From this article’s title, it may seem I am accusing people who claim to be apolitical of mental disability, with the goal of transferring stigma against disabled people to political centrists. But that’s not what’s going on here.
I think most people who claim to be apolitical are lying or wrong. And furthermore, that they are appropriating the experiences of a vulnerable minority of disabled people who deserve more respect than what they are currently being given. Apoliticism isn’t normal, it’s a disability. Neurotypicals shouldn’t be claiming it. And we should extend more respect to apolitical people who actually suffer from this condition.
The word “politics” doesn’t mean controversial, electoral, divisive, influential, troublesome, or any other stereotypes associated with the word by oligarchs who want you to be politically uninvolved. No, it has a very simple definition. Politics is “the field of group decision making”. Everything humans do in groups is political. Politics is the fabric of our society that holds us together. It hold together families, friendships, romantic partnerships, businesses, countries, movements, and so on. All kinds of groups that make up society.
Politics is when you and your friends decide which flavours of pizza to order for game night. Politics is when you and your wife decide to resolve your argument quickly so you won’t go to bed angry. Politics is when you pick you child up to stop it crossing the street and being run over. Politics is even the argument between you and your dog about whether the kitchen counter is for eating off of. Politics is embedded in every aspect of our social lives. It’s the glue and the grease of society, it’s everything about how humans fit together.
The primary advantage human beings have over other animals is the complexity of their politics. A lone cougar can hunt alone and catch a bird. That’s no politics. A wolf pack can hunt together and bring down a moose. That’s a little bit of politics. A human army can march on a country and burn every building and tree to the ground. That’s a lot of politics.
Humans were able to master advanced technologies like pottery, construction, fire, and the wheel, because of their politics. A monkey can teach her child how to break open nuts with a rock. A human can teach her child how to operate a motor vehicle. Education is politics, and it’s the key to technology more advanced than a sharp rock. Octopuses are amazingly smart, but they’re just terrible at passing on knowledge to the next generation. If octopodes were a little more political, maybe they’d have cities and computers and wars.
A human being who cannot master politics is a dead weight in society. Suppose they are very smart, as smart as an octopus, and they can learn other skills from others plenty well, but they can’t really engage with political systems. What you will have is a child who doesn’t listen to their parents and talks back. Can’t maintain friendships by compromising. Doesn’t believe in following the law. Won’t follow orders in the workplace and will be fired. A decisively disabled person, who exists in the political context of a neurotypical world but just can’t engage with it on the right terms.
Fortunately, we have a diagnostic criteria in the DSM which matches these symptoms. I’ll list them here:
- failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviors as indicated by repeatedly performing acts that are grounds for arrest
- deceitfulness, as indicated by repeated lying, use of aliases, or conning others for personal profit or pleasure
- impulsivity or failure to plan ahead
- irritability and aggressiveness, as indicated by repeated physical fights or assaults
- reckless disregard for safety of self or others
- consistent irresponsibility, as indicated by repeated failure to sustain consistent work behavior or honor financial obligations
- lack of remorse, as indicated by being indifferent to or rationalizing having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another.
These are the diagnostic criteria for Antisocial Personality Disorder, or ASPD.
Like I said, a politically impaired person would have less respect for the law. They would also be less concerned with maintaining social bonds by telling others the truth. A lack of understanding of political consequences for actions would present as impulsivity. A lack of ability to compromise and get along with others would present as aggression. Care for the safety of others would be impaired. Fulfillment of social obligations such as work and financial would not be a priority. And remorse, which is an important political skill of human beings, would be absent.
The ability to get along with others, to follow the rules, to care for others and show you care, to plan ahead in a social context, to keep promises and value the truth. These are social, political skills. They’re the skills a human tribe or civilisation needs to stay together, to make decisions as a group, to get things done en masse. It’s politics.
Apoliticism is antisocial personality disorder. People with ASPD are suffering from a lack of politics. A lack of political skills, and political investment. They don’t care about politics. It’s hard for them to make themselves care.
So, when the middle aged balding man in the meme says “I don’t care about politics, I just wanna grill”, I don’t believe him. Sure he cares about politics! He maintains a marriage with his wife. He’s the head of a family, commanding his kids. He does what his boss tells him and gets paid. He’s part of the HOA, and he likes what the HOA does for his home value. He’s friends with his neighbours and they work together whenever there’s a problem. And he respects the police, who enforce political laws.
To a lot of people, only the last example there would seem political. But that’s because the last one is big politics. It’s government and legislation, the really huge politics. The only difference between a government and a marriage is size and intimacy. There’s still decisions to be made over who takes out the trash, who gets rid of the spider, and whether to pour grease down the drain. Domestic politics.
A political centrist who says “I don’t care about politics, I just wanna grill” is falsely claiming to have antisocial personality disorder. They don’t know they are, but that’s the implication. If we listen to what they say and use the correct definition of politics, they’re saying they don’t care for the law, for honesty, for family, for social consequences, or for remorse. Those things are all political. Take them away, and you have a person with ASPD.
The average person who says they’re apolitical does not have ASPD. They’re wrong. They misunderstood what politics is, and accidentally claimed to be disabled.
We live in a society where apoliticism is culturally valued. It’s considered impolite to be too political. So why on earth do people with these values use slurs like “psychopath” to describe people with antisocial personality disorder? Shouldn’t the apolitical person logically be a hero? Finally, it’s someone who doesn’t care for the law, for the workplace rules, or what society thinks of them! Centrists and conservatives should worship people with ASPD. They’re the platonic ideal of what a centrist values.
But maybe the platonic ideal of apoliticism is bad. Maybe people shouldn’t be apolitical. Maybe apoliticism is a serious disability, and apolitical people need therapeutic intervention in order to live decent lives. Maybe the centrists are all completely wrong.
So, if you tell Me that you don’t like politics, I’m going to treat you like a mentally disabled person. I’m going to suggest therapy with a professional counsellor, and encourage you to see the value in politics for your own wellbeing. I’m going to worry that maybe you were abused as a child, as this is a strong risk factor for apoliticism. I’m going to set a firm boundary that you need to be political while you’re around Me, as much as you hate it, because it’s important to everyone’s safety.
And if it turns out you actually like small-scale politics and you just have a problem with seeing minorities in video games, I’m going to think you’re a bad person with an incompetent knowledge of the subject.
