I long thought that it would be best if I kept my opinions on things like politics, values and the like to myself; after all, they tend to be inflammatory subjects, they make for strange bedfellows and like most things about me, my artwork and other creative trinkets would better get the point across.

But then I took portfolio prep, and that combined with recent successes with my more politically-oriented pieces (see: Politics and Punditry @ Instant Ramen) made me reconsider. True, in my daily life I am still inclined to keep my mouth shut about politics, but now I figure it might not hurt to lay things out somewhere for the record, at least in the capacity of how it factors into the Ramen. :P

On Political and Social Convictions

I am a registered Democrat. The day after I turned 18, one of the first things I did was register to vote, and I got to the part in the form that asked what political party I’d like to affiliate with. At the time, I’d had some inkling of where I fell, but I needed a name to put to it… so after reading through all the profile blurbs in the back of the last voter guide, it was more of a “ding ding ding! You are a textbook Democrat!” And so that’s how it went.

I believe in charity. Granted, the way I go about it is more of an individual, 1:1 method rather than blanket forms of charity; that is, I am more likely to put the resources and general oomph into supporting individuals, rather than go for the global effect of joining an NGO and serving that way. (I suppose this is more about me being an introvert and oriented towards the smaller end of socializing.) Still, in the end it falls under “aid one’s neighbor,” and I’m for that.

When my father passed away last year, I inherited quite a bit of coin via life insurance payout. There were pretty much no strings attached, nothing stipulating I had to use the money for specific purposes (e.g. college and other necessities). Though I come from a family that is sadly VERY distrustful of others and do not believe in charity, I don’t share in such ideas. Namely, I’ve put up my own money to help a friend and her family get up to spec as far as computers go, and it ended up proving to be a HUGE improvement to their quality of life. What began as simply replacing a nearly 10-year-old PC on dialup turned into getting the whole house connected on broadband and streamlining common actions like printing etc., and I feel that as a result of these little tweaks here and there, I’ve enabled everyone involved to do more. They would never have been able to afford this otherwise. It, of course, was not cheap for me, but it was never really about money on my end. My own family would, of course, call me crazy for even doing such a thing without expecting compensation, but it just wouldn’t have been the same if I treated this as anything other than an act of stepping up for one’s neighbor.

I believe the role of government is as a support infrastructure. An enabler of sorts, for people to live their lives as they please. I also realize that our government is made up of human beings, none of whom are perfect and all have their own failings. While it’s legitimate to condemn the truly corrupt, I am far more forgiving of those who get called out over the bumps and dips of their personal lives. It’s ideal to be represented by the morally-upstanding, yes, but… again, nobody’s perfect. Despite the roflcoptery of the Lewinsky thing, I thought Clinton was otherwise a decent president since he did manage to do quite a bit of good.

I think tinfoil hats are silly. While I think civilian wiretaps and such are a bit much, I also don’t think that the government is interested in (or has the time and manpower) to spy on every last person. Here’s a bit of a reality check: Most of us are REALLY BORING. Yes, that includes me. Unless you’re a celebrity, or have security clearance, or otherwise exist in a mission-critical capacity, most people just aren’t juicy enough to really be worth spying on, unless the one doing the spying is that nosy… which suggests something else altogether. Maybe some bored intern in Washington might go frolicking through dossiers on break, but things like that are anomalies at best; it is otherwise not worth Big Government’s time, money and manpower to come after you, even if you make it a point to bitch about everything that goes wrong. So, please, take off those tinfoil hats, as they just look rather tacky.

War is silly. Why bother with weapons, mass troop deployments and such? Diplomacy should indeed be the first option, but if that doesn’t work… well, this is why man invented video games.

You heard me. I believe in solving conflicts via Super Smash Brothers!

Well, any fighting game will do… I just happen to like that one because it’s that over-the-top. Seriously, though, I would imagine that these world leaders would get more satisfaction beating the tar out of their enemies in Smash Bros. than by dropping WMDs. I realize I am grossly simplifying all the underlying reasons to war, but I would like to think that there are much better ways of dealing with international conflict. That, and it would be the most hilarious thing EVER if war coverage on the news consisted of how many Final Smashes either side managed to rack up.

On Faith and Morals

I don’t subscribe to any form of organized religion. Too often, it has been abused at the expense the most vulnerable. I have to wonder if anyone can really know the actual intentions of a higher entity and, thus, I must question the wisdom of attempting to interpret that entity’s will.

I somewhat address this in Ragnarok TWILIGHT, via the Yggdrasil Tree. The tree is, for contextual purposes, the god of the elves, and the elves have a very bizarre perception of the tree’s personality and partake in rituals and otherwise go through stupid amounts of trouble in the name of pleasing their supposedly-fickle god. But as revealed to the protagonists, the tree is really not nearly as demanding and fussy as others think him to be, and finds the whole situation rather silly.

I don’t believe one needs to believe in God to have morals. The basic stuff applies across the board: don’t kill, don’t steal, don’t be an jerk. Anything above and beyond that is gravy. I keep thinking there’s something more than this… but there really isn’t. Well, it would be nice if you could use the time you have in this world to do good, but there’s no harm in otherwise being inoffensive, either.

I am very, VERY wary of any kind of interaction between government and religion. To this date, I still do not understand why organized religion can be given tax-exempt status. It might have been relevant 100 years ago, but clearly these groups need no help in getting money to fund their operations now. If anything, considering what the bad apples among them have been up to, it makes more sense for them to pay their fair share as a means of keeping their right to behave as they do.
Inversely, religion has no business in dictating or even poking-and-whispering policy. My distrust of religion aside, to allow this would mean a MASSIVE erosion of basic rights and freedoms.

Along these lines, I fully support gay marriage. What I would REALLY like to see happen, however, is to strip out all the religious influence in the institution of marriage. Stop giving churches and other houses of worship the ability to perform marriages that carry legal water, and require a secular, civil service for everyone. If the couple in question still wants to honor their union in a way that satisfies their spiritual quota, by all means.

The Tail End

These are my views, my opinions and beliefs, blah blah blah. Take them for good or ill, but they factor into my work often more than I realize. As time goes on, I’ll probably go back and tweak the specifics, but overall it’s not so much that they’ve changed as much as it is I’ve been better able to identify and define them.