Is Apoliticality a Privilege?

Today I wanted to share some thoughts on the sentiment that “being apolitical is a privilege the oppressed don’t have”, because it recently came up offline over here in a discussion at a party and someone recently mentioned it online on the Blaugust Discord Server, too. This is just me rambling, I guess, and providing some insights from my perspective as someone sort of privileged but also sort of marginalized who both agrees and disagrees with it to a degree. A nuanced take, I guess, kind of, maybe.

In this post, I’ll talk about the sentiment and what it entails, a little bit about accessibility and mental health, and stigma – as well as marginalization. I hope that people get where I’m coming from when it comes to this and that this isn’t construed as some bad-faith attack against anyone in particular.

I just think that talking about this is important because there are a lot of aspects to it.

What does it mean to “not be political”?

The notion of apoliticality is often understood as a lack of interest or involvement in political affairs… but it also can be understood as an aversion to politics.

Let’s talk about the latter first.

Society consists of many different people with many different lived experiences. In society, people of varying classes, religions, sexes, genders, sexualities, ages, educational and work backgrounds, ethnicities, skin colours and heritages mingle with each other. There are many folks out there who will agree or disagree with you on any given topic.

As such, bringing up politics in any given situation might result in either a healthy discussion, a hearty rant or utter chaos. There is a lot of stigma surrounding politics as a topic in people’s day-to-day precisely because of how divisive it is. “Talking about politics is not a good thing” – or so the lived experience goes for many.

If you agree on a given topic, talking about politics is good (in the lived experience of many people) because you don’t end up with conflict. If you disagree, talking about politics is bad due to possible conflict, damages and even concerns about one’s safety depending on where you’re at. Whether you agree or disagree doesn’t matter if you just don’t talk about politics, though, meaning that objectively speaking it’s better to not talk about politics by that logic, so there is a lot of stigma precisely because of that.

Not bringing up politics or not engaging in politics in day-to-day conversations results in no harm or positive for any party involved, theoretically, whereas bringing it up results in conversations that can go either well or awry. This is what you’d call a “zero-sum” (“Nullsumme” in German).

As such, many people will say stuff like “Not to be political” or “I don’t want to get into politics” before saying something, often to communicate that they don’t want to have certain discussions but rather just want to share their two cents or their stance on a matter to add it to the conversation without possibly inviting further discussion. Whether this is good or not is something we’ll discuss later in this post.

I’ve done it previously, too. I’ve had situations where I didn’t want to necessarily get into huge discussions or anything, so I said “I don’t want to get into politics with you but I’d like to say that I disagree with what you just said and would prefer it if you avoided talking about that in that manner, at least when you’re around me” and more often than not, that ended up helping situations being more comfortable for me and friends and a lot of folks in general.

At this party I was at on Friday, a person I got to know ended up using the f-slur and saying wild shit about queer people, so I said that I disagree and I’d prefer it if he’d avoid that but I also didn’t want to spend spoons on meaningless discussions. When they refused, I just said “Okay” and I claimed to leave to grab a drink.

Political Engagement

Now, the former matter, however, is a complete disinterest in political topics, and I find that one to be quite dangerous. Politics are about the issues in society that we face as a whole, and those issues more often than not affect those marginalized more than those privileged.

When I say “privilege” I mean something along the lines of an inherent advantage that one trait gives a person but not another. As an example, being white will result in less racial profiling and less brutality and violence when you encounter the police compared to being black or brown or “foreign-looking” or whatever. Being male will result in less hate crimes than being female.

Now, imagine being queer, poor, female and black as opposed to being straight, rich, male and white. The former person is far less privileged than the latter in some aspects of life and will encounter a lot more hardships due to those qualities and traits that they were born with. Intersectionality is a great topic to look into.

I recommend Bell Hooks’ writing here if you’re interested in some great books on intersectionality.

So, a sense of apoliticality is not something that the marginalized can afford to have. Most people who are affected by bigotry and hatred can’t afford to look the other way. They’re literally in the middle of it all. They are the ones who are being excluded, avoided, insulted, attacked, and murdered.

