How do you react to people who claim no interest in politics?

[merbex]

I find myself wanting to scream;I usually try to point out that they are letting others make decisions for them. Apathy is worse than being misinformed,IMHO.

If this election doesn't get them are they lost causes?

[zanana]

1. I usually feel envy.

They don't have to crack open a newspaper or even watch the news for three and a half years. Then, they ask their SO who they're voting for and their decision is made. They go to the polls feeling like a patriot, and never make the connection between their intellectual laziness and the state of the country.

[crispini]

2. I work on them

In small doses, to try not to overwhelm them. I usually try, "It's your patriotic duty," and "You don't have to be a 24/7 political junkie like me but since we're having an election real soon you need to think about your vote. Here's how you use an online interactive voter's guide...."

Then I loan them DVD's. People who won't read, will watch a movie.

[TNMOM]

3. I suspect their closet rethugs and treat them appropriately.

[doni_georgia]

4. Makes me mad, because in our society it is our duty to participate

in the electoral process. To me, someone who doesn't care about who is elected really doesn't deserve the freedoms afforded by our Constitution.

[Yunaleska]

21. You know

Staying informed can be a full time job - especially with all the disinformation of today. Many people can't do it. A lot of people are trying to surivive on $5.15/hr supporting family. They don't have time to worry about politics.

"To me, someone who doesn't care about who is elected really doesn't deserve the freedoms afforded by our Constitution. "

Easy for you to say. I assume you're financially stable and make a decent living. You have free time to post here, which is a luxury.

Some people simply have no interest in it. That doesn't mean they don't deserve rights. It's an INTEREST. Not all people have the same interests. To us it may be very important, but to others maybe another interest is. Let's look at this way...

"To me, someone who doesn't care about what forest is cut down really doesn't deserve the air they breathe"

"To me, someone who doesn't care about starving people in africa really doesn't deserve the food they eat."

"To me, someone who doesn't care about chinese slave labor really doesn't deserve the clothes they wear."

"To me, someone who doesn't care about saving electricity really doesn't deserve the energy they use"

All of those things are important. See how it changes based on what YOU consider most important? Try worrying about all of them and see how long you stay mentally stable and how much time you have for anything else.

[NoPasaran]

5. I would like to enslave them

And force them to clean my house and do yardwork.

And possibly eat them in hard times.

[The empressof all]

10. Ooooh that sounds good

I've been tackling them and then ripping their livers out with my bare hands.... But if I can get my house clean.....mmmmmmm

My you are smart!

[Boomer]

6. I feel a guilty sense of recognition

That used to be me. I hated politics -- the lying, the false promises, the smarmy posturing, the partisan feuding that got in the way of true governance. The few times I had been roused to activisim, such as John Anderson's campaign, I'd been horribly disappointed. After a while, I just didn't see the point, and I actively avoided political news.

The seachange for me was 9/11 - the shock of the tragedy and an almost ghoulish fascination with the events that followed motivated me to follow the news reports. I started following news reports and checking into online news sites several times a day.

And then I just couldn't stop. I kept reading, kept digging for more stories about this topic and that topic. To my surprise, the habit stuck long after the shock of 9/11 faded. I now spend an average of 1-2 hours a day reading political news. And even with that effort, I feel like I'm just barely keeping up.

So I have a lot of sympathy for people who don't have that extra time to devote to making sense of the political scene -- people who hold two jobs, work constant overtime, who have large families. Carving an hour out of their day to read challenging and conflicting news analysis isn't an enticing prospect for many.

[Lancer]

7. With a mixture of pity and disgust.

Those of us who care about the political process and the government that evolves from it know that without them, we

• will not have access to public schools
• cannot be assured of our safety on bridges and highways
• cannot obtain a driver's license or title to a car, much less be assured of the safety of that vehicle
• cannot be assured of the sanitation in restaurants
• cannot obtain low-interest college loans
• cannot be assured of the security of our bank accounts
• cannot be assured of the purity of vaccinations for our children
• cannot rely on the safety of children's toys or sleepwear
• cannot obtain a hunting or fishing license
• will expect Veterans to fend for themselves medically, financially and psychologically
• cannot receive disability payments, or minimal financial security in old age
• cannot be assured our drinking water isn't full of lethal poisons
• would not be able to enjoy Yellowstone, the Great Smokies, Cape Hatteras or any of dozens of other National and Historical Parks

For those who say none of these issues, or any of the thousands of others that our elected representatives decide matter to them and their daily lives, I say, "fine. Stay home. Lucky for you, these services will be available to you—at least in the short run—despite your ignorance and disinterest in the process."

[exliontamer]

8. Nader (of all people) had a great line

A guy walked up to Nader and started asking him how to get his kids involved in politics.

"My kids just aren't into politics," the guy said.

"Well that's too bad," St. Ralph replied, "because politics is into them."

[Nay]

9. A dead fish upside the head. Dolts.

[Mz Pip]

11. Here's a timely quote

Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you. .... Pericles (430 B.C.)

