but we've gotten them all mixed up.

As a woke progressive liberal, I have a lot to say about what's going on in the U.S. and the world politically, and I think it's very important for people to be politically knowledgeable and active.

But so many people are already saying the things that need to be said here on social media.  And now we need to be taking action on those things by calling government representatives, boycotting stuff, and not abandoning our posts without legal warrants, etc.

So instead of rehashing what's already been well said, I will use my skillset to talk about some other things that are still important to our lives.  Because I think it is also important that we all have safe places to take some breaks from our politics for our mental and social health.

I believe we have made a huge mistake in conflating politics with entertainment.  Fox News Media is the clearest example of this, but it's really all over the place on both the right and the left, and it's why we fill up our social media feeds with "hot takes" on everything,
because it stimulates us the way pure entertainment used to.

This causes three problems:

• we end up not giving politics the sober seriousness it actually needs

• we lose the escapism of pure entertainment as it becomes poisoned by the stress of real-life problems

• politics itself becomes exaggerated, extreme, and deceitful to compete in the space of emotional excitement engagement

So please call your representatives in Congress to take action, and try to keep up with the news through reputable news channels like AP, Reuters, etc., instead of social media, Tucker, or Trevor.  Go ahead and do a little venting on your social media and talk it out with your trusted friends.  And then take a break to watch a movie, read a book, watch a sports game, walk your dog, pet your cat, and get out of your head for a moment.

I do this for myself mostly through reading fantasy novels, watching Disney Plus, and playing with my three crazy-cute kittens.  I also facilitate this for others by hosting immersive D&D role-playing adventures and trying not to mirror current events in the storylines (which is becoming more challenging these days, but I do my best).

But please, for your health and society, find ways to disentangle and de-link politics from entertainment by actually taking some action and then immersing yourself in real escapism a little each day.

If you've seen an internet meme with 9 pop-culture icons categorized on a grid as Lawful-Good to Chaotic-Evil, then you're at least somewhat familiar with the character alignment system.  It comes from the classic Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game as a way for players to consistently portray their characters' motivations and actions.

Why am I talking about a silly game mechanic here, and why should you care?

Well, first of all, it can be fun and lightly enlightening to try mapping famous people or literary characters onto the alignment system grid.  or even daily items like foods or tools.  You could even end up creating a viral meme of your own this way...

To help you with that, I'll give you a quick rundown of the categories.  It's a grid with two scales that cross-index.  The first scale is Lawful / Neutral / Chaotic.  Lawful characters live by rules or codes and value social hierarchies.  Chaotic characters value individualism and personal freedom and live by their passions.  Neutral folks see some value in both and don't get overly committed to either.  The second scale is Good / Neutral / Evil.  Good characters respect life and other beings, often above their own individual selves.  Evil characters are totally selfish with little to no respect for life or others.  Neutral folks respect the rights and needs of others but tend to prioritize their own.  The intersection of these two scales can give you a Robin Hood (Chaotic-Good) or a Star Wars Imperial Officer (Lawful-Evil).

In games, stories, and movies, the heroes are Good, the villains are Evil, and the regular folks are often Neutral.  And most of us would say that's really the most important scale to judge people by.  But I think it's also important to consider the other scale too, because it says a lot about the type of person you are in society.

And that's where I will pivot to the deeper point of my little talk...

One of the fundamental mistakes of modern Christianity (and, well actually, many ethical philosophies) is mistakenly ranking the ideals of lawful-good above neutral-good.  The "Good News" of Jesus was clearly articulated as freedom from living, sinning, and dying under the impossibly strict legal system of the Old Testament.  And he regularly criticized and interfered with the strict consequences of that law, offering instead the ideal of living life by a compassionate conscience.

I'm pretty sure the glorification of lawful-good ideals by the church comes from when Christianity was taken up as the official religion of ancient Rome.  It suddenly had to back up the whole government and social order of an empire.  Which is specifically not what Jesus had in mind for his spiritual reformation, and completely reverses the stated purpose of his self-sacrifice.

