“We don’t really want to get political around here…”
I get the appeal of wanting to stay out of politics. You walk past a TV with a bunch of angry talking heads and think “I really don’t want to sound like that.” You hear your cranky uncle go off on another dinner table and think... yeah, not for me.
But the problem isn’t so much politics, it’s the culture around politics. Striving to be apolitical often seems like a way to be “above the fray” but often enough… it can be just as bad.
The French have this saying that basically translates to: If you don’t want to ‘do’ politics, you’ll be done in by politics.
It makes me think of how in 2012, I campaigned for refugee support in the Midwest- both in rural conservative towns and on progressive campuses. Helping people escaping conflict seemed so widely agreeable. After 2015, something changed. It got “political.” For the refugees themselves? They had no choice. “Political” things determined their survival.
Meanwhile, I hear the phrase “we don’t want to get political” used all the time.
I’ve heard churches use it to explain why they said noting after Charlottesville.
I’ve heard institutions use it to explain why they won’t enforce mask wearing in a pandemic.
When we put being “apolitical” on a pedestal, we really shrink our willingness to love other people.
I’m not saying you need to have a hot take on everything. Or that you need to be rigidly partisan. Or that you need to be an insufferable dinner table guest. Please don’t do that. But challenge the assumption that “staying above politics” is the default course for the pure at heart.