Bubble Boy: Oppose Thyself

Twenty years ago, I was a different person.

I worked at a law firm in downtown Lansing; I associated with the people there, and it helped reinforce my largely Republican conservative views. Heck, one of the lawyers there was the chief Michigan Republican party counsel.

I still rebelled a little bit, how could I not? I wore a Ross Perot pin leading up to the 1992 presidential election. Mostly based on his super fun financial presentations. But, I was still a Republican at heart.

After I moved out of my parent's house in East Lansing, I moved to Northern Michigan, living by myself for a few years. My main influences were all the people I worked with. Mostly ex-military conservatives. My political views shifted even further that way as a result. Moving almost too far in a way. I became isolationist, and a touch homophobic and racist.

Then I got married, had kids, moved to upstate NY, right next to Vermont. My political views shifted once again in response to all these changes.

I find myself now sitting very liberally. I eschew all formal political parties. Though I still am a registered Republican. My wife is a registered Democrat. We do this, in order to exert at least a little influence on politics. As the only two parties that hold general primary elections, and the only two parties who seem to ever win office for the most part: This is simply another way to participate in choosing the winner. For, while I almost never vote Elephant, or Donkey in the main election, I can at least put down a vote for which Republican bastard will win. And my wife, vice versa.

I can honestly say that I voted McCain in the 2000 Republican Primaries. I still think he was the right Republican for that job, especially as viewed in the hindsight of 9/11. But that's just speculation of course.

Nowadays, I find myself in even more of a bubble. I've "cut the cord". I don't subscribe to cable or satellite television. I do have an internet service, and that is how our family gets all of our entertainment and news. In the car, I listen to either music or podcasts of my choosing.

If you look at that, you can see that as a consequence of choosing mostly what I see and hear; my world view is much the way that I want it to be.

I took a step outside myself this morning. This was in response to a friend putting some comments on a link I posted to the Facebook. It was about the Occupy movement, and what I viewed as the exclusively heavy handed response that the authorities have had to it.

All that I see, are reports and videos that are negative to the law enforcement response. I have no balanced viewpoint. I still recoil from major media viewpoints, as I am suspect of their agenda. Which might be paranoid, but at least I can admit it.

So I've made a project for myself. As I'm laid up with a bum knee, I have a lot of sitting down time on my hands. I'm going to spend a few days doing things I don't normally do.

I'm going to check out lots of opposing viewpoints. I'm going to seek out all the examples of "Protesters Behaving Badly" that I can find. Even before looking, I can safely bet there is going to be a lot. People being what they are, there will always be some acting badly on both sides. I suppose it's an example of my naïveté that I'm not just as suspect of my primarily liberal news sources as I am of, say, Fox News.

So for the next two days, don't expect me to be sympathetic to much of anything. I'm playing devil's advocate. Against myself.

Cheers, to opposing views.