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> In truth, politics is not front and center of people's existence. In a world where everything is politicized, this cannot be correct. It's just described dif

> In truth, politics is not front and center of people's existence. In a world where everything is politicized, this cannot be correct. It's just described differently.

AnimalMuppet 3y ago
We're not in a world where everything is politicized. We're in a world where a bunch of very loud people politicize everything. That's not the same. In particular, a large number of people wish the "politicize everything" people would just shut up and go away and stop shoving their insanity at the rest of us.
- quesera 3y ago
  I wish for many things. So far, this has not had a material effect on reality. But I will keep trying. Please give me one example of a thing that is not politicized. And that some not-insubstantial percent of the population holds an opinion or belief that is truly their own vs something tribal and politicized. I struggled to come up with an example before I made my previous post. Maybe you can do better.
  - AnimalMuppet 3y ago
    The car I drive is not politicized. (For some people it is. They choose a pickup or an EV to signal that they belong to a tribe. I just pick a car because I want something reliable that meets my needs. 18-year-old Toyota Camry, if you're wondering.) My to-do list for this weekend is not politicized, even though preparations for doing my taxes is on the list. My taxes are not politicized - I pay them regardless of what administration is in power, and I feel pretty much the same about paying them. What I'm having for lunch is not politicized. It's just stuff that I like, that was pretty easy to put in a lunch sack. My wife likes watching birds. I like watching trains. I don't think either of those are politicized. What programming languages I like are not politicized. And so it goes, through topic after topic that makes up my life. I really am less a sheep than you think. I actually don't always agree with my tribe, and my tribe is less political than you think. (Even what I think of science is not politicized, and I don't fit neatly into a "tribe" on the topic. And I deplore the tendency to politicize science.) "Everything is political" only if you view everything through a political lens. I don't. It's a really crummy, narrow lens to have to look at everything through.
    - quesera 3y ago
      You give some interesting examples. But you acknowledge that some of those choices, made differently, could be politicized. That's the issue. Choose culturally "ordinary" and you're good. Choose "unexpected" and you take your chances. Among reasonable people, your chances are good. There are a lot of unreasonable people out there. The original question was "why is political affiliation asked on a dating app?". To me, the answer is simple: life is highly politicized and while individuals will always have some nuance in their beliefs, stereotypes are real and legitimate as filtering criteria. I do not mean to imply that humans cannot be better. Just that they frequently are not. I did not call you a sheep.
surgical_fire 3y ago
If you live in Twitter and Reddit, maybe so. At some point in the past I moderated a decently sized subreddit (~100k subscribers). At the time it seemed like everyone really cared a lot about politics. I made the conscious decision to step out of it, and shutting off my online presence. Live a bit more in the real world, so to say. Turns out in real life, people care a lot less about politics than in online cesspools.
- quesera 3y ago
  [FWIW: I don't read Reddit or Twitter or any of the rest. HN is as close to online humanity as I can tolerate] > Turns out in real life, people care a lot less about politics than in online cesspools. Sure, if you ask it that way. But if you ask them how they feel about almost anything, their opinion will be shaped by the politicization of music, sports, food, weather, child rearing, education, the economy, their town, the helicopter on Mars, etc. These things are politicized and the way people think about them is not authentic, but political. Not all individual people, not all individual cases. But anyone who pretends that politics is not front and center in their belief systems is either deluding themselves, or truly exceptional. Probably the former.
  - surgical_fire 3y ago
    There is a huge distance in between "my opinions and worldview is informed, to an extent, by the political climate" and "I live and breathe politics all the time, and it is front and center of every discussion I have with everyone" I have friends on every corner of the political spectrum. My wife is a lot more conservative than I am. This was never an issue. There is a huge amount of topics where our interests intersect anyway. "There is so much more in the universe".
    - quesera 3y ago
      Right. Because we are privileged and reasonable people! Privileged by the fact that our existence, and our choices, do not raise the ire of our community. Some of our choices are tailored to fit that community of course. Reasonable because we believe that the existence of others, and their choices, are not things we need to have opinions on, unless they are directly affective of our well-being. But this is not true for everyone. Outside of our quadrant, things get complicated quickly. Some people do not have the privilege of being culturally unexciting. And some people do not come by reasonableness naturally. I'm not saying you can't go through your day without thinking politically. I'm saying that there is a politicization angle on everything except the most mundane. And outside of our quadrant, this can create real life-affective friction. And, back to the topic, this is why they put "political affiliation" on dating apps.

