> [!info]- Metadata > > ``` > title: On Being Apolitical > link: on-being-apolitical > published_date: 2026-03-10 15:02 > ``` # On Being Apolitical I tried to keep this short. I failed. I had intentions of coming on here to talk about work-related topics and how my entire life is probably about to change. It just goes to show that I never really have any idea what's going to happen when I got a couple of minutes to write and sit down to actually do so. I feel like a lot of people want to say these things, but nobody has because they are afraid of the social fallout that might come as a result. One of the reasons I tend to stay out of political arguments online has less to do with apathy and more to do with humility. I don’t actually believe I understand how any of it really works. Not the real version of it, anyway. The more I pay attention to the world, the more obvious it becomes that the things we see; the talking points, the debates, the social media shouting matches, are mostly surface-level theater. The real machinery seems to operate somewhere behind a curtain most of us never get to see behind. And that’s the part that makes me stop and put my thoughts in the marinade. Because once you start thinking about it, you quickly realize how easy it would be to stand passionately for one issue while unknowingly pulling strings connected to five other issues you never intended to support. Everything in government seems wildly intertwined in ways that aren’t obvious to the public. Especially working-class folks such as myself. Bills get stuffed with unrelated provisions. Policies get traded for favors. Political alliances form around things that have nothing to do with the original problem. From the outside, it’s almost impossible to understand the full set of levers being pulled. So I find it difficult to take strong positions on things when I know I’m probably only seeing a small slice of the larger machine. But that's just half of it. The second part is a little more sharp and that feeling gets honed the more time that passes. <span class="fieldmark"></span> I’ve gradually come to believe that the people who actually run this country have Zero Fucks regarding social issues. These topics prove to be incredibly useful, though. They keep voters emotionally invested. It keeps them engaged on the large social media silos. It transforms the population into easily divided and mobilized teams. It looks a lot like football from the outside the way they cheer-lead and debate their playbooks. They create the appearance that politicians are fighting for compassion, justice, tradition, or whatever slogan happens to resonate with the moment. But the more years that pass, the more it looks like a stage play. While the public argues endlessly about social topics, the people writing the laws seem remarkably consistent about one thing: Making shit tons of money for themselves and the people around them. Campaign donations. Lobbying. Insider trading that somehow remains legal for them. Legislation that quietly benefits industries tied to the very politicians writing the laws. The government "shuts down" all the time, but that shit **never seems to slow down.** Imagine if we just decided to close the grocery store one day. So while the public is busy arguing about the issues that dominate headlines, the money-making-machine of government is working just fine in the back. And that’s the primary reason I tend to stay out of the political arena, to be apolitical. The internet encourages everyone to pick a side and fight constantly. To perform their political identity like it’s a sports team. The older I get, the more the whole thing looks like a distraction. Just keep everyone emotionally invested in the culture war and they’ll never look too closely at the ledger. That may sound cynical. Maybe it is. But if you step back and watch the pattern for long enough, it becomes difficult not to notice. So my approach these days is fairly simple. Care about the things that genuinely affect real people. Care about my Family and those close to me. But resist, at all costs, the pressure to become a full-time political combatant on the internet. Because the loudest battles happening online often feel like they were designed to keep us occupied while something else entirely is happening behind the curtain. There are people around you that are struggling through battles they don't feel like they can talk about because nobody is paying attention. These people are everywhere. Go find them and listen. ■ --- ``` Go West - Call Me local audio ```