I don’t know a lot about politics, but I know quite a bit about people, since I happen to be one. And one of the things we’re really good at is picking sides. Do you remember when you were in school and the teacher would say things like, “Okay, get into groups of three.”, or “Shirts and skins.”? Do you remember how certain kids bonded while others stayed away from each other? Now do you remember how this sort of segregation between us came so naturally that we didn’t even realize we were doing it? We absolutely love to assimilate- And we absolutely love blaming others and assuming they’re different for the same reason- it keeps us from dealing with conflict or what isn’t comforting.

Does painting a huge flag make you a patriot? Does loving god make you a good person? Is there any good reason to believe a god would specifically bless one country? ‘No. No. And no.’ The image in this post screams ‘extremism’. It screams exterior overcompensation for the human fear of dealing with reality. It doesn’t have to be religion or nationalism that we cling to in order to ‘feel’ comfortable, but those are two biggies, so I’ll give you a great example regarding myself…

The other day I was watching a video clip of Bill Maher and guests on his show. In the clip, and others, he impulsively gets upset and argues with the Republican guest seemingly just because they’re Republican. In this case, she (the guest) was talking about how government is too big and money gets lost in these giant bureaucracies; something I completely agree with. But he argued with her nonetheless. I like Maher, at the very least in comparison to other ‘personalities’ on TV (even though I don’t own one). He often tries to stay non-partisan and seems to see that taking sides is part of our problem in politics.

But whether you’re a conservative christian or a liberal atheist, you have to admit his bias if you’re honest. He clearly is more keen to Republican bashing than Democrat bashing. He clearly prefers picking on religion and believers over atheists. He is human. I don’t think it’s wrong for him to speak his mind per say. He, like Jon Stewart or Rush Limbaugh, is obviously not objective in the same way a newscast ‘should be’. ‘Speaking of newscasts real quickly, we even see their political sides.’ But the point is that we subconsciously take sides, even when we consciously realize it’s a mistake. I have to admit that part of the reason I like Bill Maher is because it feels good to believe we’re part of the same atheist, woman-loving (just not in practice like him) government bashing camp overall.

We, as people, are always going to succumb to ‘an amount’ of subconsciously driven comfort. We are always going to take sides and be bias ‘to a degree’. It’s not just me. It’s not just the person who owns that house in the picture. It’s not just people on TV. It’s all of us. We buy into the ideas, fashions, politics, religions, culture, music, sex, country, city, race, and activities we like, and no matter what it will automatically affect our perception of the ones we don’t. The more we ‘feel’ safe from one thing, the more we ‘feel’ unsafe from something different. The good news is that, ‘that degree’ to which we are bias, is alterable. We can catch our selves from impulsively being unfair to other groups. We can make our conscious realization that we are all human and all in the same boat more prominent than that impulse. We can be bigoted assholes one second, and find the internal fortitude to get over our pride and conceit, and try and correct our mistakes the next second; or ‘maybe’ day, or year, or decade… (but the sooner the better).