Real talk, it’s what I used to put in my profile maybe 2 years ago.
I didn’t watch the news much, I had always stayed out of the discourse and I had refused to apply a 1-dimensional label to my beliefs.
Put plainly, I was privileged enough that politics rarely affected me directly, and I think until recently there were a lot of people like that.
One day in 2023, I took a political alignment test and found out I was a democratic socialist and it just so happened I was living in one (UK). Hence why I never felt the need to mess with things.
Of course, no country is perfect, and as I met more people, especially trans and disabled people, I discovered that there was a lot of terrible shit going on in my country and that’s where I finally got my awakening. I also started watching more political YouTube.
Since then, I’ve veered slightly further left I’m involved in advocacy and I’m proud to wear the “Left” label as someone who cares for others and believes we can all do better.
I still believe that left and right are a bit reductive, but I understand now that it’s more like the more of the things you believe in, the further on that axis you go. For example, the UK’s Green Party is bringing together some conservative environmentalists with leftist progressives in their interests to keep our green spaces and maintain traditional trades and crafts.
Anyway, the point is some “non-political” people are just sheltered. That said, you have to be extremely sheltered in the US to not experience the upheaval currently happening.
I took the test and I’m not particularly surprised at my result.
I’m strongly of the opinion that a lot of people simply do not have the bandwidth to be deeply involved in politics, even if it is in their best interests. We have so many people in the US drowning in debt, stress, unresolved mental health crises, and uncertainty about how they can afford the next big repair on their house/appliances/car/body that they do not have the luxury of spending time and energy advocating for the changes that would improve their lives.
I think of it like the airplane oxygen masks - you need to secure your own before you help others. It’s hard to expect people to organize and push for monumental change when they are a paycheck or two away from homelessness. I don’t see an easy way forward unless a lot of people are willing to sacrifice.
Real talk, it’s what I used to put in my profile maybe 2 years ago.
I didn’t watch the news much, I had always stayed out of the discourse and I had refused to apply a 1-dimensional label to my beliefs.
Put plainly, I was privileged enough that politics rarely affected me directly, and I think until recently there were a lot of people like that.
One day in 2023, I took a political alignment test and found out I was a democratic socialist and it just so happened I was living in one (UK). Hence why I never felt the need to mess with things.
Of course, no country is perfect, and as I met more people, especially trans and disabled people, I discovered that there was a lot of terrible shit going on in my country and that’s where I finally got my awakening. I also started watching more political YouTube.
Since then, I’ve veered slightly further left I’m involved in advocacy and I’m proud to wear the “Left” label as someone who cares for others and believes we can all do better.
I still believe that left and right are a bit reductive, but I understand now that it’s more like the more of the things you believe in, the further on that axis you go. For example, the UK’s Green Party is bringing together some conservative environmentalists with leftist progressives in their interests to keep our green spaces and maintain traditional trades and crafts.
Anyway, the point is some “non-political” people are just sheltered. That said, you have to be extremely sheltered in the US to not experience the upheaval currently happening.
I took the test and I’m not particularly surprised at my result.
I’m strongly of the opinion that a lot of people simply do not have the bandwidth to be deeply involved in politics, even if it is in their best interests. We have so many people in the US drowning in debt, stress, unresolved mental health crises, and uncertainty about how they can afford the next big repair on their house/appliances/car/body that they do not have the luxury of spending time and energy advocating for the changes that would improve their lives.
I think of it like the airplane oxygen masks - you need to secure your own before you help others. It’s hard to expect people to organize and push for monumental change when they are a paycheck or two away from homelessness. I don’t see an easy way forward unless a lot of people are willing to sacrifice.