“The internet is a sport, it’s all about who can whine the loudest.”
Why Do People Choose To Become Apolitical?
Apolitical: having no interest or involvement in political affairs.
That’s according to the definition by Merriam Webster.
The word “apolitical” is becoming quite popular among the youth. And it’s not because of not wanting to join both sides of the political spectrums. It’s because they’re disillusioned with the modern political climate in India and the world. Politics in India has become a circus full of carcasses, and it stinks so bad that you might get affected. In my article criticizing the MUNs, I’ve brought up a song called “London Calling” (by The Clash).
“I think when The Clash made the song London Calling, they criticized the rising political apathy in the consumerist society. Now we’ve become so political that there is no room for political apathy nor apolitical people.”
I think my quote stands out even to this day. We see social media platforms becoming more political. As if it’s not bad enough that the companies are making Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and so on into police states. Anything on Twitter becomes instantly political. I saw social media had turned farmers’ protests into a political world war. Both sides of political spectrums attacked people just because they spoke either in favor or against the protests, particularly in the case of Rihanna and Sachin Tendulkar.
We see celebrities giving tone-deaf opinions either on social media or award shows. Even though they don’t put the money where their mouths are. Hollywood loves to preach feminism, yet their industry’s dominated by pedophiles and rapists. Celebrities love preaching climate change, yet they attend climate conventions via private jets. Celebrities who talk about countries taking refugees from war-torn countries, won’t even let one of them live in their million-dollar mansions.
This sudden wokeness shows how out of touch and hypocritical celebrities are. By all means, they’re free to express themselves because they’re human beings too. But the problem only arises when they give their opinions that lack substantiated backing or are just made in poor taste. This is why people have a problem when some celebrity shoves their political opinion down through the average Joe’s mouth in an award show.
Corporations are just the same as well. When the whole Blitzchung thing happened, it became apparent that Activision’s belief in democracy is only a façade when they’re working with Beijing. For a company that pretends to be a part of woke culture, they sure got into hot water, when sexual misconduct lawsuits were filed against them (one of them being the State of California).
The same goes for Disney, Apple, and Amazon. In an article, I’ve written about Woke Culture’s hypocrisy–
“Corporations like Disney and Apple are pushing the narrative of social, racial, and political justice in the West but they just throw that away in the Middle East and China. Disney, Apple, and Mattel are running sweatshops in China where workers as young as 14 years work their butt off to make phones and toys. Insert Palpatine meme, “Ironic Isn’t it”. Kids are making toys in China so that they could sell them to the kids in the West.”
Corporations do not care about woke. They only see any movement as a means to make a profit. You must have seen the pride color brand logos during Pride Month. Why’d you think they do that? To make easy money from the people of the LGBTQIA+ community. They won’t even change the logo color of their Middle East brands (where LGBTQIA+ Lifestyle is illegal and deadly except for Israel).
Another problem that I’ve encountered is when social media has become extremely biased. Mark Zuckerberg even admitted that social media is “extremely left-leaning”. With the age of political correctness and cancel culture, social media has become thought police. Anyone with a different opinion, be it on YouTube will be shut down just because it doesn’t fit the narrative or it doesn’t approve their status quo.
What’s even more appalling is when social media activists who use big words like “Privilege”, only use it as an excuse to drag people into their social media politics. That could be the main reason why people claim to be apolitical. Because the politics we’re seeing right now are in the eyes of social media.
Every time someone says for or against the government, some group will get offended. Twitter is notorious in that regard where political parties and their supporters wage a world war. It’s no wonder why people are so disillusioned with the current status of the political climate in India. That’s why they choose or they claim, they choose to be apolitical or politically apathetic.
Apolitical Is Political: The Doublethink
Doublethink: a simultaneous belief in two contradictory ideas.
Like- War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, and Ignorance is Strength.
2+2=5 (It’s an example of doublethink)
I first heard this word when I was playing Metal Gear Solid 5. The word originates from George Orwell’s novel ‘1984’. The novel uses 2+2=5 examples to quell any intellectual thinking amongst the populace (to suppress truth). Big Brother wants to make the populace believe that 2+2=5, so that the latter remain loyal to the former.
In simple words, doublethink means agreeing to two contradictory opinions. For example:
The socialist is capitalist in reality.
The words socialist and capitalist are very contradictory. One cannot be socialist or capitalist at the same time. Keep in mind that doublethink is very different from hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is when a celebrity tells you not to burst crackers during Diwali while enjoying fireworks in their wedding ceremonies, award shows, new year parties, etc.
Anyway, the subtopic “Apolitical is Political” is an example of doublethink. People who claim to not be part of politics end up being part of one. The guys at the top, especially those in the nonpolitical background have the luxury to be apolitical. For us average Joes, it doesn’t work like that.
As much as I want to stay away from the political circus, it’s impossible to do so. Politics is in our blood because we’re born in a very political country. We give our political opinions in school, office, mess, or whatnot. We complain about the sanitation, water, infrastructure, and how the government is very ineffective to do so. If you say that you’re apolitical and then you ignore the plight of the poor and needy, then you’re just as guilty as those who are political.
As much as I feel like privilege has lost its meaning because of its overuse on social media, I feel like it does play a huge role for a person being apolitical. It’s almost impossible for the poor to be apolitical. I mean Orwell called out Hitler and Stalin in ‘1984’ (the novel). He thinks that they’re both the same despite their differences in politics.
I’m a very political person but I criticize both sides of the political spectrum, excluding the parties (Which political party I should choose is my personal choice. I generally do not like both sides of the political spectrum and I love to make them bamboozled). If I want to, I can criticize Rana Ayyub’s selective outrage or Arnab Goswami’s loud idiotic rants. That’s how I lampoon both sides. You don’t have to side with either spectrum to be political. It’s your choice.
Yes, it’s true, our political climate is divided and what Rana Ayyub, Kunal Kamra, Swara Bhaskar, Elvish Yadav, Arnab Goswami, and Kangana Ranaut are doing are adding more kerosene to the fire. They’re not helping the situation. But unless we do something about it, our political climate will never change.
The only reason you’re being apolitical is that the political Chernobyl didn’t come for you. But sooner or later, it will come for you. This reminds me of the poem ‘First They Came’ by Martin Neimöller. The poem was about how the Nazis first started to purge certain groups, while no one else spoke out against it. And one day, they will come for you. Here’s the excerpt from the poem:
“First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me.”