Why I Don’t Care About Politics
While Brazilians are getting mad about politics, sometimes I even forget it exists
We live in times of huge polarization. I work as a lawyer. I am Brazilian, and this year Brazil had its most competitive elections of all time. Therefore, I am supposed to care and worry about politics. But I can say, without lying, that I don’t. Here’s why.
I don’t use social media and rarely watch the news
This is a misleading title. I do use WhatsApp and YouTube. Plus, last week I decided to give LinkedIn a new chance, but I have to confess that I am already considering quitting it.
Yet, I don’t have an account on platforms like Instagram, Tik Tok, Facebook, and, most importantly, in this case, Twitter. After all, as Cal Newport bluntly asks, “have you ever met, for example, a frequent Twitter user that is happy?”.
I don’t think I need to go any further into this topic. Books like Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now and the documentary The Social Dilemma explain well the wreckage that social media is causing in our society, mainly when it comes to politics.
What counts for this article is that I am not being exposed to so much political content, which I guess is the main factor for me not worrying about it all the time.
Oh, I don’t watch or read the news, either. Even so, I’ve been able to survive and talk to people.
I don’t have a clue about what it’s happening
As I’ve said, I’ve been working as a lawyer for more than five years, and I am finishing a Master’s in law, but I must admit that I know nothing about what’s going on in this world, and this applies to politics as well.
Look, if you need me to explain the electoral and constitutional rules, I can help you. This I know relatively well, but it doesn’t mean, by any means, that I know a thing about what’s happening behind the scenes, beyond what newspapers and social media tell us.
I don’t work for any politician, and I don’t know anyone who does. I don’t work for a political party, either.
Thus, what I know about politics is theory. As we learn from House of Cards, knowing theory and nothing is pretty much the same thing when it comes to politics.
I have no control over politics
Stoicism and other philosophies, like Buddhism, are known for the belief that we shouldn’t waste our energy on things we cannot control.
I’ve noticed that knowing this and applying it are two different things. It’s incredibly difficult to put this belief into practice, as correct as it may be.
Anyway, somehow I’ve been able to practice this ideal when it comes to politics, maybe because, as I said, I don’t use platforms like Twitter.
Considering that I don’t know a thing about politics and I don’t plan to work with it, I think it’s fair to conclude that I have no control over it and that things are going to happen whether I like it or not.
Especially right now it’s a real blessing to be able to not care about politics in a country so polarized, as never before, mainly because, as I point out in my last article, I am facing a very tough year, to say the least, with lots of things going on in my life.
Worrying about politics, something that I cannot control at all would certainly make me feel even worse, maybe to the point of losing my mind after all.
I don’t want to work in politics
You could argue that if everybody thinks like me, necessary changes wouldn’t happen, and you would be right.
I am not saying that I am correct in thinking like this, nor that you should try to emulate me.
However, I think that if one doesn’t work or at least plan to work with politics somehow, it’s reasonable to conclude that they have no control whatsoever over what’s going to happen. In short, their worry about politics will be able to accomplish zero change.
That’s why I think the best course of action in this regard for me is either to have the power to change something or at least to have a concrete plan to do so or, if this is not the case, simply forget it and live my life, letting the space to worry to the very few things that are under my control.
Another way to put it: I either walk my talk or I don’t talk and worry at all.
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