The other rant I promised you...
Okay. I didn't watch the debate to preserve my marriage.
My prince, charming as he is, is not perfect. No man is. However, I am very vocal about politics and abhor people who quote the latest sound-byte or headline without reading the article, doing any independent investigation, or getting the rest of the story. I love him, but I don't consider him to be an informed citizen. He doesn't watch the news and only reads the sports section of the Sunday paper...and then only the articles about the Wisconsin Badgers. I doubt he will even vote, he certainly didn't vote in the primary. He's an adult and he's entitled to his apathy.
Now, here's the problem. I am a political animal. I want to debate, I want to know what other people are thinking. I prepare myself by investigating a lot and looking into each issue as much as I can. Some of my positions are based on logic and emotion, but mostly I was raised to think for myself. I despise people who can't make a logical argument or do any independent thinking.
Prince Charming despises GWB. He can't tell me why, only that he doesn't "like him." I have pressed him and he has nothing more to say on the matter. Prince Charming's solution to the Middle East, Al Qaeda, Iraq, Syria, and Iran? "Nuke the bastards and let Allah sort out the bodies." I don't see this as a viable solution. I see it as emotional claptrap. He doesn't see the War on Terrorism as anything but wag the dog. I see it as a struggle for our right to exist. I worry what kind of world our children will grow up in, he's worried about health care.
When we talk about politics, terrorism, etc, I make lucid arguments cited by facts. Prince Charming refuses to give my facts any weight, refuses to allow me to even make the argument. As someone who grew up encouraged to debate and think for myself, this stifling of my opinion and even the intellectual exercise aggravates me to no end. I'm a smart woman, and in every other respect Prince Charming is Prince Charming, but when it comes to this...I swear to god he's a caveman attempting to tell the little lady to shut up because she doesn't have any idea what she's talking about.
When we have wrangled in the past, I have tried to give him the evidence so he could read it, investigate it, and decide whether or not to stick to his argument. Once he contended that second-hand smoke can't kill. I said, "Dude, where have you been? Of course it does." He said, "Prove it!" So I went out, investigated it, and brought him back the research. First, he refused to read it. Second, he later claimed that what he really wanted proof of was someone inhaling the second hand smoke and dropping dead inside of 30 seconds, like it was a WMD.
So, I know that I can't win, because that's idiotic and I'm apparently not entitled to an opinion.
The good news is, I'll be the one helping the kids with the homework, I'll be the one helping the kids with current events, and I'll be the one encouraging our children to think for themselves. Thank god.
