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You don't avoid them, you ignore them, and being able to ignore them is a political privilege. A child in an ICE internment camp does not have that privilege.

A child in an ICE internment camp doesn't have to worry about local property tax rates though. As GP said, there are very few pieces of politics that affect them personally, that doesn't mean none. Just as it also means that no bit of politics affects every single person meaningfully.

I hope you're aware that being able to ignore politics is a privilege that you're consciously utilizing.

Some people will get affected by "politics" and, thus, must either be silent and suffer or start to care about politics.

I could be wrong and politics do impact you negatively and...you just don't care. That's a fair stance I guess, as long as you understand that by doing nothing you're essentially accepting that negative impact.

The parent comment touched on this, but wanted to add on - just hoping you're conscious of this truth

You are arguing with a group of technocratic ideologues who truly believe in the myths that America is a meritocracy and that the free market can solve all problems. That privilege doesn't exist and that everything that comes out of Elon Musk's and Sam Harris' mouth is not sanctimonious and self-important claptrap as it actually is, but instead beautiful eloquent words graced by intelligence and maturity.

I have attempted on numerous occasions to reason with this community over basic sociological concepts and have repeatedly failed. I have given up on convincing people in SV the truths of the lives of people outside of their bubble. I recommend you do the same and engage in activism. It's more productive. Godspeed.

It’s understandable to give up on a worthwhile cause because you’ve lost the energy for it, but it doesn’t make sense to actively encourage others to give up on it, if the cause was ever important to you at all.

You're completely right. I've very fortunate, and that does give me the ability to ignore certain things. I make sure to have an understanding of what is going on, and my active ignorance is more of a way to avoid things I'm already aware of, where my knowledge of the event doesn't help progress anything.

The example that pops in my head first is COVID. I knew what was going on with COVID and how to keep myself and others safe. My issue was that it was circulating everything 24/7, while not offering new information the vast majority of the time. It became very anxiety inducing to see a ton of articles every day that end up just being filler with tangential evidence of nothing new.

But you're completely correct, I'm very fortunate, and I should have clarified more on where and when I choose to ignore certain things.

You can ignore politics, but politics will not ignore you. What you're doing is burying your head in the sand, not avoiding.

Not entirely true. The essence of the libertarian platform is a political platform that tries its best to ignore you as an individual and let you be free.

If libertarians were running things, you'd be left not entirely but largely alone.

Well, libertarians are not running things. So the government will not be leaving you alone of its own accord.

But they're not, perhaps because their fans aren't politically active?

A problem with this line of reasoning is that there is a potentially infinite number of issues, all of which could affect you or someone vulnerable. However, people have issues that are more immediate to them and which they have a more direct responsibility over. For example, If I don't personally champion solutions to police brutality, someone else might, but if I don't do my job and earn a living, there isn't really anyone else who really can or should be expected to pick up the slack.What's more, peple need the mental space to think about the issues that they are going to take a stand on which means that it takes time and energy to address different issues and they need to prioritize. This is one reason why it's reasonable to restrict political discourcse to certain spheres, because doing so is necessary if we are to take into account basic human limitations.

So why aren't these vocal GitHub employees leaving the company then?

If this was really about strong political will they would just change companies.

If we follow their own logic, they are enabling ICE by continuing to work for GitHub and are thus complicit.

You are lucky that you can ignore politics.

As a minority, who has repeatedly faced discrimination; at various jobs, airports, in restaurants, and at social events, I cannot ignore it.

Also I believe it is a moral obligation to stand up for weak. So even if you are privileged enough to be not affected by politics, you should participate in it for your weaker friends and family.

Exactly this. Choosing to remove politics from your life is an acknowledgement that very little good comes of it.

It comes down to “Control what you can control.”

So much of politics comes down to trying to control other people, whether it be their thoughts, actions, view points, money or rights. It’s an unhealthy topic that tends to leave everyone involved angry.

Choosing to ignore it is an acknowledgement that you don’t want the anger and that the benefit of your anger is rarely, if ever, worth it.