POLITICS

I just have a few things to say about politics. I don't usually like to talk about them because I am old-fashioned in thinking that it can be an impolite thing to bring up in casual conversation. And heaven knows there are millions are articles, blog posts, and facebook additions every day. But I will say this.

Check. Your. Sources.

Don't let every facebook picture with the face of a politician and some wording pull at your nerves. (Or better yet those lists of terrible things about the other political party's platform, they don't even give you a picture! Cheap.) You do realize anyone can make those right? Anyone. Like, my 11 year old nephew could make one and it could have a picture of Joe Biden that says "Do we really want a Vice President who doesn't like cheese sandwiches?" He could do that.

Bush offends corn-growers worldwide!
Oh wait, he didn't say that? Some guy who lives
in his parent's basement just made that up?
I'm so shocked!

And I can almost guarantee that the people who are making those have strong opinions and are a tad extremist. I mean, you aren't motivated to make those things if you're like "I'm slightly wary about that point on my politician's agenda, but I could be wrong." Do you really want to let that anonymous picture-making guy win? I mean come on, he has enough time on his hands to make ridiculous facebook pictures that are almost exclusively simplistic and one-sided. Great guy to trust. But what do I know? It could be a girl.

Don't just trust campaign ads, newspaper articles from knowingly conservative OR liberal viewpoints, or even media aimed for a specific purpose in politics.

And if you're going to? Even it out with something on the other side. I like to subscribe to news sources on either side of the arena. You'll probably lean toward one yes, but if you've never done this before you may surprised when you start to see a bias in your old sources. The important thing is to see the bias. Everyone has one, some people just don't admit it. If I submitted a paper to my professor and I only used sources that supported my thesis while blatantly missing sources that had information on my topic but didn't support it? That's called an F people. (Unless you go to BYU. Then it's an E.)

If you see something that gets you fired up, check your sources before you look for the pitchforks. There are plenty of fact-checkers out there (though admittedly, they will have slight/not slight biases as well) and nothing is wrong with good old-fashioned, doing some digging research. If we want our politicians to trust us as voters and deliver what we want, we need to be informed enough to actually understand what they stand for. If you want to know why Billy hit Robby, would you ask Robby? Or would you ask Billy?

I, for one, would ask both.