Re: Re: The Gospels

I guess it's not so much a matter of conscious political alliance, but simply that being present in the world aligns your interests with some people and against others -- hence, you're a political being. This alignment of interests impacts on our opinions and attitudes. So your interests and experiences have disinclined you to have a negative opinion of Bush (or at least his foreign policy), for example, and disinclined you against strong alignments with a party (of whatever sort -- political, intellectual, religious), which is a political attitude in itself. I would say it's reflective of the fact that the current system serves you well. I suspect if you perceived yourself as getting screwed over in significant ways by your goverment you'd become, suddenly, very interested in politics. Being apolitical may just be a sign of conservatism or satisfaction (being satisfied enough, if not completely satisfied) with the status quo, in your case, at least.

Jim

-----Original Message-----
From: "Scottie Bowman" <rbowman@indigo.ie>
To: <bananafish@roughdraft.org>
Date: Mon, 28 Jul 2003 19:09:50 +0100
Subject: Re: The Gospels

    '... every belief or position can be defined in terms
    of a political alliance of some sort ...'

    It's my impression most people on the list would
    subscribe - if only tacitly - to this view.

    Yet I'm genuinely bewildered what is meant.
    I presume this only highlights my naiveté in regarding
    myself as 'apolitical'.

    I take it 'politicisation' is a much more pervasive process
    than I'd guessed. How will I recognise it? Someone like me
    who, consciously as least, finds it impossible to offer happy
    allegiance to any system of belief, be it Christianity, Psychoanalysis
    or even the tenets of the Flat Earth Society.

    The best I can offer is a kind of maudlin affection for
    my family & such friends as can still bear my presence.

    Scottie B

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Received on Mon Jul 28 22:24:56 2003