Illogical Logic

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Ten people decide to have a movie night. They all agree to it. Six out of ten people want to go see “The Dark knight”, three insist on going to see “You Don’t Mess with the Zohan”, one will go to either. A vote is taken, and six people vote to see the Dark Knight. They get to the movies, and buy ten tickets to the Dark Knight. They go to the concession stand, and the three dissenters have all the tickets. They order popcorn, sodas, pretzels, and candy. The usher takes their tickets, tears them and says “Enjoy the film, ‘The Dark Knight’ is in theater 1. The three say, we’re going to see Zohan. The usher says “but you have tickets to the ‘Dark Knight’. The six start walking towards theater 1, the one straggles, and the three dissenters insist again, “We’re going to see ‘You Don’t Mess with the Zohan’. The usher says, listen, you’ll have to return your tickets and exchange them for Zohan if you want to go see that. “Why?” they say. The usher says, “because you bought ten tickets to the Dark Knight, and zero for Zohan. That means you haven’t paid to see Zohan. If you go into that theater you’re stealing, and the people who made this film don’t get paid. The three take back their tickets, and say “but they have to come back, because we want to go see Zohan. The usher says “gentlemen, I don’t care. Go see whatever you want. I already have their tickets. If they want to come back and exchange them I can give them their stubs to go exchange the tickets, but it appears they want to go see “The Dark Knight”. They protest, “but we don’t want to see the movie. We were outnumbered, and we have to stay together.” The usher looks at the three men and says “Then stop picking shitty movies.”  - Congress goes to see a movie.

That’s an anecdote fellow Rooker Will Ruff shared with his social media friends recently. I asked him to borrow it cause I believe most things make most sense when viewed through a different lens.  Obviously the U.S. Governmental system is not this simplistic, but at it’s core this is the current issue.  The final line stated by the usher, which subjectively suggests that their selection is “shitty” isn’t really fair, but doesn’t make it any less accurate.  Whether their political position is as shitty as ‘You Don’t Mess with the Zohan’, or as artistically appealing as ‘Amore’, is actually moot.  The point is the tickets are already bought.  And not only are they bought, but they were voted on and are still supported by the majority of the constituents they represent.  And yes the Affordable Healthcare Act is supported by a majority of the population, isn’t that all that should matter in a “Democracy”.  What has the right wing up in arms though isn’t current approval ratings for an already passed bill.  No, the right wing has recently done some table tilting to alter the exact meaning of the word “democracy” by adjusting district lines to create super majority representatives that have winning vote tallies that compete with the best dictators in the world, and have repealed a long standing voter’s rights act in the south that will surely help get the “right” [read: white] votes counted in future elections.  So what has them most pissed off, is that this current “cheat code” reminiscent of my video game days of yore when I had a Game Genie, doesn’t retroactively work on previous “levels” (to stick with the metaphor).

And this is where we currently preside. With a possible deal looming to end the shutdown (just fucking do it please), because something much more important than moral victories over the opposing sides enacted laws needs to be handled.  Which is the debt ceiling. But I’m not too concerned, cause I don’t think either side is dumb enough to let that slip through the cracks.  My bigger concern is for the future. I’m neither a Democrat or Republican as I like to believe I’m objective politically speaking. So for me I’d much rather two formidable sides rather than one really illogical one and another that’s only right by default.  Don’t get me wrong my beliefs do generally fall under a more liberal slant but I’m aware this is the United States of America, not the United States of Matt.  So in the end I understand that the best representation for this country may not be the best representation for me–a pretty well positioned twenty something without real problems. So my plea is this; lets cut the crap, let’s stop trying to cheat the system while essentially bastardizing our core philosophies (democracy), and let’s stop worrying about winning or beating our opposing party.  Politics should never be about winning, or beating anyone.  It should be about doing what’s right for the people.

Speaking of doing what’s right:

Earlier this week I went on my yearly diatribe about the unbelievable nature of Columbus Day.  I won’t rehash it here, but suffice it say I’m annoyed heavily by it.  But this year I found out something pretty interesting. South Dakota recently (within the last decade) changed Columbus Day to Native Americans Day.  And honestly it’s great in my books. How hard is it for the rest of the country to do that. This simple solution especially got me, cause it seems like we should employ this easy thinking problem solving for most of these issues.  The NFL is still in debate over, how or when they will change the Washington Redskins to something more politically correct.  Why not just call them the Washington Natives.  You can then keep your emblem and if anything show our country wide solidarity for our ancestors’ transgressions. And for Cleveland’s baseball team, just come on.  Seriously just change the logo. I just don’t get why some of these would be minor issues take so long to handle.  Eventually America, we will move on and historically the more progressive view point on these matters generally win out.  So do you really want to argue on the obviously wrong side of history.  That goes for gay rights, women’s right, and immigration policy too while we’re at it.

Matt Cargile

About Matt Cargile

Matt Cargile is the Editor in Chief of rookerville.com. He also works in finance, but refuses to read any news printed on pink paper. He is a child at heart with adult means. His childhood dream was to either become a magician or the leader of the next great empire and somehow both these things make complete sense. He's contradictory in nature, but is always consistent.

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