Cool. Here's another* one if he's apolitical even if he's not conservative he's saying he doesn't care about your freedoms or rights...which is essentially saying he doesn't care about you.
I came here looking for this response. My BIL says he’s not into politics and that he hates both sides. He’s a cis white guy in tech, he has the privilege of being bored.
100%. I've had the misfortune of meeting several men who initially all claimed they were "libertarian."
I learned over time it absolutely meant they were conservative, and bonus, also misogynists. Double bonus, one turned out to be a white supremacist. All were doing their level best to hide their shitty selves.
Libertarians are like house cats. They are both absolutely convinced of their independence while completely dependent upon a system which they neither appreciate nor understand.
Yeah, my cats are unfortunately very aware that I feed them. Even with a timed feeder one of them likes to wait for me to come down so I can watch him eat. It has at least satisfied his craving for food at 6 am so he can scarf most of it down and then eat the last few crumbs when I come downstairs at 8am.
At a previous job, I was assigned to train with a loud libertarian guy who had a big reputation in the industry but it turned out he was actually really shitty at his job. I later found out his boss did his work for him.
He retired in his 30s a multi-millionaire and unironically believes he's a self-made man. He now runs a podcast claiming to teach people how to "escape the system." Step 1: Be a white male with a rich boss willing to wipe your ass.
BTW, this guy ignored me for almost a year until management gave up and assigned me to someone else, who also ignored me. I later found out this guy ignored every woman on his team.
For some reason my boss was shocked and outraged when I left.
If US Republican supporters are "Temporarily Embarrassed Millionaires", US Libertarians consider themselves "Temporarily Embarrassed Billionaires"
Unfortunately the mindset extends beyond the US; I'm an Aussie who works a borderline minimum wage job (our minimum wage is good, but not great) with someone who constantly insists that the world would be a better place if the rich could do whatever the hell they want. It's obvious that he thinks that he's above us all and worth millions, but end of the day he's merely another cog that can't escape the machine.
Historically, Libertarianism originally referred to stuff like Anarchism, which is definitionally socialist. It’s sometimes still used for those purposes, but with qualifiers, such as “Classical Libertarianism” and “Libertarian Socialism.”
Anarchism, the ideology, isn’t just “oh, let’s get rid of rules and do whatever we want.” It’s advocating for the dismantling of hierarchical social relations and preventing the violence that comes from them. “The strong” can’t oppress “the weak” if they can’t acquire the power to perform said oppression and protect themselves from reprisal.
Well, when you see the result, I guess in practice if he said he was an alt-right winger that wouldn't have made much difference.
He claimed he was all about free speech, but he only cares about it so long as what people say lines up with his views. If not, free speech goes out the window.
He supposedly cared about the environment, yet he supported Trump, who is arguably one of the worst US presidents in this regard.
How come? I am not up to date with US politics right now but I thought that conservatives were anti gay rights (until maybe recently) and anti trans rights and anti marijuana and that libertarians were still into “financial conservatism” (something that I know that liberal people have argued against) but are at least pro gay rights and other personal freedoms.
But am unsure and things could have changed since I read the definition a decade ago. (Or it could have been co-opted by bad people or something)
Apolitical means happy enough with he status quo, and doesn't feel affected much by politics. Usually this is a pretty privileged person insulated with other privileged people. They 100% will turn political and fight for the status quo when cornered. This almost always means conservative.
I also grew up in/near DC, so it was a bit of a "Not Like Other Girls" thing for me to say. I voted, but that was the extent of my political participation.
Exactly, the only people with the luxury to be apolitical are those with the privilege not to have their everyday lives, basic rights, autonomy or safety influenced by politics.
Though I do want to add, Being apolitical is different from someone being "burned out on personal political action".
When people spend their every waking minute fighting for their safety in a political system that is systematically crushing them, sometimes there is a need to step back and try to bury your head in the sand for a moment, just to be able to catch your breath and recharge to resume political action.