​For Jesus, being compassionately neutral-good was the pinnacle of goodness rather than the authoritarian lawful-good or the anarchical chaotic-good.  And in this I completely agree--

It's a message that I think modern Christians should really remind themselves of (I was raised Christian so I'm talking to my past self here too) and even non-Christians (my current self included) should consider as an excellent piece of social wisdom.

​Of course the world needs lawful-good individuals to help us build stable communities, and we need a few roguish chaotic-good rebels to keep us from growing fossilized in our good intentions.  But as a whole, a society based on the values of neutral-good would make for such a kinder, gentler world,
the kind of world I certainly want to live in,
and I hope you will join me in that direction--

The reason politics, and therefore society, has become so messed up is that we do politics the same way we play games.  In games and sports we do our "all-or-nothing" best to manipulate the rules and playing field to outwit, outmaneuver, and overpower the opponents.  That's fine for the goal of winning a game that has a limited timeframe and then shaking hands and going home to enjoy our separate lives...

But politics isn't played in the lines of a limited field or board, and it doesn't end at the buzzer of a timeclock.  The results of political fights go home with all of us and effect everything we do throughout our daily lives.  That's because, unlike a game, playing politics is playing with real life in a permanent, take-home sort of way, and the losers suffer lasting harm that they can't just "shake off".

From years of this kind of political cycle, it shouldn't be surprising that the opponents have become locked into position as bitter enemies, and a sportsmanlike handshake seems impossible to imagine.

Please understand that I'm not pointing at any particular group or party.  I'm calling out everyone, because we all do this.  And I'm actually not just talking about government politics.  We do the same at all levels of society: at the office, with our families, even within our closest personal relationships.

And it's harmful.

It's harmful to the losers in obvious ways.  But it's also harmful to the winners to create entrenched enemies who will do their best to eventually turn the tables.  It fills any social situation or relationship with antagonism and distrust.  And there's no way to "leave it on the field".

When people say:
I'm not into politics.
I hate office politics.
I don't like playing games in relationships.
This is exactly what they're talking about.
And the competitive gamification of politics is exactly why.

But it doesn't have to be this way.

Gaming is based on competition, which seems to be a natural urge for us humans.  And we should go ahead and enjoy that aspect of life with the wide variety of sports and games we invent to fill that need.

But politics isn't an artificially designed game with a clear winner and loser determined by points scored in a determined place within a limited time.  It's an unavoidable negotiation about how we prioritize and use resources for all the various necessities of life.

Politics is ultimately based on cooperation.  It's never perfect, but when it's going well more people tend to live better, and when it's going badly more people tend to live worse.  So it's actually in most of our best interests to do be doing it well.

In a win/lose game there can be no compromise.  And even in a cooperative negotiation, compromise is not as satisfying as getting everything you want.  And clearly there are better compromises (everyone gets "enough" of their needs met) and worse compromises (no one really gets their needs sufficiently accommodated).  But politics should be an ongoing process to keep working and adjusting those compromises to support as much of the group as well as possible.

An important flaw in all of this is the difficulty that small minorities face at the negotiation table.  Some racial groups, people with disabilities, children, etc, simply don't have the numbers, recognition, or power to be well represented.  This is an unfortunate reality.  So it is really on the major players to carefully consider their needs and make sure that they are fairly accommodated in the cooperative solutions and policies of the whole group.  This is not just the ethical thing to do, it also avoids making embittered enemies of forgotten or abused minorities who might someday rise to power with a score to settle...

So whether or not you enjoy a ruthless game of basketball or scrabble, leave those instincts on the field and try considering the benefit of all the participants when you sit down to negotiate in the town hall, in the office, or at the family table.  Commit to the wellbeing of everyone to create a more stable, sustainable situation for yourself and the day-to-day world you are living in.