Defending things.

I get very tired of defending things, I can see why people tend to sit on the fence rather a lot. There's no defending any particular point of view, there's no arguing, you can see both sides, it's all plain and lovely on the elevation that is 'the fence'.

I however, am not a fence-sitter*, pretty much never do I place my arse on the Lib Dem fence. Annoyingly, actually making up your mind about something comes with issues, as once you pick your side you have to stay there (could make another 'lol the Lib Dems' comment, but two in one paragraph is just distasteful to be honest). This 'side' that you pick will then be a source of great annoyance, as everyone ever will blame you for things because you're a representative of that 'side'. Pah.

Occasionally you'll be the only person of this 'side' in a group of people, and suddenly everyone is Mr/Ms. Inquisitive. Urgh.

I always seem to get "So you're a [insert group-type here], right? What do you think of [insert random thing that said group has done that was 'bad' or something the 'crazies' of that group think]?" ALL THE TIME. It's like people think I'm a walking manifesto of what a specific group of people think. People also seem to assume that I'm just going to blindly support something that one person in a group has said, it's ridiculous. I'm only one person, not the collective thought of a huge, diverse group of people.

After a while you get sick of hearing the similar list of arguments (e.g. 'You're a feminist so you hate men (/must be a lesbian), right?', 'You're a Labour Party supporter, but what about the Iraq War/immigrants/the recession/tuition fees and higher ed etc?'). Genuinely drives me potty. I'm relatively calm with people in debates, which is working well for the groups I've attached myself to (be grateful, feminists. I defend feminism a lot).

I have no problem with people asking me questions, that's not what I'm complaining about here. I'm complaining about people making me a spokesperson for that group of people. People shouldn't be so gullible to believe that just because you subscribe to a particular group, you automatically subscribe to all the views of said group.

And if anyone comes back to me with 'well if you don't support [insert a singular thing the group has done], then why do you support them?' Please go away, that's an awful response to this whole post and you have no real approach to life.

*I will mention, the only time I am a fence-sitter is during discussions on religion. This is because I'm an agnostic, the ultimate fence-sitter.