MzPip
:dem:

[Nashyra]

13. I have 2 friends that flip their hands

and use the arrogant brush off "I think it's all nothing". it doesn't concern me. One lady has 8 kids and 1 has 2 kids. I used to try to reason with them, now I just look at them like their stupid. Last time I saw them I told them it's alot easier to be lazy them then to be involved. "That's not very nice" one of them said, my retort was "it wasn't meant to be and that the truth sometime hurts". The one with 8 kids uses the womens center and the thrift shops for clothes but never volunteers? If the * wins I am sending their kids names and address to selective service, they make a big deal out of the fact that their boys have not signed up for selective service and no one knows where they actually live. If there was a draft the said they would send their kids to Canada. I should repost, they are not friends, they are leeches.

[Mz Pip]

16. For democracy to work

we must have an informed electorate. People like this base their vote, if they vote, on the last 30 second ad they saw.

I do believe that BushCo is counting on an uninformed electorate to send him back to the White House. That's why he plays on the basest of emotions - fear - to mobilize his support. He is not a good man.

MzPip
:dem:

[kentuck]

12. I ask them if they care about the air they breathe or the water they ...

drink or if the area their kids play at is a radioactive waste dump? You have ot make it more personal for these people, imo.

[Mr_Spock]

14. Well, Bush red-neck told me he never votes - I'm like "that's cool"

I couldn't come up with enough motivation to argue with him about giving up his rights. My instincts were on high alert though - I really had the interior urge to call him a fool - but I withheld for the good of the team :D

[senseandsensibility]

15. It is hard for me to know how to react!

I've bored some people with this on other threads, but when Reagan was running against Carter in 1980, I was 18. I had zero interest in politics, and was very cynical for my age. I was also ignorant, but who knows how ignorant they are at that age? I thought I knew plenty;I was well read, and in COLLEGE, for God's sake. Well. my hubby, (a very liberal white male who was my boyfriend at the time), was determined to vote against Reagan, even though none of our friends were voting. He didn't know where the voting place was, or even if he was registered. On election night, we drove around the neighborhood we lived in looking for the polling place, and getting the run around. We finally found it. After all that, I didn't even go in to vote. I knew I was registered, too! I just didn't care. I sat out in the car and listened to music. I still get embarrassed when I talk about that. Maybe now I am over compensating in some way, because I eat, breathe, and live politics now!:) By the way, the hubby finally got through to me, and we are both liberal activists now!

[Road Scholar]

17. I'm usually pretty tactical in a lot of situations, but that falls

right in there with selective ignorance (many times they are proud of it). I guess I have a character flaw on that and I can be a little insulting.My grown children would probably say I'm downright pissy.
:mad:

[bushwakker]

18. It's like saying you have no interest in breathing

no respect for these poeple.

[tjdee]

19. Lose all interest in them as people.

When I hear they don't care about politics, soon thereafter I find they aren't as interesting as they used to be.

Disinterest and apathy isn't attractive to me, either in friendships or potential partners.

[henslee]

20. Screw em. You can't inflict political mindedness. Its like trying to

impose democracy in Iraq. One pal, I know keeps claiming, jury duty, a desire to keep a low profile, not wanting junk mail -- all flimsy reasons. If you can't get motivated to vote this election...

[Monte Carlo]

22. They're not blind, it's that they just don't see.

I remember I used to be totally apathetic to the big stage show of politics. It's all scripted in advance, they speak in a strange pseudo-real language, and none of them are worth my valuable time when I've got my actual problems to deal with. What's going to change in my day-to-day life?

I wouldn't call it malice, I'd call it a disconnect. It's the feeling that I don't (and can't) affect politics, and politics doesn't affect me.

[Awsi Dooger]

23. Ask basic questions that have relevance to election likelihood

Their answers are invariably more revealing of the national mood than the same question asked to partisans.

[secular_warrior]

24. Complete disgust - I usually have to conceal my rage

These people have it too good - that's the problem. They grew up in a pampered bubble. They have no value for the rights they enjoy that others fought and died for, and no sense of duty to help those in line behind them. They live under a blanket of freedom provided by those of us on the front lines of political wars, cultural wars and real wars. These are essentially selfish, self-centered brats, IMO, who have never grown out of that highschool mentality, i.e. dumb-is-cool-hipper-than-thou-jaded-apathy. They'll only wake up when the war comes to their doorstep, when it's too late.

:grr:

[CAcyclist]

25. I leave them alone

I don't think they are necessarily telling me the truth - more often they just don't want to get into a political discussion. Lots of people hate arguing and have had bad experiences with others trying to batter them with their opinion. And, no I am not refering to any of the posters here. Usually the buttonholers these "apathetic" people are trying to avoid are the republicans.

I also think a lot of people now associate being "political" with the form of right-wing ranting on the radio and tv and they just don't want to get in the middle.