Just nod your head

 

Politics are a complex thing. Politics in Iz are probably more so. There is no way I can really give you "just the basics" of the political situation, because the basics can't be understood without knowing the background, and the background is affected by a thousand other things that have happened, and those things are the consequence of a million and three past events that don't have any connection to the current situation and are also dead boring. That's what history classes are for.

As soon as someone starts talking politics around you they expect you to know everything, A to Z, top to bottom and back, about the subject in question. ("What I really think is the only way BB can win again is if he can appeal to the followers of Slujeebub, that is, of course, if they can ever forgive him for that mess in South-Plancton") The South-Plancton mess happened when I was about 3 years old and wasn't reading the papers on a daily basis, and, believe it or not, I haven't looked it up in newspaper archives as soon as I learned how to read. Of course, the person I'm talking to - let's call him Israel - apparently does know all about it and thinks it has crucial importance in the upcoming elections.


 
 
 The only way to get out of a situation like that without seeming like an idiot is changing the subject. "Well, that may be important but this is not the main issue at all! The real question, I think, is wheather or not the things Lightning said about fishermen in October will not scare them all back towards BB." I've read about what he said about fishermen one day when I was on the bus to Holy College and didn't have any reading material except a newspaper somebody left there. My main hope now is that Israel hasn't read it.

"That could be." Damnit, he did. "Although I don't know if it still applies. He made them mad, but who else they can turn to? BB said worse things in august." In august I was in the US and didn't read any papers at all. I guess he's right.

"No, no, you don't get the point at all" I say. "They might stray, but eventually they'll come back. Don't you remember '86? It was exactly the same situation. Except it rained more. and where did that end?" 86 is a good year for reminding people, because nothing too important had happened in it and so people always think they've forgotten something.

Israel agrees. "And not only then! What about '75? Exactly the same situation."

"Only the other way around" I say.

"Of course" Israel says.

Ay which point we come to an agreement and I wonder if any of us has any idea what he's talking about.

You can't really know the full story that led to today's situation, because that would involve knowing by heart the entire history of Israel since 1948, or, preferably, since the Big Bang. Since very few people actually remembers it all, the rest know what they know, and pretend to know the rest. Not knowing anything about a subject hasn't stopped anyone from arguing about it. Which makes me wonder if the people in the political system do know what they're fighting about, or just keep it going because that's how it's always been without really understanding the situation.

I've read The Lord of The Rings and DragonLance, and I know alot about the Forgotten Realms and many other fantasy worlds. I can argue with you about the military crisis in Krynn. I'd rather read an incredibly complex book about politics in a world that never existed than a newspaper. Go figure.