, like me, you work from the default assumption that everything any politician says is a lie, and any promise they make bears no relation to what they'll actually do, then following the current lies and the current hysterics on the subject isn't even important. Maybe I'm unduely cynical, I dunno.