Published on 21 November 2013
I sign a lot of petitions. It takes me around 5 seconds due to 1Password. I don’t mind doing it. What I don’t like is being sick for a couple of days and finding 100 emails in my inbox. I don’t like that. That is a thing I don’t like.
On the one hand, being a citizen in a democratic society means that I have to utilise my voice as much as possible, as no one will make me speak up, and any silence I have will mean complicit agreement. So, I try to remember to vote, to buy certain items, to call my senators. Petitions are a small way to have other people make sure my voice is heard.
On days like today, though, I feel like their worth is meaningless. When I get emails to sign 25 in a day, what is the use of signing any of them? I want to sign petitions I care about, not just every petition sent to me from every petition site I’ve ever visited. But I don’t have the time to sort through them. Worse, I never feel like they’ve done anything with my name, because I get very little positive feedback, very few emails saying ‘we did it, thanks to you.’ In truth, I do get some emails that say that - but, more often than not, the rest of the email deals with the next big hurdle, or with pleas for donations, or requests to sign petitions saying ‘thank you’ to someone. And I’m tired of being asked for money from people and organisations because I happen to agree with them that veterans should be kept off the streets, that women should have the right to choose, that having a safety net of insurance isn’t such a bad idea. I don’t like being asked to share images on Facebook, or Twitter, because I don’t like preaching to my friends. I don’t like sharing my political views with them because I’ve found that politics kills friendships.
I wish there was a way to delete all of the text from emails asking for money, but keep the link to sign a petition. I wish there was a way to keep all of the hyperbole out of any sort of email from an interest group, because I want a logical argument for once. I wish there was a decent feedback mechanism for voicing your political agency. I wish no one ever told me “You’re almost done! Now share this with your friends on Facebook,” because I am already done - I signed with my name.
Does anyone else wish that?
Tagged: