TOP 5 REASONS I STOPPED CARING ABOUT POLITICS - Paul Rosenberg

[zg7666]

Paul Rosenberg gives us the top 5 reasons he stopped caring about politics:

 

#5: It eats up a horrifying amount of time and energy;

#4: It’s an addiction;

#3: It doesn’t change anything;

#2: In the end, it’s about violence;

#1: Politics is a relic of a barbaric past.

 

Read the rest:  http://www.freemansperspective.com/stop-caring-about-politics/

[DoubtingThomas]

I'm not sure about #5. Politics, or rather the results of politics, eat up a horrifying amount of your time, energy, and resources no matter who you are.

[gwho]

It depends what you mean by being political. following posts, debating people, etc.

 

I have always had a disgust of politics becaues it felt so illogical and full of people who reject logic and reason. So I worked things out on my own. I was interested in economics and efficiency. this naturally lends itself to being concerned with what is good for society. You get a sense of u have the tools and framework for what is good for yourself. For example, voluntary exchange results in increased wealth for both parties or all parties involved. The very fact that this involves someone else means you're dealing with people and society. Then you get to something like a job for yourself. There aren't enough... you ask why? and the answer becomes societal. minimum wage is outlawing of poor workers, just as a thousand dollar minimum wage would put almost everyone out of work. so then government is intricately tied to prosperity. And I began to see this policy affects me and society this way, that action does that, etc. And then I worked things out for myself, which led to principles of non-aggression, mutual exchange, freedom. Then that spills over into morality, since almost every political discussion appeals to morality, but with partial truths, bad analogies, cherry picking, etc. And i'm a pretty logical person and I value truth. So all of this naturally drove me towards being aware and developing a framework from my own perspective in combination with information i hear and see.... even though I initially hated politics (or at least the left-right, dem rep, issue-based, principle-devoid version I initially was expoesd to).

So politics to me is how to live better, and not just for myself. Does government being involved help this end or hinder it? Does law help it or hinder it? What principle is this ruling based on and is it consistent with principles that apply for a person as much as a big collective entity? What economic effects will policy X have? What are the causes of the current economic state? Instead of jumping to some government action to alleviate an action, what if we analyzed the causes and simply removed the negative causes? What are the costs and disadvantages of implementing a new government action? So as you can see, my interest isn't politics itself, but how sweeping policies affect outcomes and fit in with principles that were developed based frameworks developed on my own with a lot of information scouring and processing.So I would say be apathetic to politics if politics to you is that superficial kind, and don't bother debating or discussing based on stupid, unrefined paradigms such as conservatism/modern liberalism. But I'm sure you want to be a good person, value logic, and have frameowrks for truth. Just pursue those as you see fit, and simply being morally consistent and wanting a better life will naturally lead you to politics, either because you will see the government is messing up your life so hard, or because you will actively want to better society and see all the hindrances... which coincidentally are caused by government. Approach politics with by developing your consistente world view and logical facts and principles about life, economics, and society, and you will come to politics with a far clearer and more consistent framework than trying to "force" yourself into "getting into politics." 

[gwho]

Paul Rosenberg gives us the top 5 reasons he stopped caring about politics:

 

#5: It eats up a horrifying amount of time and energy;

#4: It’s an addiction;

#3: It doesn’t change anything;

#2: In the end, it’s about violence;

#1: Politics is a relic of a barbaric past.

 

Read the rest:  http://www.freemansperspective.com/stop-caring-about-politics/

 

#5 If you're on FDR, you're probably already investing a lot of time and energy into politics and matters of bettering society. again, if you define "getting into politics" differently from being aware and listening to information about economics, morality, and principled politics (as opposed to the details of current events), then those topics may already be of interest to you. So it becomes a sunk cost. To me, all this is very enjoyable. And I can choose to engage in it with as much time and as much depth as I please. Seeing articles about a 12 year old egyptian kid who knows principles and current events more than the average adult, subscribing to facebook pages that publicizes cops robbing citizens, or illegally pulling a woman over and sending himself her porn pix while tying up 3 hours of her time.... it's all of interest, and doesn't take that much time. With internet tools, you can position yourself to be in the stream of information, and choose to read entire articles when it pleases you.

 

#4 every pleasurable thing can be, but you're saying you would be very into it, to the point of interfering with other things in your life? each individual responds to it differently. It certainly isn't for me. Work takes up a lot of time, and interefers with waht i want to do in life, and i think about it soo much. is that an addiction? I don't really know where you're coming from, when you say politics can be an addiction.

 

#3 it's long term, and be aware of the critical mass effect, or tipping point. also, be personally free. being aware of freedom, being logically and morally consistent, will grant you that, and affect the people you interact with, whether it be one on one, or to a wide audience, like Stef is doing.

 

#2 so if someone is holding you up at your house, are you going to ignore it because it's violence? our aim is to get rid of it.

 

#1 until you get rid of it, it will be the very real present. gotta be aware of it to get rid of it.

 

[gwho]

I approach politics from a principled point of view. so it is applicable to me. i don't get caught up in what those other people do, and whether they think wrong. in that sense, i don't "get caught up in politics" either. But i do see injsutice, i do see how i can make it better, i do see that there is truth, and that the use of power and propaganda prevents the truth that we can all be very extremely prosperous and peaceful. So just becuase assholes are spreading nonsense, does that mean I should stop thinking about things? I'll think about what I want to think about - and that's truth. I'll engage or disengage in what others do to the degree I want.

[PatrickC]

I must admit that the more I have been developing my own interests and improving my relationships, that politics becomes far less of interest for me. The pursuit of happiness just doesn't seem to have any logical reason to be on that particular path.

 

I do enjoy the occasional foray into political history and how ideology indoctrinates and warps people's beliefs and better natures. Abstractions like that can have some interesting insights within a broader context. Intellectually speaking, I can enjoy the fun of swash buckling with a worthy and respectful opponent in debate on occasions too.

[Wesley]

To me it seems that when you realize how meaningless political discussions are as they are just the extension of psychology, then it does feel like a waste of time to get in there with any intensity. It feels like trying to move a shadow instead of trying to move the statue creating the shadow.

[weeb]

This is the guy that i found out about "cryptohippie" from.  I think it is his company.  He wrote a piece in the dailyanarchist.com about internet privacy.