politics

[illuvium]

despite the name, this isn't a totally political post, though my stances on most cases should be fairly clear from everything i've posted. recently, i discovered that contrary to my beliefs, most people that i see in my daily life don't think of politics as a subject to cut friends off about. i think that's firstly a testament to the privileged environment they and i are in, but i think secondly that it's such a naive way to think about things. common statements i heard them make discussed politics as if it were a passive bystander in their lives rather than something with real consequences to them and the world. i understand the argument that most relationships don't see you quibbling politics all the time, but i think that the fault in that argument is the notion that politics is able to be completely separated from how you interact with the things around you. this sounds pretty pretentious, but i do think that there's another issue with people being unable to understand that things in their lives are interconnected. environmental activism ties into your political stances even just beyond regular bills. ethnic cleansing masquerading as war will level ecosystems. things like that really do matter, so sure, not talking about politics won't directly impact your relationships, but your political perspectives inform and are informed by your stances on other issues, meaningless and important alike. it's just really disappointing to me when i see people arguing this, because yeah, coming from privilege affords you the opportunity to not care right now, but that won't last forever. it's not ridiculous at all to cut someone off if you disagree with their political takes. it's just further compounded for me personally that many of these people would cut a friend off for something like being friendly with their ex. if you're so willing to draw the line at that, what makes politics any different? whatever, though. i can't force people to change their opinions as much as i'd love to and despite how much some of their stances repulse me, but that's also just the way life is.