People who say "If you don't vote, you can't complain."

It absolutely infuriates me when people say "Well if you don't vote, then you shouldn't talk," as if I'm not voting out of apathy instead of what I'm really doing, which is casting my vote through non-participation in a system that I feel is inherently flawed and corrupt.

The only thing more annoying than that is when I point out that I choose to not vote because there is no candidate that accurately represents what I believe in they say, "But isn't there a candidate that you feel would be best out of what's available? You should choose to keep someone like [insert name here] out of office!"

What's so amazing about people like that is that it never occurs to them that they should look at it like this: telling me to put aside what I believe in and vote to keep "the other guy" out of office is akin to me saying that I support Democrats and them trying to convince me that I should vote for Republicans.

Talking with some (most) people about politics is a complete waste of time. Instead of listening, the average person only wants to convince you how right they are or how wrong you are. I should just not talk about politics with anyone, ever.

My next entry is a great elaboration by George Carlin on a similar line of thinking.