zlacker

Politics has a way of ruining everything.

>>WaitWa+(OP)
What is politics not already a part of? Art is inherently political. Sports certainly are political. Games? Definitely political. News? Writing? Software? Food? Dance?

I cannot think of a thing that is free from politics.

>>Pfhrea+z6
You're using a very broad definition of "politics", which most people aren't familiar with and doesn't strike me as tremendously useful. When people say "politics" in this context, they're generally referring to what we might call "party politics" or "electoral politics", arguments that soandso ought to be elected or suchandsuch group ought to have more power.

>>SpicyL+za
And that's fair, but it's also pretty easy to draw very, very short lines to things like "Who has access to the NFL?" (class politics), "What are players allowed to say?" (first amendment politics), "What was the artist/musician/writer trying to convey? Do you see their political beliefs reflected here?" (E.g. Rand, Orwell, etc.), "Does my workplace allow trans people to use the restrooms of their choosing?", "Who grows this food, and how are they compensated?", "Who makes this garment, and how are they treated?", "Where does my electricity come from and how is it produced?". Etc.

We can choose to ignore these questions, but that doesn't mean they aren't there. While they aren't directly answered with "The Democrats" or "The Republicans" or whatever, they pretty quickly have answers that fall into one camp or another.

>>Pfhrea+pg
I guess my analogy would be, I could draw a very short line between all of those topics and burritos - make a slideshow of NFL players with burritos in their mouths, argue about what kinds of fillings Orwell would have put in his burrito, build a little trans pride burrito with a blue corn tortilla. But it'd be both frustrating and bizarre if I insisted on redirecting every conversation to burritos. Burritos are great, sure, but sometimes they're just not what we're talking about!

That's about my feelings towards (partisan) politics. I totally understand the impulse towards politics; I have a preferred political camp too, and I think it'd be great if they achieved more power and influence. But I don't think my camp is so important that it ought to go around intruding on every discussion in the world.

>>Pfhrea+z6
Surely the existence of each of these things precedes their political essence. Even a black person like me; a very political thing indeed, clearly exists before becoming a vessel (in ways sometimes terribly real, and sometimes comically abstract) for the lens of the day.

>>SpicyL+ik
First, thanks for meaningfully engaging.

Second, I think my brain is hardwired to ask these questions. To me, it's a systems problem like an engineering problem.

The difference between burritos and politics for me is that the questions I often ask are about people. Who benefits, who is being exploited, are people being treated fairly. I'd use the word justice, but that's a pretty loaded term. When I play a game, for instance, I wonder how people were paid, was there crunch, etc.

I cannot turn this part of my brain off even for things I enjoy. Again, it's like handing me an interesting engineering problem -- I'm going to be thinking about it when I'm not distracted.

>>jskell+1o
In many cases, yes. Totally agree with your example. Some cases maybe not?

Some things are perhaps coincident with the politics of the thing. Whether manufacturing uses sweatshops or child labor, for instance. I'm not sure that's separable.