Culture or Politics

What defines us? Our cultural choices or our political choices?

I personally define myself through my cultural choices, more than my political choices. I think the reason for this is because I view my political choices as mostly private and my cultural choices public. On my facebook page I post my favorite music, TV shows and (most importantly to me) movies. I also use cultural choices of others to, in a way, judge them. If I met someone and they said that their favorite movie was "I Know Who Killed Me" I would definitely question whether or not this person would match up with me as a friend. Just like if someone said their favorite TV show was "30 Rock" I would think that it would be impossible for us not to get along. Cultural choices define our personalities, while political choices define our personal beliefs. The personal beliefs of another person is important, when it comes down to it, but in reality they don't define the relationship I share with another person.

Politics just don't come up in conversations I have with other people, the conversation usually revolves around everyday things, but if politics are brought up, I usually feel uncomfortable and don't feel like sharing my opinion (which is extremely rare). I feel that by having a differing opinion about politics is almost insulting to the other person, I don't want them to think that I think my beliefs are more important than theirs because I respect everyone's beliefs and everyone should be able to express them. I just choose not to put the fact that I believe something different out their for someone to maybe judge me because of it, it will always be in the back of their mind. I know some people who don't respect the rights of the gay and lesbian comunity and that fact is always in the back of my mind. So what would stop someone from judging me because I am pro choice, while they are pro life. I just don't believe this should be a factor in the way I interact with another person. Politics just don't define my relationships with another person, the chemistry between us and the way they treat me define the relationships.

Politics and the Media, Where do they converge?

I think this years election had a huge blend between the media and politics, from adding and extra night of Saturday Night Live on Thursday (isn't that a contradiction?) about the election, to celebrities getting together to do stupid videos, trying to be funny about getting out and voting (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN8YnX_vjAY). All pretty much pointing towards the same goal of getting people involved in the 2008 election. The part where media and the celebrities in the media went wrong was when they start forcing their opinions as to who should be elected on those who are obsessed with celebrities and don't care about researching for themselves who they should vote for. I understand when they share who they are voting for and why, but when they just make nonconstructive attempts to make fans of theirs vote for who they think they should, it disgusts me. Here's another wonderful video from the very wise and funny Hayden Panettiere (if you didn't get that, there is some major sarcasm in that comment): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uusA9c33LT8. I'm not saying that I voted for John McCain, or even that I smoked cigarettes, because I didn't do either, I'm just saying that how about these celebrities use their influences to point out issues important to them and how voting a certain way will support those issues. It's also very disrespectful to attack John McCain and those that vote for him, people have their resons for voting a certain way, how about they tell us why they're voting the way they are, instead of the generic, "McCain is just another Bush," that doesn't tell me why he is another "Bush". Although I do believe that SNL has helped many people stay involved over the election and continue to stay involved with politics, even if it is with a lean toward the liberal side and of course the comedic side.

As I mentioned in class I find it interesting how well Obama was able to use all the aspects of the media to help him dominate the poles, Hilary never had a chance she was to far behind in technology, the media, and speech giving skills. He was able to connect to so many people using the media, everyone felt like his friend and like they were going to help him make the change. Well now the elections over and I think he's having a little trouble separating himself from the campaign trail. But I guess that's a separate issue...