Politics Make Good Conversation, If The Conversers Have A Buffer Zone

Has your family left yet?

By now, you should be home. Or maybe you never left, butUncle Benny who drinks too much just went back to Western Pennsylvania.

All the left over turkey is either gone or way too dry to consume (I recommend using some mustard to soften it up if you must finish it).

I had a quite dinner with the immediate family and our Kimmy Gibbler-like neighbor after a mid-day nap and a morning tackle football game. (the Gibbler link takes you to where I got the photo)

But the next day, I had a conversation with my mom that led me to an interesting hypothesis.

I don't know if it's because she doesn't get to talk about current events or politics with anyone, but she seems to relish in the opportunity to show off her strong Republican sentiments. And I think this is how most families are.

If you are the kind of family or group of friends that gets to see each other everyday, conversation tends to be limited to water cooler "Did you believe what Michael Scott did last night?" But what changes with those people you only see three times a year?

People take political ideology very seriously and we love to express our ideals whenever possible (this could be because it makes us feel knowledgeable or because we just inherently want to piss each other off, I don't know). When conflicting serious political ideals clash, people get angry. Therefore, we talk about politics only during holidays and scheduled get-togethers because of the buffer zone.

A buffer zone, as defined by Seinfeld, is the comfort zone between a child from his parents. The greater the buffer zone, the more comfort (Del Boca Vista to Manhattan being the ideal buffer zone). I think this applies to friends as well.

Remember that football game I mentioned earlier? My friends from high school and I play in a game every year. We've done this for seven years. The only time anyone mentioned Washington is when I have worn my Redskins Deon Sanders jersey for the game (here's where I got that photo).

Everyone started talking about Obama. I had to ask how other campuses reacted to the results.

It may be important to note that nothing got heated in this discussion, probably because we started playing football. And it was like 30 degrees outside.

I just know we grew up in different families and we go to different schools. Some of us care more about politics than others. If we would have been in a more suitable setting, someone's face would have gotten flushed with rage.

So the question that arises from my hypothesis is this. Why do we only want to piss off those close family and friends we take time to visit with on select special occasions?

After a weekend of watching my sister harass my mom about her weird dance moves that she performs miles away from traditional dance floors and my dad bringing up every embarrassing moment from my childhood (wouldn't you like to know), I realized something.

Pissing each other off is the foundation of family. Aren't you glad it's the holidays?