> In truth, politics is not front and center of people's existence. In a world where everything is politicized, this cannot be correct. It's just described differently.

AnimalMuppet 3y ago

We're not in a world where everything is politicized. We're in a world where a bunch of very loud people politicize everything. That's not the same. In particular, a large number of people wish the "politicize everything" people would just shut up and go away and stop shoving their insanity at the rest of us.

quesera 3y ago
I wish for many things. So far, this has not had a material effect on reality. But I will keep trying. Please give me one example of a thing that is not politicized. And that some not-insubstantial percent of the population holds an opinion or belief that is truly their own vs something tribal and politicized. I struggled to come up with an example before I made my previous post. Maybe you can do better.
- AnimalMuppet 3y ago
  The car I drive is not politicized. (For some people it is. They choose a pickup or an EV to signal that they belong to a tribe. I just pick a car because I want something reliable that meets my needs. 18-year-old Toyota Camry, if you're wondering.) My to-do list for this weekend is not politicized, even though preparations for doing my taxes is on the list. My taxes are not politicized - I pay them regardless of what administration is in power, and I feel pretty much the same about paying them. What I'm having for lunch is not politicized. It's just stuff that I like, that was pretty easy to put in a lunch sack. My wife likes watching birds. I like watching trains. I don't think either of those are politicized. What programming languages I like are not politicized. And so it goes, through topic after topic that makes up my life. I really am less a sheep than you think. I actually don't always agree with my tribe, and my tribe is less political than you think. (Even what I think of science is not politicized, and I don't fit neatly into a "tribe" on the topic. And I deplore the tendency to politicize science.) "Everything is political" only if you view everything through a political lens. I don't. It's a really crummy, narrow lens to have to look at everything through.
  - quesera 3y ago
    You give some interesting examples. But you acknowledge that some of those choices, made differently, could be politicized. That's the issue. Choose culturally "ordinary" and you're good. Choose "unexpected" and you take your chances. Among reasonable people, your chances are good. There are a lot of unreasonable people out there. The original question was "why is political affiliation asked on a dating app?". To me, the answer is simple: life is highly politicized and while individuals will always have some nuance in their beliefs, stereotypes are real and legitimate as filtering criteria. I do not mean to imply that humans cannot be better. Just that they frequently are not. I did not call you a sheep.

surgical_fire 3y ago

If you live in Twitter and Reddit, maybe so. At some point in the past I moderated a decently sized subreddit (~100k subscribers). At the time it seemed like everyone really cared a lot about politics. I made the conscious decision to step out of it, and shutting off my online presence. Live a bit more in the real world, so to say. Turns out in real life, people care a lot less about politics than in online cesspools.

quesera 3y ago
[FWIW: I don't read Reddit or Twitter or any of the rest. HN is as close to online humanity as I can tolerate] > Turns out in real life, people care a lot less about politics than in online cesspools. Sure, if you ask it that way. But if you ask them how they feel about almost anything, their opinion will be shaped by the politicization of music, sports, food, weather, child rearing, education, the economy, their town, the helicopter on Mars, etc. These things are politicized and the way people think about them is not authentic, but political. Not all individual people, not all individual cases. But anyone who pretends that politics is not front and center in their belief systems is either deluding themselves, or truly exceptional. Probably the former.
- surgical_fire 3y ago
  There is a huge distance in between "my opinions and worldview is informed, to an extent, by the political climate" and "I live and breathe politics all the time, and it is front and center of every discussion I have with everyone" I have friends on every corner of the political spectrum. My wife is a lot more conservative than I am. This was never an issue. There is a huge amount of topics where our interests intersect anyway. "There is so much more in the universe".
  - quesera 3y ago
    Right. Because we are privileged and reasonable people! Privileged by the fact that our existence, and our choices, do not raise the ire of our community. Some of our choices are tailored to fit that community of course. Reasonable because we believe that the existence of others, and their choices, are not things we need to have opinions on, unless they are directly affective of our well-being. But this is not true for everyone. Outside of our quadrant, things get complicated quickly. Some people do not have the privilege of being culturally unexciting. And some people do not come by reasonableness naturally. I'm not saying you can't go through your day without thinking politically. I'm saying that there is a politicization angle on everything except the most mundane. And outside of our quadrant, this can create real life-affective friction. And, back to the topic, this is why they put "political affiliation" on dating apps.