But the political is more political...

[bcholmes]

Yesterday, I mentioned to my co-worker that I wish I were more political. He snorted.

Thing is, I don't think I am very political. Certainly not when I hold myself up to people I admire.

Comments

[trouble]

I have this thought on a fairly regular basis.

[maize]

I would be surprised if you weren't *significantly* more political than average. However, I think that you're largely comparing yourself with people who are even further out on the tail than you are. It's like one of my friends who is an excellent fiddler and teaches fiddle doesn't consider herself to have much of any skill at fiddle at all, but that's largely because as often as possible she spends time interacting with people who are better fiddlers than she is, and often, people who are professional fiddlers, rather than people who fiddle in their spare time and on weekends while holding down an unrelated day job. But that doesn't negate her skill at fiddling -- it just means that her perceptions are defined by her chosen social circle, and she's viewing herself on a scale that's way out to one side of normal in terms of fiddle exposure and ability.

[maize]

I also wonder to what degree a lot of this is the "surface exposure" phenomenon. Just as in impostor syndrome, where a big part of the problem stems from the fact that you have access to your own inner workings and thoughts but not to other people, so other people look competent and self-assured relatively speaking, if you see someone mostly at political events and rallies or are exposed to them mostly through big discussions online, and you see yourself 24/7, then you see yourself sitting on the couch watching TV or movies, you see yourself eating dinner, you see yourself sleeping, etc., whereas you only see this person when they're politically engaged (or mostly see them when they're politically engaged) and when they're doing all of those things -- even if they do do them all -- they're out of your view.