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Can Writers Be Apolitical?
Why Apoliticism in the Writing Space is (Mostly) a Lie
Short answer: no. No, they cannot.
Long answer: it’s a little more complicated than that.
I find discussions of politics to be incredibly fascinating. Maybe it’s because I study in a program heavily based on politics and write about current affairs every day. Growing up, I was privy to a phrase that rings in my ears to this day. Three things you never talk about: money, politics and religion. I have to say, even as a child, I thought this was a weird turn of phrase. On the smörgåsbord of interesting conversational topics, why is politics off limit? What about politics triggers our delicate sensibilities and makes such topics untenable?
These questions arose again for me recently (yesterday, in fact!) with the announcement of the jury’s verdict in the Derek Chauvin Trial. Guilty on all charges! The verdict filled me and many others with a deep sense of catharsis, and I also felt a strange tangle of emotions that I can only meaningfully describe as “DUH!”. We watched a grown man (a police officer at that!) kneel on another grown man’s neck for over nine minutes, even after he had no pulse and defence expected us to believe that he died of a fentanyl overdose? Are you mad?
