Aunt Izzie: I’m sick of hearing about the election. Help!

Posted By Izzie Gibson Penrose on Oct 26, 2012 | 1 comment

Dear Aunt Izzie,

Everywhere I go people are talking about the election and I’m sick of it.

Sincerely,

I Hate Politics

Dear I Hate Politics,

I’ve got good news and bad news for you. The good news is in two weeks the election will be over, so if you’re someone who whines about the debates airing instead of regularly scheduled sitcoms, normalcy returns soon.

The bad news is you live in America, and people here love to talk. So no matter what the outcome of the election is you will be hearing about it for the next four years until the next election. Then you’ll hear about that election until it’s over, and on and on until America becomes a dictatorship, or you die.

It’s pretty useless to complain about, especially because people who talk about people who talk about politics are just as bad (or possibly worse) than people who talk about politics.

This isn’t to say your complaint isn’t a valid one. As a young person who hangs out with other young people almost exclusively, I can tell you we talk more and know less than almost any other demographic. Huff and puff about it all you want, but how many college students have to worry about mortgage payments, getting laid off, or supporting a family?

At our age we can’t help being idealistic, and our political conversations reflect that. Of course we would rather debate marriage equality then foreign policy, because it’s an easier argument. It requires philosophy over facts and that is a college student’s dream. Surprisingly enough, if you disregard the fact that you probably don’t know enough to be talking about the issues of today, you can have a pretty lively debate.

I don’t know what your endgame is here, but I’m pretty sure politics aren’t going anywhere. You can hate them if you want to, but you’re going to miss out on an awful lot of discussions. Just do what the rest of us do. Pick one side of the political spectrum to hate.

Sincerely,

Aunt Izzie

Izzie Gibson Penrose, class of 2016, has 18 years of advice to give. She loves telling people what to do (but doesn’t take offense if they don’t listen) and lives as strange a life as possible so she has plenty of anecdotes to share. Izzie also enjoys making jokes and baking cupcakes. Email her with questions, concerns, or anything LITERALLY ANYTHING that’s on your mind at gibsis01@gettysburg.edu. She promises to read every email she receives at least once, probably six times.