Yes, not caring about politics IS a privilege. I know because I didn’t care! I have been lucky enough in my life to not have to care (for the most part) about politics unless I really want to. In recent times however, this is not so much the case. I’m not judging you — I spent most of my life doing the same thing. Politics just confused me or made me mad so I chose to ignore it. It didn’t directly affect me, so I didn’t listen. Obviously, since I am an Iranian woman, recent political events very much do affect me personally. However, I have grown enough since my childhood to understand that even if political events don’t affect me personally, I should still care.
Unfortunately, in the world we live in, bad things happen every day. I know a lot of people who don’t watch the news because there seems to be one bad thing happening after another. It can be really depressing. I had to start making myself read the news at least once a week no matter how sad it was. The thing I realized was that I could ignore the sad news, but I had to put into account the people that these things are actually happening to. They can’t ignore it, because they are living it. What made them so different from me? What is stopping the same thing happening to me? Since I realized that global events could have easily impcated me, it felt like I owed it to the people to pay attention to world news. I remember reading somewhere that any average person is three bad events from becoming homeless. Homelessness could happen to anyone, but we demonize homeless people for their bad situations that they might not have been able to avoid. This example really showed me that just because things aren’t happening specifically to me, that doesn’t mean they couldn’t. I had to start paying attention –iuty.
So why is no caring about politics a privilege? I know that “privilege” can be a touchy word, and a lot of people resent being told they are privileged when they feel they aren’t. Not caring about politics is a privilege because that means you have the security and the means to ignore politics. People in war-torn countries do not have that ability because war is their everyday life. They are forced to care because they are experiencing the politics and it’s affecting them directly. Many of us here in the United States don’t need to worry about that stuff. We have good lives with no conflict. Things like the border crisis or nuclear talks do not affect us directly. Many people feel they have no reason to pay attention just because they have the security and luxury that allows them to ignore political situations. The government isn’t after us, so we don’t worry about the people who are being targeted.
Now that you know that not caring about politics is a privilege, I hope you take that to heart and learn to be more aware of your surroundings. The world is bigger than you and me, and there are people all over the universe who are suffering. More awareness and involvement could make a huge difference. Keep in mind that you may be comfortable now, but you are one bad event from being like the people you read about in the news. It is your responsibility and duty to educate yourself on current politics, as well as take a part. You have immense power and I urge you to use it. Write to your senators about issues you care about. Advocate for those less fortunate than you, and most importantly, care about politics!!!
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