Why I Hate Politics

Today, there is a lot going on in the world: probably too much for anyone to keep track of. Last night was the big presidential election and I can tell just by Facebook statuses that Obama won. This really should not be a surprise to anyone and I doubt that it is. Still, I know a lot of people are disappointed. Someone is every election. I voted, but I decided way back that whatever happens I would be happier when the whole election was. You may wonder why, but I bet most of you know exactly why. Years ago if you watched TV, you would expect a few political ads. Now they are everywhere. You can't go on YouTube without seeing an ad about Tammy Baldwin's liberal extremism or Mitt Romney's secret hidden money. I think at this point everyone is sick of this. No one believes political ads because they are always meant to deceive you. Even attack ads that are totally true are created just to get you to ignore the problems of the person making them. It is so bad, I felt bad voting because I feel like it encourages politicians.

Don't take that the wrong way. I know that kind of feeling is not the most rational. Please vote. It really is important. But if I were in charge, I would make a law banning political ads (or at least try). No one would miss them. In fact, I think that it would make everyone happy; probably happy enough to re-elect me.

The Scooby-Doo Mystery

There is one television show that never seems to end, no matter how long it is on. That show is Scooby-Doo. Ever since the first episode almost 50 years ago, we seem to just end one Scooby-Doo series so a new one will replace it next week. This all seems rather strange. How many episodes can you make about teenagers and a dog catching people disguised as monsters? Apparently, you can make thousands of episodes. The biggest mystery still remains. Why is such a random mystery show, staring a dog and his owner, who seems to be a stoner, so successful?

I think there are multiple reasons Scooby-Doo is such a success. First of all, there is a talking dog. Who doesn't like dogs? A few people, but Scooby-Doo is more than an average talking dog. He is quite funny. He never fails to entertain with his antics and his desire to stay away from the mystery that needs to be solved. He may be a dog, but in that sense, he is also very human. The second reason is a little deeper. We all like to be excited by the idea that there are things that cannot be explained: the supernatural. That is why we celebrate Halloween every year. This show always has that. But, more importantly, in the end, they always prove the monster is nothing but a harmless fraud. No matter how much we are fascinated by the supernatural, we feel better knowing that it can't hurt us.

Winning Isn't Everything

The David Maraniss article “Winning actually isn't the only thing” was about the Monday Night Football game where the Seahawks beat the Packers due to a bad call made by replacement officials. While much of the article talked about the many people whose mistakes led to his team losing, the argument he made is that the Seahawk’s coach, Pete Carroll, and the Quarterback, Russell Wilson, should not have acted as if they had won the game fairly. According to him, they clearly should have lost and the fact that they pretended that they had deserved a victory showed bad sportsmanship.

I do agree with the argument made in the article. I saw the game and it was very clear that the packers should have won. Like Maraniss, I was disappointed that members of the Seahawks pretended that they deserved to win. They had to have known that the call was bad. I know it is probably too much to ask these days for someone to acknowledge that they should have lost, but it would have been the right thing for them to do and they know that. Personally, I am not sure what I would have done in the position of Russell Wilson. I know admitting defeat is hard. Still, I know it would be the right thing, no matter what happened as a result.