Any other members on here who are apolitical?

People are lying when they say they don't care about politics. It's literally not possible to not care about it, because government is in every aspect of everything we do and the government is politics.

Don't like paying taxes? Politics

Mad that gas is priced too high? Politics

That tuition costs too much? Politics

That your hospital bill is too high? Politics.

etc.

 

"I understand ... why a young person might look at politics right now, the circus of it all, the meanness and the lies and crazy conspiracy theories and think, what is the point?

"Well, here’s the point: this president and those in power—those who benefit from keeping things the way they are—they are counting on your cynicism. They know they can’t win you over with their policies. So they’re hoping to make it as hard as possible for you to vote, and to convince you that your vote does not matter. That’s how they win. That’s how they get to keep making decisions that affect your life, and the lives of the people you love. That’s how the economy will keep getting skewed to the wealthy and well-connected, how our health systems will let more people fall through the cracks. That’s how a democracy withers, until it’s no democracy at all."

—Former President Barack Obama
August 18, 2020​

 

I am not apolitical, I have opinions and I am extreme in my views/beliefs. However, I am no longer involved in politics or other activism. I have burned out, I voted in all of the elections that I was able to from the time I was 18 until after the primaries in 2016 (after that I was mobile and could not register or out of the country where I am eligible to vote). I looked back on all of my votes and realized that not one single vote that I have cast made a difference, had I not voted or even had I voted the opposite way every single election would have still gone the same way. I was also active in contacting representatives, attending and even organizing protests. Not one of these things has made any difference, so I am no longer involved politically.

 

I do care for a degree, in regards to education, human rights, and social welfare. Rather than the tiny details, I only care about the general picture of each parties. They seem more or less the same to me, all apathetic or hostule towards LGBT community except two small parties.

 

I agree with all of this.

If people were to spread themselves thin to fight all of those things, there wouldn't be much of them left! It's important that individuals take up the cause or causes that matter to them.

Back on topic, it's not that we don't care. It's that there is a negative association with politicians. Some people are turned off by the people who gravitate toward politics. Some people are also turned off by watching debates and all the puffery. So we follow them to the minimum necessary level. I would expect that people who liked debate in high school would like politics and that people who liked shop classes would be far less interested. We can't make people like or even be interested in politics if the wiring isn't there.

 

The problem is I don't think one can pretend to care about LGBT+, human rights, equality or any other things if they don't care for politics to the point of not voting. I don't think everyone should know politics in-depth but everyone should vote and at least take the time to research and read about the policies and people they will be voting for. I think you can't afford to be apolitical when you are queer (or care about any of the issues previously mentioned) and if you somehow can, you most definitely cannot afford to complain when your (our) rights are stripped away at quick scale.

You can't change politics if you don't get involved, yes politicians for the most part suck, but they suck because they appeal to an older generation who DOES go out to vote and ensure those people are the candidates, you can't not get involved in politics and expect candidates to represent you, it just won't happen. For politics to represent you, you need to become involved and actually partake in politics and make your views known, through voting etc... at both a local and nationwide scale. It's just the way it is.

PS: My ''you'' is a general you not a pointed you, it addresses anyone who is queer (which I assume is most on here) and feels apolitical enough to not vote when they can due to not liking/having an interest in politics.

 

But your vote mattered though. The point of voting isn't for it to end up ''your way.'' it's so that the country's governments ends up being representative of its people. If most people (who went to vote) wanted Trump in 2016 and that's what the majority of people who went voting voted for, then it doesn't mean your vote didn't count, it means you expressed your opinion and preferences but the majority of voters wanted something else. As you can see based on this thread a lot of queer people who are, by default, HIGHLY dependent on the government regarding their quality of life and rights are happily saying they don't want/don't care to get politically involved, if queer people don't go out and vote because they can't be bothered because guys like Trump always get elected and they don't care/like politics then who do you think is going out and voting? Trump supporters.The majority of bigoted people in this country are absolutely into politics and will be the first to vote because they have such set ways about how they want the country run that they will make sure they cast their vote for the candidate they think represent them. We can't afford to not do the same, regardless of our opinion of politics, politician and whatever else, and if you can't find a reason to go vote this year (turning on the news for an hour should be enough if you happen to be in the US) do it for the benefit of others who might die or continue to suffer under another 4 years of Trump, for people who can't vote due to age or citizenship status and anyone who is dependent on Trump not being re-elected to both survive and thrive. Honestly for me anyone who can vote in the US election and doesn't vote is completely failing the LGBTQ+ community and other minority groups as a whole.

For our vote to count we actually need to go vote, en masse and not hope that others vote for us and that the right people suddenly magically get elected.

I think regardless of individual situations and sexuality if a potential candidate is a known risk to certain member of the population and is likely to discriminate against them, it's our duty as humans to go out and do what we can, at our scale to try and avoid it happening (the main thing being by voting), if it doesn't work that's one thing but not even trying (not talking about you just in general terms) this I can't understand nor get behind really and find quite sad.

 

I think the thing some people have with politics is how utterly exhausting it gets the closer to an election we get. Its the first of September and I don't want to hear Trump or Biden say another word. We already know where they stand on all the issues, there constant prattling and saber rattling is just exhausting.

 

True. This is exactly what colors the answer I gave. I felt exhausted a long time ago.

There are some things where it's questionable how much you can get involved. Employment protection is a strange area because I've seen lists that show which states have it and which don't. This was confusing. Then the highest court rules that employment protection for LGBT is the law of the land. That's work that needed to be done and I'm sure special interest groups, lower courts, and others got involved to push things toward that end.

 

I honestly can't think of a worse time to be apolitical. In many ways it's that complete disinterest and apathy that has landed us with dreadful and incompetent leaders like Trump (US), Johnson (UK), Bolsonaro (Brazil).

And I have to gently say to American members that it was the election of Donald Trump four years ago that had a domino effect in other nations. It was unthinkable that the most powerful nation on earth would elect a reactionary leader like Trump to high office, immediately after President Obama, but you did and other nations, including my own have followed. What happens in the US has far reaching consequences and that's why your elections are of so much interest elsewhere. I have no vote in the US Presidential election, but the direction your country chooses will have an impact on me. I pray that America ditches Trump.

 

I don't know. It seems society is becoming more polarized/radicalized, both parties are bought and paid for, with little to no thought for any of us, and I remember that Mark Twain quote

 

I don't think some of us would be considered apolitical as in total abandonment of politics. We keep up with the news. Our viewpoints for the upcoming election should be set for most of us. We follow the news to get what we need to know.

It's this kind of information that we hate: today, we learned that Nancy Pelosi had her hair done inside a salon in California and that Melania Trump may have used her personal e-mail account for government affairs. Both dumb moves.

We're interested in the basics. The pettiness and mudslinging can get to be too much.