Americans are apparently in favour of gay men and lesbians, but against homosexuals. Weirdos.

Goddamnit, Mail, to think that many years ago I used to read you D:

blaahblaahblog:

7 U.S. States Where Atheists Are Not Allowed To Hold Office

There are 7 states where it’s illegal for Atheists to hold office - including Maryland.

- Arkansas
- Maryland
- Mississippi
- North Carolina
- South Carolina
- Tennessee
- Texas

But then there is Article 6 of the US Constitution, which states:

“…no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.”

And, it also states:

“This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.”

So these 7 states are not just horrendously religiously intolerant, they are unconstitutional.

I’ve noticed something rather peculiar as of late, and that’s that there’s a large number of young people (by which I mean 25-ish and under) that display conservative views or values to a large degree.

This is very “WTF?” to me, as it has been the case since the 60s onwards that it is young people who are at the forefront of liberal politics - what with the drug taking, student union, Amnesty International, environmentalist lifestyles they tend to lead. For this, I have a few theories:

1. They were brought up like that: And by “like that” I mean in a cynical way. Those who know their political ideals will know that pessimism and conservatism go hand in hand. Thatcher often thought that others (such as unions) didn’t know what they were talking about, and because she - as an elected prime minister - could write them off as ignorant know-nothings.

In a similar way, kids nowadays have very short childhoods. From a young age they are being told that the world will just screw them over, life is unfair, they won’t achieve their aspirations. The child will do badly, they become cynical and pessimistic, which in turn may lead them to have more conservative views. This is supplemented by the growing middle class, wherein children are more spoiled and more attuned to living in wealth and relative luxury, which conservatives often manipulate.

2. The political environment: In Britain, the Labour Party have been in power for nearly 13 years, a majority of many young people’s lives. Labour have traditionally been painted as a socialist, left-wing party, and - while popular during the years after being elected - have become unpopular since around 2003 to the present.

This has lead young people, only in the last few years becoming politically concious, to demonise the Labour Party as being all bad and with it the left-wing range of political ideals. The media doesn’t help; in the last few decades it has become more and more sensationalist and (arguably) more partisan in it’s views. Thus the news media that people digest is exaggerated, and does not properly address both sides of a story - it purposefully makes out the alternative view is incorrect. This is most rampant in tabloids.

3. People don’t understand politics properly: There, I said it. Thanks - in part to the partisan media - people have taken on a very black and white view of current events. Immigrants are bad, taxes are bad, the EU is bad, etc. They with their one-sided views are ignorant to the facts that immigrants are one of the backbones of the economy; that taxes are used to look after poor people, the roads, hospitals and schools - amongst other things; and that 80% of our trade is with Europe, the cost of goods would rise if we left the EU, and the EU is one of the reasons why Britain has any political power at all - without it we’d be a fish out of water!

Another thing is that people blindly take one party’s side because they don’t agree with the other - most notably people backing the Conservative party because they don’t agree with Labour. I know people who do this without any knowledge at all of what the party they back even stands for, they don’t know their policies, their stances, nothing. This is probably why it humours me when people I know who are gay, single parents and working class vote Conservative - the Conservatives want to make life harder for you!

Oh look, I spilt a rant all over my tumblog. Ah well, enjoy it. :B