Does your politics make you a pig?

Time, despite the inevitable changes, needs a few constants otherwise we lose ourselves, like manners i.e. civility, grace, respect - that age-old value that can seem really old school sometimes. The manners that maketh the man, they say. They also mark the man apart by miles from those people with lesser or, worse, none of this standard.

This golden role can be offered no excuse, none at all. The problem, however, arises with the ongoing intense political age where person and politics know no boundaries. Intentional politicking usually involves supporting one side in total, including its bad parts, to avoid the fallouts of the other side(s) in total to achieve the best world possible yet. Depending on how desperate you are for that world, reason starts to fade, irrationality takes its place and you can't make out the difference between the two. 

That's when you lose the manners that maketh you. Name-calling, condescending, patronizing and other collectively influenced adverse behaviour becomes a part of "fair play". Grace you knoweth not. The only grace you had was when you let the opposite side have their "grace period" but now time's up. Sore player is thy middle name. The only advantage is that there is no referee and no one to give you a red or yellow card. It's a free-for-all. In a world where politics is played like a game, with sworn team loyalty included, the only thing that kept it a sport worth playing is manners - even at the cost of the good of the world. But now, you've even lost that. 

That, ladies and gentlemen (if we're still that when politik) is the nutshell of how we trade blows when we don't like a set of ideas that are, or might soon become, a part of our world. What we stupidly forget is that politicians will come and go. They will always have their agenda however much it looks like they're not here just to screw us over. 

Soon, you'll have to expand that old poem by German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller (which is long enough in its latest modern version) to include your group as well: 

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

The big question to ask, and be honest about answering, as the timeless gold standard is: Does your politics make you a pig? Do you turn into a vile version of anything when you politik? If yes, it isn't worth it. It turns into a monster that your mind justifies at every turn with too many blind spots to count! 

If you can bring yourself to see reason, your desperation for change, or constant, is exactly what your opponents want. The statement works vice versa, speaking to your opponents. Being feral about expressing it only increases the wall between you and them. Insisting on your way or the highway gets no one anywhere. There's only one plate to eat out of, and no one's going to give up on their chances of thriving. There's going to be war over it, if it comes to that. 

When we choose our pro- or anti-stances, somehow we mix up the fact that people (who we believe we're fighting for) and ideas (which we believe are the only way) are, in fact, the same thing. Ideas exist for people and all people need to helped by ideas. We can differ and some ideas can't really be accomodated side by side because they cancel each other out but the best ones really stand out and speak to everyone. That's how you know they are the best ones. They're also the most sensible ones.

If we're truly sincere with ourselves, challenging as it is, finding these ideas are really simple. The problem is the ideologies that we've convinced ourselves will save us. They all come separately packaged, clearly marked and pre-meditated. Not one of them is without ill-motive, tucked away in their history, save maybe a few exceptions. 

We can unpack them and make our own rules of engagement. Not everyone will notice at first but this is a better way to actually converse across our schisms than constant hair-splitting bickering. We can make manners the centerpiece and common sense the goal. Avoid "narratives" and look for proven facts. Stop mistrusting "perceived intentions" and take people at their word believing they are indeed sincere with their stances. 

With civility back, civilians get the full spotlight and the politicians are given all the space to truly serve. Not the upotia we may we be at ever, but at least our vision ahead is set straight. Also, with no ideal, even the most impossible ones, we're dead people walking. The only question that remains to be answered is to whose tune?