We are rapidly approaching that special time in the American election cycle where everyone on the internet suddenly transforms into an uncertified political scientist. Over the next few months, we are going to hear an awful lot from people about not only how they plan to vote, but exactly why you and I are wrong if we don’t vote the exact same way, for exactly the same reasons.
Look, civic engagement is great.
But it does come with a few distinct caveats …
There is an unwritten but well defined inverse relationship between how often someone posts about politics and how likely anyone is to actually read it. It’s the Car Alarm Effect. The first time you hear a car alarm, you look around to see if someone is stealing a vehicle. If the alarm goes off every single afternoon at 2:00 PM, you don't look for a car thief; you just look for a new neighbor.
Think about it:
Which is more impactful?
Hearing the occasional well-thought-out and heartfelt public stance from the kind of person who “pretty much never really talks about that kind of thing”.
Or …
Almost the exact same thought, but from someone whose digital presence is a 24/7, caps-lock-fueled livestream of whatever the "outrageous outrage of the hour" happens to be.
When every single news cycle is treated like an existential crisis, the human brain naturally tunes out to preserve its own sanity.
Don’t get me wrong, sometimes (and these days maybe even often) it’s perfectly understandable to be outraged about many things.
But what is your goal in expressing that outrage?
Do you just want people to know you're mad? (Hey look, I'm screaming into the digital void, and I brought receipts!)
Or do you want to inspire actions that might change the thing(s) you’re mad about? (local and in person > anything on the Internet or your phone)
The answer matters.
Personally, I’ve found that my own record for changing someone's mind via a heated internet comment section is roughly zero percent. Which is why, as the political temperature rises over the next few months, you can mostly find me out on the trails. The local wildlife might occasionally mock me, but at least the lizards never try to debate me about the why the price of gas is so high.
p.s. on a more serious note, please check your voter registration: vote.gov and make a plan to vote in your local primary and the general election on Nov 4th.
Til Next time,
I'm here to escape all the nonsense.
I will neither complain about nor cheer any politics here.
Or encourage anyone to.
Or try to sway anyone's opinions.
Unfortunately the only people I align with politically are libertarians and they're all retarded.