Pavel @spavel.bsky.social · 11/09/2024Politics is just the way we make society together. Whenever someone says "I am apolitical" I hear "I am not vested in the shared project of making society" and I have to wonder why. 401928428
Half-ass Matt @appa69.bsky.social · 12/09/2024Because people have forgotten that politics = policy and policy is important. 000
Tailsteak @tailsteak.bsky.social · 12/09/2024Because it hurts. All "politics" is inherently either boring (meetings, procedures, fine print, media obsessing over gaffes and memes) or ugly (war, poverty, disease, pollution, racism). I engage because I am ethically compelled & morbidly fascinated, but politics is an inherently unpleasant thing. 110
Pen Dragon @thependrake.bsky.social · 11/09/2024I suspect it secretly means, "I'm not interested in making society with those people." 000
Rackletang 🧌🦇🕷️ @rackletang.bsky.social · 11/09/2024Indeed! I feel similarly when people say "can't we leave politics out of {media thing}?" No, and we never have! 1300
Stef "inclusion is a human right" Christensen @wikisteff.bsky.social · 12/09/2024This is a Good Take. 020
FifthDrɐəm @fifthdreamtoday.com · 12/09/2024Privilege. They're announcing they'll be untouched by anything that can go wrong with/caused by the government, so they don't care what happens. 000
#BlockFlock 🇺🇸🇺🇦🐊🦉🌊💙 @jdrch.github.io · 11/09/2024it's typically bc they're in the dominant demographic and will be OK regardless of who's in power speaking of which, it is HARD AS HELL to get immigrants who were middle to upper class in their birth countries to take US politics seriously. They just don't get how life threatening it is 020
Adam Gurri @adamgurri.liberalcurrents.com · 12/09/2024w/Weber I think it's "to strive for a share of power or to influence the distribution of power." To say one is apolitical then is to say that one is not seeking power. I'm not saying that is praiseworthy (it's usually either false or an abdication of responsibility) but I don't think it's antisocial 000
help I've autumned and I can't get up @daniskitchen.bsky.social · 12/09/2024🙏🏼 so much this, thank you pavel 000
Pavel @spavel.bsky.social · 11/09/2024Some people are just oblivious because our shared project is already giving them the privileges they want, and they are too naive to see that it need not always be so, and there won't always be groups only too happy to claim to represent them, and advocate on their behalf. 11468
Ilona V Bell 🌲🌻🐾 @ivbell.bsky.social · 12/09/2024I’m amazed by people who think all politicians are liars, or all politicians are the same. As though they are a self-appointed monolith, not people we hired to work for us. 010
Francis @datafran.bsky.social · 12/09/2024I feel similarly about people's objections to the concept of "government". Government is just what we call collective action and its administration. 160
Pete Rhomberg @prhomberg.bsky.social · 12/09/2024This framing is correct, but many people are not taught to think of it this way. They are told––from a young age––that it's impolite to talk about politics ("don't talk about money, politics, and religion"). There's no sense of politics as an act of inclusive community-building. 110
Devilpants @devilpants.bsky.social · 11/09/2024yeah I hear centrists, cowards that they are, speak and all I hear is "I'm comfortable and I don't care about other people, it isn't real until it affects me" 030
jpVari @jpvari.bsky.social · 12/09/2024Same with being fundamentally anti government imo. I imagine anarchists would disagree with me, tho I admit I'm not well versed in their specific beliefs, but government is just what we call how we organize ourselves. It can function many different ways 000
Dax Pryce @dax.pryce.io · 11/09/2024I'm political, but I sincerely feel that if things weren't as dire as they have been the last 20-25 years or so, I'd be apolitical. Why? Because this fucking exhausts me. I've broken teeth in my sleep gritting them in the night (Nov 6th 2016, specifically). I would much rather avoid this shit! 380
Jeff Flanagan @shazbat.bsky.social · 13/09/2024They're afraid. Most people avoid conflict, and politics is conflict, especially these post-coup attempt days when Republicans can't be reasoned with at all because they want to think of themselves as good people while being horrible. 030
Steve T PhD @thelasttheorist.bsky.social · 11/09/2024I hear "I want government and society to reflect my unconscious preferences without any effort on my part, and regardless of what others want or think." 090
Saskia @sascrads.bsky.social · 11/09/2024Men say “I’m not into politics” a lot on bumble but it usually just means they have worked out being conservative is bad for dating 0445
GrumpyBen @grumpyben.bsky.social · 12/09/2024I'm reminded that the ancient Greek roots of the word "idiot" mean "private person who stays away from public affairs". ("idiotes"). 010
Perry Bacon @perrybaconjr.bsky.social · 12/09/2024Just because I hear this a lot, do those people really mean they oppose/are wary of "partisan politics?" In America today, politics happens through the parties so being non-partisan often means you are ineffective. But when hear "I hate politics," I don't think people mean MLK. 030
Maxjes @maxjes.bsky.social · 12/09/2024You talk a lot about privilege in the thread, but politics involves having the time and energy to dedicate yourself to it, which is a resource people do not have. One could argue it is intentional when you watch how the powers that be fight like hell to make sure election days are not holidays. 210
Fiat monkey @abitnervis.bsky.social · 12/09/2024It's one thing to be too disgusted or disturbed to stay plugged in to the minute-by-minute, it's another to not care about outcomes 1120
Brendan Jones @brendanjones.eurosky.social · 12/09/2024I strongly agree with your statement, but in practice I've found that most people who say they're not political simply feel powerless to effect change and so they therefore don't engage. 110
Dmitri Mavra @dmitrimavra.bsky.social · 12/09/2024Why? Because our system is broken beyond repair 000
Mr Dr Bae @dallas-taylor.bsky.social · 11/09/2024Ime it's usually that the current makeup of society benefits them in a way they'd be uncomfortable with if they ever thought it through. 020
David Floren @d-flo1.bsky.social · 12/09/2024Don't forget the ancient Greek philosophers who rolled out the idea that politics pervades our lives at different levels, including interpersonal politics between spouses, etc. So when I hear "I'm apolitical" I hear "I'm actually dead and this is just a recording." 070
Spooky Teddy Meatballs @leftbanksy.bsky.social · 12/09/2024Have you considered talking down to people? That’s usually the most effective way to get people to come around to your point of view 010
Dan Moore @danm628.bsky.social · 12/09/2024I have several apolitical friends that are that way because they have no spare time. A friend is raising her niece and dealing with custody issues, trying to work, trying to help her adult daughter and grandkids. She doesn’t watch the news. Is barely online. Not everyone is engaged. 120
AO @activeoppressor.bsky.social · 11/09/2024Long ago I had a friend who was in aeronautic engineering, very intelligent, big supporter of the space program. He told me that he's not interested in politics because it's just people arguing in Washington and it has nothing to do with him. I think this was just ignorance. But... 150
Anodyne Handle @tommyg.bsky.social · 11/09/2024TBH, I would imagine that most of the time it directly translates to "I enjoy my current position of privilege, however I got there, and I am not interested in examining it." 0160
Andboo Haunton 😷🎃 @andrewhinton.bsky.social · 12/09/2024Similarly, government is just how we all make rules together and enforce them … it is ours which is the actual point of “democracy.” The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing most of the citizenry “the government” is an alien presence they can only fight against 051
