fbpx
Politics Foreign Affairs Culture Fellows Program

Political Vs. Politicized

Sonny Bunch has a few wise words for people on the left and the right who choose their ideology over basic humanity: There’s nothing wrong with living a political life. That is, a life in which politics is one of your interests or your job, something you follow and keep track of and educate yourself on and […]

Sonny Bunch has a few wise words for people on the left and the right who choose their ideology over basic humanity:

There’s nothing wrong with living a political life. That is, a life in which politics is one of your interests or your job, something you follow and keep track of and educate yourself on and argue about. The arena of politics is important; political decisions have consequences; and passionately arguing for your preferred political outcomes is nothing to be ashamed of.

politicized life is a different beast, however. It treats politics as a zero sum game or a form of total warfare in which the other side must be obliterated. It alters every aspect of your being: where you shop; what you watch on TV; what sort of music you listen to; who you associate with. If you’re not with the politicized being, you’re against him—and if you’re against him, he is well within his rights to ruin you personally and economically. You, the political other, are a leper to be shunned, lest your thoughtcrimes infect the rest of society.

He recalls a conservative ass who quit talking to his brother at family gatherings or any other time because his brother voted for Barack Obama. More:

Now look: You have the right to be a jerk at Thanksgiving and you have a right to throw your heroes overboard because they believe in a flat tax and you have a right to institute a blacklist because they disagree with you on gay marriage. Nobody’s denying that you have the right to do any of these things.

All I’m suggesting is that, by doing these things, you are a sad, terrible person setting himself up for an empty life and destroying the very fabric of our society.

Whole thing here. With each passing day, I find I care less and less about politics, chiefly because we’ve made it impossible to be political without being politicized.

Advertisement

Comments

Want to join the conversation?

Subscribe for as little as $5/mo to start commenting on Rod’s blog.

Join Now