In that sense, this notion of “being apolitical” means looking away, at its core. People with no interest in politics seem to think not much of it but as a consequence of shying away from politics, they shy away from looking at the suffering of others.

That is not to say that those who don’t want to have those discussions or topics in a casual atmosphere are people who don’t care… it is just to say that those who pursue the idea of “being apolitical” on a grander scale, those people who do have the means to make a difference but don’t, are problematic… and by “means”, I mean funds, spoons, the privilege, and the platform to do so.

That’s why “being apolitical is a privilege that those marginalized and oppressed don’t have”.

Factors limiting people’s ability to be politically active

Now, something that people don’t realise, though, is that while people do care online, a lot of people cannot go to protests or cannot advocate publically for the abolition of certain systems and ideas.

Not everyone can go to a protest.

Perhaps the protest is too far away and they don’t have a car. Especially in rural areas, it becomes nigh impossible to participate in protests that are far away due to the terrible public transport system. Travelling somewhere costs money and a lot of people do not have the time or funds to do so. They cannot just take time off from their job to protest somewhere for a cause they believe in because depending on their job, they might just lose it altogether which then puts them into a difficult situation.

Similarly, people with disabilities (both invisible and visible) will have a hard time going to crowded places that are not accessible. Likewise, in some countries, it might not be possible for you to express your disdain for a certain issue due to safety concerns.

So, disabilities, funds, time, and spoons all factor into this as well. That’s why with the comfort of being at home and with the comfort of not having to commit as many resources to it, there are far more people out there who will write political posts or share an opinion online (like me here, hello!) rather than going out onto the streets.

With the Hogwarts Legacy situation, for instance, a lot of people were criticizing how people are against Rowling but not Warner Bros. They criticized how everyone is hating on the author of the game (who gets royalties for it) but not the studio or the publisher. They criticized how the people seem so upset and affected by the game’s existence and yet they don’t protest in front of WB’s gates…

But this argument chain doesn’t work because quite frankly most people will not be able to do boycott the game like that or protest in that manner due to the aforementioned factors. I don’t like WB, for instance, who previously stated that they stand with Rowling and her views. I won’t travel to the US from Germany to protest at their gates, for instance, since I neither have the time nor the funds or spoons to do so.

And a retail worker in the United States can’t just “not sell” the game due to their views since they need the money to survive. A lot of people are not in a position to stand up for their views.

Similarly, with the Gaza Genocide ramping up in severity, people criticized how so many folks will be vocal about it online but not participate in protests… but they don’t realise that not everyone can afford to take part in a protest when they have work to do or when they don’t live close-by, etc. Personally, I do participate in those protests whenever they’re happening nearby (which they do quite regularly)… and it’s precisely because I can attend those protests that I should take part in them.

To name another example, people criticized Greta Thunberg for having rich parents… but in reality, if she had poor parents, she wouldn’t be able to go out on protests. How would she or her parents fund such protests and activism (the travel, food and shelter costs, amongst other things) if they were poor and struggling to come by? The criticism makes no sense.

So, all in all, not everyone can be active or participate in protests but it’s precisely because of that, that people choose to be more active in the ways that they can afford to do. So, I cannot travel to Dresden to participate in a protest against nazis but I can participate in anti-right and anti-fascist activism over here in my area because it’s nearby.

And it’s precisely because I can do it over here where it’s more accessible to me, that I will participate in it even more. In a way, I’m making up for the people who cannot participate or for the events that I cannot make myself.

In a way, those who are privileged have to be the ones who look at these issues more than anyone else. Those who are rich should make an effort to fund good causes or participate in such activism whereas those who are poor cannot simply afford to do so.

Furthermore, I have a platform here with 4-5K monthly views, so I will use it to talk about the topics I care about, precisely because I know it will be read. In the same vein, I criticize people like a certain YouTuber for not using their platform to address the issues that he is trying to “fix”.

In that post linked up there, I talked about how funding cataract surgery for a lot of people is cool but if he really wanted the system to change or if he actually cared about these people and other folks out there who might not be able to get surgery, then he would take about that in his video, extensively, precisely because he knows how much reach he has. Instead of doing so, he claims to “cure blindness” resulting in misinformation being spread, similar to how his “Team Seas” project claims to fix the pollution of the ocean, omitting the fact that the work they did in their video was undone in fifteen hours.

