To what degree is everything in life political?

hedonist said:

JW269453 said:

This poll made me think of The Trees by Rush for some reason. It is a good thing many aspects of life are not human.

https://youtu.be/JnC88xBPkkc

Awesome song and lyrics, by the way!

Plus, Peart told Rolling Stone, it’s “very obvious” Paul “hates women and brown people.” Ouch. Those can’t be easy words for Paul to hear given his life-long admiration of Peart’s work. But maybe the Kentucky Republican saw this coming. He and Rush have had a somewhat contentious public relationship since his rise to national prominence in 2010. Back then, a lawyer for the band tried to get Paul to stop using its music at his events and to stop quoting lyrics in his speeches, citing copyright infringement. At the time, the lawyer wrote, “This is not a political issue — this is a copyright issue. We would do this no matter who it is.”

Now that seems to have changed. Though Neil Peart was an exuberant Ayn Rand fan in the ‘70s, he’s abandoned the ideas that influenced much of his early work. Peart calls himself a “bleeding-heart libertarian” who practices the same kind of generosity he lampooned in the 1975 ode to selfishness, “Anthem.” Paul, meanwhile, should probably start looking into possibilities for a new favorite band. Maybe this one.“

The degree to which many things are political to a person is determined by the person's privilege.  The more apolitical you are, the more privilege you show, to be entirely disengaged from politics shows an insulation from poverty, discrimination, and disadvantage. 
...or just plain old low intelligence or high apathy lol

HughFreakingDillon said:

rgambs said:

The degree to which many things are political to a person is determined by the person's privilege.  The more apolitical you are, the more privilege you show, to be entirely disengaged from politics shows an insulation from poverty, discrimination, and disadvantage. 
...or just plain old low intelligence or high apathy lol

or a good sense of reality....knowing no matter what you do, the elites still control it all and your vote means little to nothing. 

Again, this is position of privilege. 
Your vote matters when one candidate recognizes your right to marry the person you love and the other candidate calls your relationship a sin, or worse, and actively works to deny you equal protection under the law. That's just one example, there are others.

hedonist said:

rgambs said:

The degree to which many things are political to a person is determined by the person's privilege.  The more apolitical you are, the more privilege you show, to be entirely disengaged from politics shows an insulation from poverty, discrimination, and disadvantage. 
...or just plain old low intelligence or high apathy lol

It’s not either/or, black/white. Making assumptions about one’s privilege (one doesn’t  necessarily follow the other) may be incorrect.

Me, I’m disgusted with the whole political process and all involved. Dirt is the rule, honesty an exception. They ALL do it, from the White House on down.

My aversion to these fuckwads is what keeps me away, not some weird sense of advantage or “insulation “.

That's because you (and I) live insulated from direct attacks by politicians, and not everyone is so lucky. 

*Edit

rgambs said:

HughFreakingDillon said:

rgambs said:

The degree to which many things are political to a person is determined by the person's privilege.  The more apolitical you are, the more privilege you show, to be entirely disengaged from politics shows an insulation from poverty, discrimination, and disadvantage. 
...or just plain old low intelligence or high apathy lol

or a good sense of reality....knowing no matter what you do, the elites still control it all and your vote means little to nothing. 

Again, this is position of privilege. 
Your vote matters when one candidate recognizes your right to marry the person you love and the other candidate calls your relationship a sin, or worse, and actively works to deny you equal protection under the law. That's just one example, there are others.

no it's not. there are many things in the political realm that affect me and my family directly. all I'm saying is that yes, there are incremental changes here and there, and sometimes big ones, but in the bigger picture, not much changes. 

just looking at the civil rights movement that predates my existence and this past year's events is just one example of how people think things change, but in reality they just stay the same. 

rgambs said:

The degree to which many things are political to a person is determined by the person's privilege.  The more apolitical you are, the more privilege you show, to be entirely disengaged from politics shows an insulation from poverty, discrimination, and disadvantage. 
...or just plain old low intelligence or high apathy lol

I would agree in the sense that the wealthier you are, the more you can afford to disregard government sanctions and probably not notice. You don't have to worry about smog checks because you always have a new, nice car. You don't have to worry about your lawn because you don't care about water restrictions since you can afford the tax penalty. You don't care about heating and cooling a huge mansion because you can afford the increased tiered billing scale designed to make people use less during peak times. You don't notice that your dishwasher doesn't clean with the newer water restrictions because you have the high end model with all the bells and whistles that is able to clean anyway. The wealthier you are probably aware of such things and how much the impact the middle and lower class.

rgambs said:

HughFreakingDillon said:

and if someone who is affected by your example, a gay couple that can't marry or has a leader that openly disparages the entire idea; what if they choose not to vote? is that also coming from a place of privilege? cause it's not just middle class white males that don't vote. 

Refusing to participate in the political process is not the same as refusing to acknowledge the political nature of an issue though.

And of course it all expands beyond electoral politics.  Choosing to boycott a coffee chain because some of the farmers downstream don’t get paid fairly or have good working conditions is a political act as well.  Not spending money at Amazon because enriching shareholders while looting small businesses and providing hazardous conditions for workers is also a political act.  Not buying fast fashion and choosing to find things that might be a little more expensive and durable..buying produce from the farmers market instead of Kroger.  All political acts that have nothing to do with electoral politics.  Some choices that depending on how privileged/insulated you are you may not even see as affecting the lives of others and being political.