Knocking On People's Doors, Which I Don't Know If I Agree With

A conversation I'm overhearing (and liveblogging) in a coffee shop in Brooklyn between the barista and some customers:

"What did you do this weekend?"
"I went to Philly, did a little campaigning."
"Oh, for the B-Rock?"
"Yeah. I've never done it before."
"What does that entail?"
"Knocking on people's doors, which I don't know if I agree with, personally. It's a bit intrusive."
"Yeah..."
"Because politics is SO sensitive, especially in this race."

We need to change this attitude. I'm willing to bet (nay, guarantee) that it's the dominant one in this country today. Don't get me wrong, it's great that Obama is turning people out to canvass who have never done it before in states they don't even live in. That r0x0rs. Go B-Rock.

BUT! If we're going to take social change to the masses, then regular people need to start feeling comfortable with interacting with other people face-to-face about politics. I think there are two components to this:

1. The annoying salesman problem: Knocking on strangers' doors because you agreed to when asked by someone else to do it (whether for money or altruism or anything in between) immediately evokes the vacuum salesman frame. We should try to shift this to a "meet new people" or "explore and discover new places" frame. White people eat that shit up. "I was back-packing neighborhoods in Philly." Response from all white people in the room: "Wow!" Not that I think minorities wouldn't / couldn't / shouldn't participate. I'm just speaking for my fellow honkies.
2. The religion and politics problem: You know, the only two things you don't bring up in polite company. This one is actually fascinating to me, because one of the things I studied heavily in college was how the evangelical Christianity movement in the U.S. had made Christianity into a totally individualistic religion. It's about whether or not you are saved, how your relationship with Jesus is, etc. It wasn't always like that. So it's ironic that the two "private" topics in this country are religion and politics. Not that that leads to a way out of this frame, I just think it's interesting.