Apolitical People

To bring the post back on track, “being apolitical” doesn’t have to necessarily be about “not caring” but more so about “not having the capacity or means to show support” and while I do think that there are many ways to do it, even if it’s “just” symbols of solidarity, I do understand that many people cannot do so comfortably.

After all, being active in politics will draw a big target on your back and not everyone can deal with it.

I used my platform to talk about criticisms I had for the YouTuber I mentioned up there and I think those criticisms were valid… but as a result of it, I got a lot of hate comments and I still get them every day.

With that said, not everyone should put a target on their back, especially when they already have one on their back precisely because of their marginalized identity or trait or whatever word I’m looking for here. Safety concerns. Big ones. The pigs (who are always present at protests, too) here in Germany hate liberal protestors either way… now imagine a liberal protestor who is also a person of colour.

Summary

I think showing a complete disinterest in politics is dangerous. There are people like that over here who don’t go out to vote at all, and while I’d get it if it was some form of protest, for many people it’s just a matter of “I don’t care”, “I’d rather just stay at home” or “My vote doesn’t matter anyway” which is something that benefits the far-right more than anyone.

In Germany, we say that voting is like brushing your teeth. If you don’t do it, it gets brown. (Brown being the colour associated with Nazis)

So, one needs to participate in that, especially if you want to keep (or are already) enjoying the perks of not living in Orwell’s 1984 or any other dystopian work of fiction.

But I also don’t think that “being apolitical” is meant as a complete disregard or disinterest of politics. Most of the time, nowadays, it’s used to describe not being in a position to care about other people’s issues.

The big problem with this whole post, as you might notice, is that while I do think that caring about politics is important, I also understand that not everyone is in a position to do so… and whenever people criticize others for not doing enough, they don’t think about all the factors that prevent others from doing more.

If you work all-day and also have to deal with mental health issues, disabilities and hatred aimed towards you, you probably won’t be able to spend your last remaining spoons on something as draining and depressing as politics.

A lot of people also don’t realise that just because one doesn’t speak up on a matter, that doesn’t mean that one does agree or that one is complicit. It’s not as easy as “black and white” or “ones and zeroes”.

There are countries, after all, where families can get persecuted because of one person’s views on a matter.

Even being at home and writing a post like this is incredibly draining for many people due to their circumstances, so I, again, get it.

And I think more people should inquire about what people mean when they say things such as “not to be political” rather than immediately bringing out the guillotine. I think more people should act in good faith and ask or show an interest in others, possibly asking why they are afraid of being political or why they cannot afford to do so at that moment, rather than attacking them.

It doesn’t have to be that meaning, at all. The word is being used in a lot of ways, after all.

Obviously, this is not a solution or anything like that and the topic is fairly complicated as you might be able to tell based on my very extensive ramblings here but I hope that this invites civil discussions on the topic and maybe helps raise some awareness on how other people cannot afford to be political or don’t have the means to literally go out there onto the streets.

There are obviously people who literally look away or who literally do not care about politics in the slightest who would be in a position to do so but rather than alienating them from one’s cause by attacking them, striking up an honest discussion seems much more productive.

Apoliticality is a privilege in a way because only those who are in positions of power or who don’t have a care in the world can afford to not care for others. Those who are living in their own world will not care about those who could usurp them. But everyone below that, no matter if they’re white or straight or male or whatever, still is far less privileged than those high up there, the one percent or whatever… Be it migration backgrounds, poor or a complete lack of education, their class in society, sickness and disabilities, their mental and physical struggles and many other hardships… marginalization takes many forms and compared to a supposed one percent that definitely does not care, those people down here on the ground at the foot of such unimaginable ivory towers would probably care about other people’s issues if they were in a position to do so.

Anyway, what do you think?

This post was originally written by Dan Dicere from Indiecator.

If you see this article anywhere other than Indiecator.org then this article has been scraped. Please let me know about this via E-Mail.