A response to Brian Eno's response by Z.J.
"We Don't Do Politics" is by
Brian Eno, who is an artist, composer and a producer who has produced for
famous bands like U2 and Coldplay. Eno writes about the neglect
of politics in America and how many people are content with just saying “they
don’t do politics” and leaving it at that. Eno uses lots of similes and
rhetorical questions. For example, Eno says, “Most of the smart people I know
want nothing to do with politics. We avoid it like the plague—like Edge avoids it, in fact. Is this because
we feel that politics isn't where anything significant happens?” He uses both a
simile and a rhetorical question right at the beginning of his response.
Eno’s claim is that politics is the reason for most of America’s issues,
yet we say that we don’t do politics. He makes that phrase [we don’t do
politics] seem very ignorant because he provides many examples of things that
were “a result of” politics. He brings
up the issues of gay marriage, the banks ruining the economy, and stem cell
research, just to name a few. All of those have a lot to do with politics, yet
this country still has so many people that say they “don’t do politics” and
that they don’t vote to try and make the change that they so often complain
about not being there. More people should realize that they ARE the change.
They are politics, whether they like it or not.
