For a girl who studied politics and calls herself lolitician, there hasn't been much mention of either politics or lol in this blog. Doesn't she know there's an election on!?
Why have I been so silent on these events? I never intended to be.
I had originally planned to focus this blog on being 'lol scum' with the idea that if/when I found employment or an internship, I would gradually include more lolitics and slowly change the focus of the blog (hence the URL).
The problem is not that I found a job. I do work in a field where political neutrality is important, but that would be a thinly veiled excuse for not talking about political issues. The problem comes from within: I have three separate political voices within me.
That's not to say that I am being haunted by the likes of George Washington, Winston Churchill and John Locke. That could be very ugly indeed.
Nope. It's a bite more like C.S Lewis' depiction of every practical cat having three names. I think every practical person (or every politics geek) should have more than one political 'hat'. I am so much less poetic that C.S Lewis, but I'll try to explain.
First of all, I have my own personal politics. This includes the political party I support based on policies and ideology. It could simply be the party (or parties!) I decide to vote for on election day, and that could be a private decision between me and the secret ballot's box. It could also be my support for a particular candidate, my membership of a political party, or my engagement in a political campaign. However I decide to articulate it, it's my personal opinion and I have my own reasons for following it.
Secondly, I have an academic approach to politics. This is because I studied politics at University, and it isn't necessarily related to party politics. I was more interested in ideas and processes and issues than parties. And when I looked at ideas, I tried to look at them from a neutral position. I thought this was really important, because I thought that analysing ideas and issues from a biased position wasn't going to lead to any progress in the any understanding of politics. Academic study is about looking at all sides of an issue, making balanced arguments, and looking for scientific patterns and trends. Being politically neutral while studying politics also helped me learn so much more, and helped me to shape, label and refine my own personal opinions.
Finally, I have a general, light-hearted interest in politics... or lolitics. Whether it's biased or not, I don't usually care. I love anything that is cutting, irreverent, witty and current. I've already touched on this before on this blog, also lamenting on the lack of truly great political humour in the UK.
Although it's great that the UK leaders' debates have attracted greater interest in the UK's general election, and some of the after-match analysis is quite interesting, after all the squirming and worming about opinion polls, performance and punchiness, there's a gap unfilled. I'm looking for infotainment with bite, and I can't quite find it.
By infotainment I don't mean dumbed-down, I mean truly engaging, and more importantly, meaningful.
Anyone with a true 21st-century recessionista 2.0 vibe should be asking: If I can't find the infotainment, why don't I create it?
Who wants to be a milliner?
I have three different political 'hats' and as anybody with only one head knows, it's very difficult to wear more than one hat at a time.
...and if you notice me in profound meditation, it's because of a rapt contemplation, of the thought, of the thought, of the thought
of the scourge of political misinformation...
(to be continued, yup)
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