Comrade Ferret

2025-08-15 12:39:32

ferret@hub.workersofthe.world

Everything is political, actually.

The term "political" is usually defined formally as "having to do with official power and the use thereof". In practice, though, it's a lot more than that: Trans rights are the most "political" thing you can talk about these days, and though lawmakers have a part in that, most of the time in context it's simply: Do you respect trans people's right to exist around you as their true selves, yes or no?

Other "political" things have to do with power, but not the power of a state: It's "political" to say that landlords shouldn't exist, or that Luigi (or at least whoever actually killed that exec) is a chad.

"Political" now means "anything that the conservative status quo might take issue with". This definition covers everything above — and of course, vehement opposition to it, as well, as the "counter-political", which goes some way to explaining how the "apolitical" are only doing the legwork for the "counter-political".

So given this new, more accurate definition, everything you engage in is political. It's all either telling you that something is wrong with the status quo, and must change; or else that the status quo is fine, actually, and maybe even that the status should be more quo. If something doesn't seem political to you, then you aren't looking at it hard enough. Not that you need to — just that you could, and it would be.

More crucially, it also means that if you are "against politics" and want to have an "apolitical" space, you are, in reality, being very political indeed — and you're not supporting the good side of the politics.

So no, I don't CW "politics". And anyone you find who wants you to "keep politics out of it" may as well just tell you that they're conservative, and get it over with — because even if they don't want to identify with that term, it's simply what they are.