It seems the more things change, the more they remain the same. I've been on these boards for ~2 years now and it's my observation that history isn't the only thing that repeats itself. It seems like the same arguments are used over and over again when a topic comes up. They're always the same arguments, just packaged with a few new tidbits of information some intern at Acme News Corp conglomerated from a few blogs, his own imagination, and some information he overheard at the investigative journalist's lunch table. One side latches on to this new information like it's holy writ and the other dismisses them faster than Fran Drescher auditioning for American Idol.

Whether it's debating on AD or talking with coworkers by the water cooler, subjects like Iraq, Iran, Palestine/Israel, Abortion, Taxes, or Immigration each side becomes locked in an eternal game of tug of war; an intellectual trench warfare in which one side will gain a few precious yards only to be pushed back as soon as the next news story breaks and nothing ever changes.

This is not a slam on the members of AD in any way shape or form. I think this is a great place and it's the only place I can actually deal with people who think critically. But I feel like I'm suffering from a case of political burn out. It's not just AD (I don't read or reply nearly as much as I used to), but just politics in general. The more I learn, the more I get disgusted by both sides, and the more hopeless I feel to change it or that it will ever change. The anger which motivates you to want to change things wears on you and after awhile, it just doesn't seem like it's worth getting upset over anymore.

I don't want to debate the quality of AD and I don't feel like I want or need time away from AD as I feel these feelings stem from how our government, news media, and the apathy of the American people in general. But I would like others to:

Comment on the above and share similar feelings they have now or in the past.

Why are we (members of AD) different than (what I assume) is the majority of Americans who are politically apathetic?

Is this because I've joined the workforce and am getting old and becoming a realist like my parents said I would?

There are only 88 notes. You're bound to write the same song as someone else eventually.

This site is (sadly) no different than others in many respects. It is different than many others due to the moderation and The Rules (which clearly I am incapable of following) so there's hardly any flame wars or name calling here compared to elsewhere. The signal to noise ratio is really low. And as soon as I'm banned it will be all signal! However, the same old same old is a fact of life. Everything is circular. Fashion, music, art, political debate. Read a book about the 20s, it's today.

We, like many internet poli debaters, care about politics. Otherwise we'd be debating NASCAR, Wrestling, Emacs vs vi, or something else. Some of us probably do. However, our sport is politics. Some of us even take it more seriously than sport. For a lot of us this is just what we find interesting. Like Chess, or Go.

Your parents are almost always right

I like to quote myself, it gives the illusion of a thoroughly considered world view.

Understanding this progression is the difference between caring about politics and political apathy.

The fact is the politics affects nearly every aspect of our daily lives in some way or another. Anyone who has been through high-school history can see how enormous these effects can be.

Despite this, most people simply don't make the connection, or more likely can't sustain the understanding that politics are so critically important.

People tend to replace apathy with concern when they feel powerless and left out, the average American feels just this way about politics.

The fact is we are neither powerless nor left out. Some minds remain closed, but taking the skills and the information we gather at and applying them in real life seems to me to only sure fire way to avoid burn out.

Find people and organizations in your community who are actually working on issues you care about... or if you're a smarmy college student whose too broke to care about the inconvenience like me...
Start one (I'm working on it)

Once you think you've exhausted the opposition's original thinking it's a good sign that you're reasoning is leading you in the right direction and you may have some useful insights to aid in affecting practical change.

I don't by the myth that age brings realism.

Just because we get tired doesn't mean things aren't worth fighting for.

Heck, Ghandi never got "realistic" either.