Do Politics Belong on a Running Blog?
Good question. Politics nowadays are so divisive. The whole point of blogging is to build connections and bring people together. Do we really want to alienate fellow runners because they didn’t vote for the same person we did? How many of you have had that sinking feeling when you realize a person, who you thought you liked, voted for the wrong person- and then you start to think that maybe you don’t really like them so much after all. I know I have. It’s come to the point where being a Democrat or Republican is comparable to rooting for a sports team. I grew up in a north suburb of Chicago, and we were all Cubs fans. I literally didn’t know one single White Sox fan growing up, and nothing you could have said to me would have convinced me that the White Sox were a better team. People vote Democrat or Republican in a similar manner. Most people (including myself) couldn’t actually discuss in detail any specific policy their candidate supports, but we all know who we’re voting for- we won’t vote against our team. And there are a lot of factors that go into becoming a Democrat or Republican, and interestingly, recent studies have shown that some of them are inherited. Certain characteristics, like a craving for novelty, the propensity to feel disgust, and the tendency to sense danger all influence whether people are conservative or liberal, and these are things we’re born with. It’s probably a good idea to have a mix of these characteristics in a society to balance things out. In this post I had my little rant about how politicians and the media are trying hard to polarize us- but in the end I still believe our similarities are greater than our differences. I say, put whatever you want on your blog! Personally, I like a strong, well-stated opinion. But I’m also wary about writing anything that will enforce the “us” versus “them” notion. In the end I believe we all want the same things, and especially in this blogging community, we need to build each other up and not alienate people. Hey, but this is a running blog after all so I’m going to share this clip of Joe Biden running! Not bad for a 78-year-old who isn’t actually a runner. And of here’s one Kamala Harris out for a morning run- and here she talks (briefly) about her workout routine: “It has nothing to do with your weight… it’s about your mind.” I sure we’re all united in hoping for a peaceful day tomorrow.