Someone saying they're tired of engaging in politics, or don't want to talk about it, is not the same as someone who has zero interest in caring about improving the situation. Not everyone has the luxury of escaping the personal effects of political systems, so they need to take respite in spaces where they can.
Libertarians are either conservatives in disguise or fucking idiots. I would say the third category is predators who want to get rid of the age of consent, but all of those have been able to jump ship and openly join the Republican Party now.
There is a fourth category: naïve anti-authoritarians making a stop on their way to the Left. I was one. But that group is much smaller than the others.
I'd also say that anyone who is apolitical doesn't care about women's rights, working conditions, healthcare, the environment, etc. Basically, the only thing they care about is themselves.
They're probably not curious either because if they were, they'd realize there are many issues they should be concerned about.
I identified as a libertarian exactly once, and then a tinder message asked me if I was just a lying conservative. I did more research after that one ....
Libertarianism sounds fine and even good on paper, but unfortunately I have learned over time that most self-described libertarians just want total freedom for themselves and fewer rights for other people.
To be fair, I once (very, very briefly) called myself a leftist-libertarian because I was first exposed to the original use of the word, lol.
Apparently “libertarian” used to have a broader meaning that encompassed solidly left-wing ideas too and not just right-wing ones… but then the most insufferable cohort of young conservative-leaning debate bros latched onto it and ruined it forever, because they thought the label made their opinions sound smarter than they actually were.
At least in America all the people who were serious when they called themselves Libertarians a decade or so ago call themselves Anarchists now for exactly this reason.
Ive tried to explain to men, or really anyone, that claim to not be political or care about politics that is their great privilege and blessing to not have politics be life or death for them, and that they can choose to disengage or ignore what’s happening in their country because they believe (correctly or not) it won’t affect them in any meaningful way.
Not everyone can say I don’t care about politics, because those politics could mean at the least the loss of their freedoms, and at the most loss of their life.
Last week we were in Florida visiting my inlaws for a late Christmas.
My FIL was bitching to me about how much my MIL has gotten radicalized against the right wing and Trump. She's a former conservative who had a Hillary Clinton chew toy for her dogs, so it's kinda a big swing for her)
We're talking about ICE overreach looks at me and says "she really needs to step away and stop reading the news. She gets so upset about these things that don't even affect her life"
Reader, my sister in law (married to their son) is a Hispanic and Indigenous woman, and their grandson is therefore also Hispanic.
I looked at him and said "doesn't affect your life? Have you forgotten that the reason your son and grandson aren't here celebrating Christmas with us is because it's no longer safe for her to travel, especially to your state, given that ICE is actively ignoring birth certificates at this point?"
I swear to fucking god white men will be the death of me.
I don’t think there’s really a way to be apolitical. Politics is a lens. You can apply it or not when watching something, playing a game, etc. but you still have a point of view.
Everyone has things they do or don’t care about. No one says politics is passion towards any specific belief.
Yeah like in this day and age you can’t not be political when the politics in question regard taking peoples rights away. If you’re conservative then you want peoples rights taken away, and If you don’t care about politics then you don’t care about people’s rights being taken away, that means you’re not a good person and are at best an apathetic asshole who only cares for themselves.
I will accept someone is apolitical if they live in the woods so disconnected from society that they dont know who won the last few elections. I sort of see the appeal...
Because Conservative is the default status and a sign that someone has done very little, if any, digging on a topic that didn’t get sent to them by a grifter or a repost from their friends
Cool. Here's another* one if he's apolitical even if he's not conservative he's saying he doesn't care about your freedoms or rights...which is essentially saying he doesn't care about you.
Edit: added the letter n.
"nawww no need to make it political" they say caught red handed
Or anyone else’s freedoms or rights - he’s a selfish, privileged asshole at best.
Centrists and fence sitters functionally don't exist when it comes to political changes to reduce suffering.
There is no compromising middle ground when it comes to human rights.
