Imagine you’ve just been having a conversation with that
person you see quite often (but not often enough to call them your friend)
where you’re not really sure what to say to them next. Conversations with this
person aren’t so much ‘conversations’ as they are an awkward exchange of
statements being said to fill the silence.
All the things you usually talk
about have already been talked about. You’ve probably mentioned the
commonwealth games – (the verdict agreed on the opening ceremony is that it opened
badly but got better towards the end). You’ve probably mentioned the weather.
You’ve probably begun to feel a bit bored (or anxious about being boring) and
so you are grasping for subjects to talk about. Your ‘friend’ decides that
the conversation should turn political:
“So, what do you think about Scottish Independence then?”
I don’t know about you but this is a question I dread. A
question I hate being asked. A sort of dullness comes over me and I have a very
strong urge to roll my eyes and sigh whenever I’m asked it. My reaction is
mainly due to a bizarre and worrying case of Political Apathy. It is also due
to a worrying case of Political Ignorance.
(This is a deadly mix: Political Ignorance makes you
avoid discussions about politics because you don’t want to show yourself for
what you are – completely and utterly ignorant – and this avoidance creates just
the right amount of distance from political issues for the Political Apathy to
kick in. This Apathy then means that you distance yourself even further from
all things political because not only do you not want to reveal yourself as
being Politically Ignorant, you also don’t want others seeing how little you
actually care about what they’re talking about. This Apathy comes with a strong
sense of shame – a good citizen is well-informed and cares about the future of
the country he/she lives in, surely? The shame ultimately creates a strange
kind of sadness. This process then repeats itself ad infinitum
until you reach the worrying and bizarre state that I’m in. The state of being
an Ignorant – with a capital ‘I’ – and Apathetic – with a capital ‘A’ – human
being that the most he can do in a conversation about Independence is just say
‘awck, I know’ or ‘yeah’ in response to whatever the person he’s talking to has
just said).
And with 37 days to go,
this is a terrible place to be in. Everyone is talking about it. EVERYONE!
I intend to sort myself
out.
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