In Chapter 10, Campbell describes “
Das Reich der Zwei, the nation of two my Helga and I had” (42) and compares the intensity of their romantic love for each other to the nationalist zeal so many “patriotic lunatics all around us” felt during the Nazi rise to power in Germany. “We didn’t listen to each other’s words,” he writes, “We heard only the melodies in our voices. The things we listened for carried no more intelligence than purrs and growl of big cats.” (43) We are accustomed to accounts of World War Two that condemn the Germans for their unthinking enthusiasm for the Nazis. But Campbell’s narrative hits closer to home because it suggests that great evil is made possible by young lovers like Campbell and Helga, who take no interest in politics.
Are those who say they are “not interested in politics” responsible at some level for the crimes of the world’s political leaders? Has contemporary Western society made a cult of love that distracts people from more significant political concerns? Does the entertainment media, with its focus on romantic love, encourage us to think like cats in heat (and thus, to extend the metaphor, allow the rats in politics to run wild)?
People who say they are not interested in politics could in a small way responsible for political leaders’ crimes. These people do not participate in elections and do their civic duty by voting and electing our political leaders. So hypothetically, a corrupt official may be elected because of these people who do not take interest in politics. Society paints a really pretty picture of romance. The perfect guy who gets the girl of his dreams to fall in love with him, and they live happily ever after. However, the idea that romanticism takes away from politics is completely irrelevant. Don’t you see senators committing adultery against their spouses about every other week? This is why I don’t think that romance and politics have anything to do with each other. The entertainment media is showing us that powerful and corrupt leaders are not able to get away with things, but they are still trying and these politicians are running just as wild and free as they always have and are working to please corporations, rather than thinking of the nation as a whole.
ReplyDeleteThere are many distractions in life that can pull us away from politics and lots of other things, if we'll let them. I agree with Hailey in that the two components of politics and love aren't directly related. You are only distracted if you want to be. And if you are allowing yourself to be distracted then politics weren't important in your life in the first place. We make time for and put effort into the things that are important to us.
ReplyDeleteI think the people that choose to silence their own voices are semi responsible for the way things are ran in politics. People shouldn't complain about their government when they chose to forgo their opportunity to make a change. By not speaking out they are leaving their freedoms in the hands of other people that have different thoughts and opinions.
I believe that by being uninterested in politics, you are taking an active role in supporting the things you don't like about politics. It's like watching the presidential candidates campaign against each other and thinking "I don't want this guy to run our country, he has no idea what he is doing. I want that guy to win," but not going to vote. You never know what kind of impact your one vote could have had. Maybe the person you wanted to win was one vote away from winning in your state, and your state was all they needed to win. If this was the case, then by not voting you ultimately caused the other person to win. Everyone needs to have an active voice when it comes to world politics.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't go so far as to say that those who are not interested in politics are "responsible" for the crimes of political leaders around the world. However, I would say that they could be contributing by not undergoing their civic duty and voting these people do, in a way allow politicians to do whatever they please. I also don't believe that people not being interested in politics has anything to do with the Western Societies love cult displayed in the entertainment media. Although the media may be engouraging us to "think like cats in heat," they cannot control what we think and what we do, our thoughts and actions are completely up to our own judgement and the media cannot be blamed for that.
ReplyDeleteHailey, can you explain what you mean by this: "Don’t you see senators committing adultery against their spouses about every other week? This is why I don’t think that romance and politics have anything to do with each other."
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