Claptrap.  Bullshit.  Obtuse, troglodytic, injudicious stupidity.

Attempting an intelligent conversation about politics with the adamantly partisan is like trying to cure an infection with muddy water.

Several times over these past weeks have I offered my two cents on campaign-related posts in various places on the intarweb.

Several times over these past weeks have I been reminded of why civility and genuine engagement in such matters provide nothing more than fodder for the cannons of inanity.

Offer an opinion and ask for feedback based on what others might feel and you find yourself laughed at, insulted, belittled, and otherwise disengaged by the mindless minions of meaninglessness.

Questioning someone’s political motivations results in nothing short of questioning their manhood or womanhood.  You might as well call them the most foul vulgarities imaginable.  The results are the same.

As I’ve always said, politics retards everything it touches—and that first and foremost means the human mind.  Want to see people at their most savage and primitive?  Engage them in a political conversation (religion bringing up a very close second).

Thankfully, I don’t take these things personally.  To me political discussion is debate, an opportunity to play devil’s advocate and poke a stick in the beehive of collective consciousness.

Essentially, when I see a logical fallacy or personal opinion offered as objective truth, I like to point out the issue and ask for someone to address it from a less biased standpoint.

Regrettably yet predictably, the conversation rapidly becomes defensive and offensive.  That is, most see it as a personal attack and treat it as such by launching their own personal attack, if not via means as simple as dismissing the entire premise as silly.

LOL!

Yes, just like that.

Ask McCain supporters why they don’t like Obama and you will be called a commie faggot or a terrorist.  One need only listen to calls at Palin rallies for someone to kill the Democrat candidate to appreciate fully the dull, boorish malevolence demonstrated by the profoundly stupid.

Ask Obama supporters why they don’t like McCain and you will be offered a speech about being on the right side of history, and that will promptly be followed by some haunting rendition of Kumbaya or its ilk meant only to affirm how credulously sanguine and insipidly sanctimonious they are.

Neither can offer a response that lacks condescension, derision and revulsion.

What a wretched world we fashion with the contrivances of superiority.  Look what horrors politics has wrought.

Now I remember why discussing such matters rarely provides useful dialogue.  I also remember why I abstain from and avoid it.

I voted early.  My civic duty addressed carefully and thoughtfully, all I can do at this point is wait and watch as the smug horde of senseless parasites bludgeon each other in the final hours betwixt now and the final tally.