Sunday, January 30, 2011

Politics and sentiment?

It is said that there is no room for sentiment in politics, and that those who are sentimental are weak, but is this entirely true? Personally I think that most decisions made by the so called politicians are based on their emotions. If the politicians didn't feel something for what they are talking about then they would have no reason to be fighting about anything. They all have their own opinions on things and through these opinions they have some emotion. This emotion could be from something that happened to them or it could be something they know about but all in all there is emotion and sentiment present. 
In Marji Satrapi's book Persepolis Marji's father says that "politics and sentiment don't mix." One would have to wonder why he would say this when through out all the things the government did or all the things that happened because the government his family was able to stay strong because of their love for each other. Even though Marji heard it from her own father i do not think she believes him completely and i do not think that her mother or grandmother would agree with him either. If the people of Iran didn't feel as strongly about their views they wouldn't have had a revolution or a change in their lives. If the people of Iran had agreed with with the people of Iraq there wouldn't have been a war but everyone, people in places or power and normal people all had opinions and emotions. People fight for the ones they love, everyone wants to protect the ones they love, higher ups and civilians alike.  
Every person has a different opinion on everything and everyone has different views on all the things going on around them. Most things done by governments they think are "for the best", thought that is not always true, this thinking that what they do is always for the best of the people has to come from some sort of feelings toward their people. not everyone is going to agree with what the government decides and thus rebel against them now this cause more emotions to fly cause for more actions to be taken.
So I would have to say that with out sentiment we probably wouldn't even have politics.