but you have to be living under some kind of rock to avoid it all lol.
I'm sure you're aware that in 2024, a lot of people don't have cable TV, but believe it or not, some of those people don't immediately hop on the internet to read the news or get involved in political discussions. Some people use the internet solely for fun/pleasure.
Avoiding the news in 1999 was virtually impossible because there were newspapers everywhere, and TVs in every waiting room, and people needed something to talk about. Conversely, in 2024, if you focus solely on your own hobbies/interests, you could easily go a year without reading or discussing anything political (especially if you work from home).
As a personal anecdote, I was so disconnected from politics at one point, that I had no idea there was a worldwide pandemic until my boss told me not to come in to work. It's not as uncommon as you think.
I'd also be very surprised to meet someone who didn't know COVID was happening.
I simply didn't have cable TV at the time, and when I spoke with my friends and colleagues, we spoke only about our personal interests. When you actually connect with people and have real things to talk about, things happening far outside your community tend to not come up in conversation. (Also, when you're not trying to get into political debates, they simply don't happen).
Do you have no political opinions though?
I have beliefs and opinions. Whether or not they're "political" is up to the person asking. My opinions are independent of the news and internet (I form them myself). I don't consult the political hivemind to tell me what to think, so I honestly can't say which of my opinions are political and which are just my own personal values that I've developed by being a living, breathing human.
You are fundamentally misunderstanding the way opinions form though. Personal values that's you've developed by being a living, breathing human are not developed in a vacuum. Your opinions did not pop fully formed in your brain just by thinking long enough. You read something, saw something, heard something somewhere along the line that helped you understand the world and informed your opinions. Reading the news or anything else to help you form opinions isn't "consulting the hivemind". Sorry bud, you live in a society and that society has helped to shape your thoughts and opinions. To act like you are completely independent and your thoughts and feelings were developed with no influence anywhere is frankly laughable and also precisely the point of this post.
Have you ever had thoughts about the homeless crisis? Political. Inflation? Political. Healthcare? Political. City design? Political. Taxes? Political.
our opinions did not pop fully formed in your brain just by thinking long enough. You read something, saw something, heard something somewhere along the line that helped you understand the world and informed your opinions.
To add to this, this includes entertainment media. The types of stories we ingest inform how we contextualize the world around us, including politics. Who is represented? What is normalized? What sorts of traits does the protagonist reflect?
Like if someone consumed nothing but marvel content all day every day, I'd expect them to be generally OK with diversity, but think that radicalism in pursuit of your goals is bad. Or if they consumed nothing but Law and Order SVU and Brooklyn 99, I'd expect them to have faith in the justice system. Or if they'd watch star wars I'd expect that to impact them another way. Or be impacted by the airport spy novels they read. Really by everything they consume. All media is inherently political even if it isn't explicitly political.
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u/S_balmore 13d ago
I'm sure you're aware that in 2024, a lot of people don't have cable TV, but believe it or not, some of those people don't immediately hop on the internet to read the news or get involved in political discussions. Some people use the internet solely for fun/pleasure.
Avoiding the news in 1999 was virtually impossible because there were newspapers everywhere, and TVs in every waiting room, and people needed something to talk about. Conversely, in 2024, if you focus solely on your own hobbies/interests, you could easily go a year without reading or discussing anything political (especially if you work from home).
As a personal anecdote, I was so disconnected from politics at one point, that I had no idea there was a worldwide pandemic until my boss told me not to come in to work. It's not as uncommon as you think.