Avoiding Politics- A Super Power Worth Developing

Photo by Marco Oriolesi on Unsplash

You will maintain your sanity by avoiding this.

Left. Right. Independent.

Doesn’t matter where you fall on the spectrum. You cannot convince a non-believer to come over to your side. You usually cannot convince someone from the opposing party to suspend all their beliefs to hear you out.

All political parties are mirror images of each other (at a fundamental level).

All sides have more in common than you’d think. Here are some of the similarities.

1. “There’s ALWAYS a media bias against my party.” All sides believe the media holds an opposing bias to their beliefs. It’s a deadlock.
2. The inability to look inward for flaws. It never fails. Liberal Twitter (or any other Social Media platform) points out flaws in Conservative Twitter’s arguments. And vice versa. Liberal Twitter thinks Trump’s Press Secretary was the worst liar to ever hold that post. Conservative Twitter says the same for Biden’s Press Secretaries. There is no way of reconciling these differences.
3. Character assassinations prevent healthy and productive debate. Looking at old videos of politicians debating each other in a calm manner is nostalgic. It represents times that have come and gone, never to return. Today, both parties contribute to character attacks that prevent the audience from ever getting to hear the strengths and weaknesses of their ideas. If the audience can sift through the emotional oratory and extract any idea for its own merit, that’s great. But it is the rare exception. Not the norm. Emotional excitement is a more effective approach to get a crowd behind you.

But how can I avoid politics if it affects me?

I’m glad there are people who are out there exercising their freedoms to voice their concerns about how the government is running things. Nothing wrong with that. Absolutely nothing.

But that comes at a cost. That cost, in many cases, is your sanity.

Avoid it if at all possible. Unfortunately, this means a departure from many social media platforms. Politics has invaded everything in our lives. With social media and information coming at us at all hours of the day, we can no longer live in ignorance without ungodly efforts.

The Politic-Sanity Scale. As your awareness of political discourse increases, your sanity decreases.

Ignorance is bliss.

I’m not saying to become ignorant. In some cases, keeping a close eye on politics is productive and necessary. But it comes with a cost (sanity).

In a democracy, voting is the most effective way to voice your concerns and frustrations. Don’t like what a politician is doing or how they’ve performed? Don’t vote for them. Voicing concerns outside elections can be productive. But not always.