Desperate lack of forgiveness for "my team" politics...

[HardWorkingDem]

A few months ago there was a good article on sports and how fans of sports team will forgive almost any transgression as long as two things exist: the offender is on their team and the offender is producing.

In a way, this is something I find very disgusting about politics and something that I think separates liberals from conservatives. Conservatives stand by their man no matter what transgression he commits and it is disgusting. Liberals are more willing to criticize our politicians that probably deserve it. Still, as Americans first, we should expect more and demand more.

Here is an article that sort of goes along with that article.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050814/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_popularity;_ylt=At2fQyJv.3sYwczcDBNSUxOs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b2NibDltBHNlYwM3MTY-

[Kurovski]

1. I can understand why we defend our parents and children

unconditionally, but making excuses for plain old elected officials when their failures and deceit are writ large in blood is 100% self-destructive.

Nominated.

[checks-n-balances]

2. Nomination seconded!

The team analogy is really appropriate, because there are so many parallels! Maybe I'm just a person born with a lack of "team spirit", but I never quite understood why some people on the team I was supposed to support would be so disparaging of the other team. As if we were inherently better as human beings or something, and it always seemed so irrational.

Sports teams, families, and religion seem to attract us to them in irrational ways, and I agree that, as a rule, Democrats tend to inject logic, reason, and intellect into politics, while the rightwing smear machines have sucessfully found ways to manipulate people into responding via their most basic, unfiltered "reptillian brains." And it is disgusting.

All this stuff is interrelated, and cognitive dissonance has a place in it too. Thanks for the post.

[Kurovski]

3. Kick.