Politics aren't worth killing over.

Just a rant. Feel free to ignore if you're looking for something more meaningful.

I just saw on the news about the shooting at the congressional baseball practice, and I'm saddened that the state of politics in the US has gotten so bad. I typically avoid discussing anything political -- my mom's a democrat and my dad's a republican, so I developed a political view pretty close to the middle of those (though I probably lean more to the democrat side if I'm being honest).

In my mind this is the healthiest view. I can see both sides of the argument on each issue and I can weigh them. But it seems like no one wants to hear the other side anymore, and it seems like everyone in the news and politics wants it that way. For politicians: it's easier to control people when you get them to accept a label. Anything that you then put under that label they now have to accept in order to continue using that label. For the news: conflict generates views -- it's human nature. What better way to create drama than to encourage people to take opposing views on everything. More conflict, higher ratings. I honestly can't blame either group because they are doing what they have to do to survive in today's world, but it's at least partly responsible for these kinds of tragic events.

Of course, we're probably dealing with a mentally unstable person who carried this out, so that has to be taken into account. I can already hear the anti-gun and pro-gun arguments taking place on social media. Yeah, don't get me started on the political FB posts. It's like every person I've ever met is being paid to start a grassroots campaign for either the right or the left. I was actually pleased to see that my Steemit feed was relatively politics-free.

I'm a big fan of House of Cards, and I think it's one of the best shows out right now. What I'm not a big fan of is the same kinds of storylines from the show playing out in real life. It's absurd.