Everything Is Political: Why ‘I’m Not Into Politics’ Isn’t an Option

“I’m not really into politics.”

How many times have you heard that? Maybe you’ve said it to yourself. Maybe it's a topic that comes up on dates, with friends or family. 

It’s often thrown out casually, like politics is just a hobby some people are into — like painting or fantasy football. But here’s the truth, you don’t have to be “into” politics for politics to be into you.

Politics isn’t just about elections or some people arguing on live TV. Politics is whether or not you can afford to go see a doctor. It’s if your school has books about your own people's history. It’s who feels safe walking down the street, and who gets stopped just for existing.

The phrase “I’m not into politics” usually comes from a place of misunderstanding, fear, or privilege.

Some people check out because the news is overwhelming, others have been made to feel like politics isn’t for them — it’s too complicated, too corrupt, too far removed. People thinking that their vote won’t matter anyway. But the ability to “opt out” is often a luxury. When your basic rights and daily experiences aren’t being questioned or attacked, it’s easier to ignore the system altogether.

But for many — women, queer people, Black and brown communities, immigrants, the working class — politics isn’t just noise in the background. It’s the reason the cost of birth control has gone up while access to it keeps getting chipped away. It’s why books by queer authors or writers of color are being banned in schools, as if visibility is a threat. It’s why entire chapters of history — slavery, civil rights, feminism — are being erased from textbooks and removed from museum exhibits. What you’re allowed to read, to learn, to access — all of it is political. And when those decisions are made behind closed doors, the people most affected are often the ones with the least power.

Even your smallest choices exist inside a political framework. The grocery store you shop at. The bathroom you feel safe in. The songs that go viral and the ones that get silenced. Politics is not separate from your life — it is your life.

And here’s the thing: not engaging doesn’t make you neutral. It just means someone else is deciding for you. Your silence doesn’t protect you — it just gives louder voices more room. And too often, those loud voices don’t speak for you, care about you, or know what it’s like to be the minority.

Getting involved doesn’t have to mean running for office or knowing every detail of every bill. It can start with asking questions. Listening more. Voting with intention. Sharing a post that teaches someone something. Reading a book that makes you rethink everything.

You don’t have to be perfect. You just have to care enough to not look away.

Because politics isn’t optional. Not when everything — and I mean everything — is political.