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Comment by otikik | Hacker News Reader

Nothing is apolitical.

If you don’t talk about politics then your position is “I am fine with the way things are now”, which is political.

No, thats just wrong. "What I say is always relevant to you, no matter what you do" seems to be a new game in society, but that doesn't make it any more true. If I don't talk about politics, then my position is "I am totally unable to change anything, so I keep my mouth shut and save the energy for something positive."

This reminds me of people so religious that they cannot eat a hamburger without somehow referring to the Bible. It's not that everything cannot be political or religious. It's that some people insist that it be so.

If nothing is apolitical (or everything is political) what's the point of the word?

To describe a universal element of human experience. Like saying, “If gravity is everywhere, what’s the point of the word?”

No.

I can say that Biden isn't up to the job, and that Trump is a wanna-be dictator who should not be given a second chance at pulling it off. That's apolitical, in that I'm not shilling for either side, but I'm sure not fine with the way things are now. I'm just also not fine with the other side's proposed solution.

No, these are both political statements, sorry.

Commenting on good or bad aspects of politicians is literally as far from being apolitical as can be, regardless of if you feel you're being neutral between different parties.

I think you’re conflating “partisan” with “political”.

All right, how about if I say that society is messed up in some real ways (including politically), and the solution is not going to come from politics, because the problem fundamentally is not a political one?

That's not a political statement (unless you have a very expansive definition of "political"[1]), but it's still not "I am fine with the way things are now".

[1] And if literally everything is political... then nothing is.

Would you say there is a psychological dimension to all human behavior?

Either your comment is apolitical or you're saying you're fine with everything happening in politics right now, and I somewhat doubt the latter.

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