We've come to a time in our country when political discourse is practically ubiquitous. While one could credit this to social media or to current heads of state, how we participate in governance has completely changed. Being politically aware has become something that is no longer considered an advantage or skill, but rather an expectation and necessity.
This doesn't necessarily mean that everyone is open to politics becoming an undeniable influence in our everyday lives. Of course, there are still some people who will claim that they would rather "stay out of" or "not think about" politics, that it isn't that big of a deal to them, and that they're tired of people talking about it all of the time.
If this description fits you, you might need to check your privilege, because it's showing.
By opting out of political involvement, you are inadvertently acknowledging your ability to do so, a privilege that not everyone has. And, in complete candor, you're probably one of the few who do.
Think about it this way: when the repeated killing of unarmed black people by police officers began to garner mass media attention, the now-iconic #BlackLivesMatter movement went mainstream, too. It gained momentum from social media, with activists posting things that one can do to help, or people involved posting videos of what was happening so that everyone could see. It created a divide, as most things do, between Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives. But, overlooked, were the people in the middle, who decided that the argument was "too political" to participate in, and live by the ideology that practicing political awareness is just too problematic or not worth it.
Here's the catch: the people in the streets were arguing that black lives mattered because their lives depended on it. By being a black person in America, they were and continue to be subjected to a certain kind of danger that others, specifically white people, just aren't apart of. To them, this wasn't political. It was a matter of life and death.
Another example is the 2016 presidential election between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Neither side was perfect, let alone anywhere close to being "good." Yet Donald Trump had many red flags: a vice president who wanted federal money to fund conversion therapy — some methods of which included electroshock therapy in order to, literally, make a person "not gay" — a history of saying offensive things that suggest the dehumanization of minorities, including LGBT+ people, women, and people of color, and plans that would oppress marginalized groups across the board.
By choosing to not vote in the election at all, whether it be out of disinterest or for the purpose of making a statement, you exercised your privilege. To many, there was no question in whether or not to vote. They voted for their livelihoods, to protect themselves. They had no choice.
Ultimately, that's what it all boils down to: a choice. It's something that, if you are lucky enough to have, is entirely up to you. The purpose of acknowledging privilege isn't necessarily to demonize apolitical people or assign enough guilt to "force you to go Democrat." It is simply to recognize it for what it is: a privilege to be able to decide whether or not you are going to participate in politics. Awareness for marginalized groups, most, if not all, of whom cannot live apolitical lives, should be present when choosing to opt out of politics.
A lot of us have some sort of privilege. Maybe you're a white, or a man, or cisgendered, or heterosexual, or all of the above. No one is guilting you for being born that way. But it's up to you to decide what you want to do with your privilege: utilize it for the defense of those who are oppressed, or sit back and enjoy the view.
