Everything is Political
Jamie, November 2022
Nowhere to Talk?
People like to tell me, “Look, why are you talking about politics, you should have boundaries cause nobody really likes it when you talk about politics.”
Well...
clears throat
Picture a family dinner. I’m sitting across to my dad looking like 👩
And he goes and tells me to cut my hair and keep it short. 👨
The reason is because I look unseemly or, more commonly, unprofessional.
The reason is I need to appear professional to be employable. 👨💼
The reason I need to be employed is that we need money to buy food, have shelter, survive. 💵
The reason money is used is that it is abstracting a numerical value to measure the worth of something material in reality. 🧮
The reason to measure material reality is that the physical world is finite, not unlimited and clever allocation of those finite resources by the prevailing species (i.e. humans) is required to sustain its survival. 🌍
So when we ask the next question, who decides how those actual physical materials are allocated, that question will inevitably lead to politics, about power and control of the means we produce the stuff that our material life requires.
Politics or Just Drama?
The thing is…
Politics isn’t the same as (or just) political drama. It’s not just about who takes the seat as leader of our country or which race is at fault for our country being shit (common part of people’s daily conversation). It has to be a scientific decision making model for social policies for the society we live in.
When we discuss politics, are we just pointing fingers at who are the bad people?
Or can we identify what mechanisms in reality that cause or even encourages people to act badly?
Any other topic is immediately political:
- How much for food
- Who we choose to love
- How we treat of non-human animals
- What movie we're catching next week
- HOW MUCH TIME TO BE STUCK IN TRAFFIC TODAY
Like It or Not...
Everything is political.
Perhaps more essentially, it’s not about boundaries around politics, but rather boundaries around the way we discuss politics.
Diffuse the tension, maintain the traction, but do not stray from the topic.
Because it’s very important.