If you can't put your vote where your mouth is and support women in the poles, women will vote not to put their mouth anywhere near your pole.
I wish I had the privilege of being bored by politics.
I am being bored by politics. Cause politics is like a drill and they're trying to hollow out my existence.
There is a 100% chance this dude uses the phrase "politics bore me" because he thinks it makes him sound like Thanos.
I long for the days where I'm bored of politics.
No one is bored by politics. They have the privilege of pretending their politics aren’t political.
Only cis white men get that option.
I came here looking for this response. My BIL says he’s not into politics and that he hates both sides. He’s a cis white guy in tech, he has the privilege of being bored.
"If he says he's 'apolitical' that means he's a fucking right-winger"
"Inaccurate, I'm a fucking right-winger"
🤔
They aren't very smart or self aware...
But they are the true victims and the most oppressed group of people /s
Comes with the territory
100%. I've had the misfortune of meeting several men who initially all claimed they were "libertarian."
I learned over time it absolutely meant they were conservative, and bonus, also misogynists. Double bonus, one turned out to be a white supremacist. All were doing their level best to hide their shitty selves.
"Libertarian" my ass.
Libertarians are just conservatives that smoke pot.
That's not fair. Some of them are also very interested in age of consent laws
That's not a distinguishing factor from conservatives lately.
Especially for the orange-in-chief
Libertarians are like house cats. They are both absolutely convinced of their independence while completely dependent upon a system which they neither appreciate nor understand.
Libertarians are unlike house cats because I want to cuddle house cats.
Don’t forget the libertarian motto: “Fuck you, I got mine.”
“And my selfishness is a virtue”
That isn't fair to housecats.
Yeah, my cats are unfortunately very aware that I feed them. Even with a timed feeder one of them likes to wait for me to come down so I can watch him eat. It has at least satisfied his craving for food at 6 am so he can scarf most of it down and then eat the last few crumbs when I come downstairs at 8am.
At a previous job, I was assigned to train with a loud libertarian guy who had a big reputation in the industry but it turned out he was actually really shitty at his job. I later found out his boss did his work for him.
He retired in his 30s a multi-millionaire and unironically believes he's a self-made man. He now runs a podcast claiming to teach people how to "escape the system." Step 1: Be a white male with a rich boss willing to wipe your ass.
BTW, this guy ignored me for almost a year until management gave up and assigned me to someone else, who also ignored me. I later found out this guy ignored every woman on his team.
For some reason my boss was shocked and outraged when I left.
A cat is actually capable of caring about others, though.
If US Republican supporters are "Temporarily Embarrassed Millionaires", US Libertarians consider themselves "Temporarily Embarrassed Billionaires"
Unfortunately the mindset extends beyond the US; I'm an Aussie who works a borderline minimum wage job (our minimum wage is good, but not great) with someone who constantly insists that the world would be a better place if the rich could do whatever the hell they want. It's obvious that he thinks that he's above us all and worth millions, but end of the day he's merely another cog that can't escape the machine.
Now, Libertarian Socialists, on the other hand…
...are a contradiction in terms.
Let me guess, because “Socialism is when the government does stuff”?
no, because libertarianism cannot be coopted towards socialist ends
Historically, Libertarianism originally referred to stuff like Anarchism, which is definitionally socialist. It’s sometimes still used for those purposes, but with qualifiers, such as “Classical Libertarianism” and “Libertarian Socialism.”
no, anarchy is definitionally oppressive of the weak. there is no one to protect them from the strong.
Anarchism, the ideology, isn’t just “oh, let’s get rid of rules and do whatever we want.” It’s advocating for the dismantling of hierarchical social relations and preventing the violence that comes from them. “The strong” can’t oppress “the weak” if they can’t acquire the power to perform said oppression and protect themselves from reprisal.
I think Musk labeled himself as a libertarian.
Well, when you see the result, I guess in practice if he said he was an alt-right winger that wouldn't have made much difference.
He claimed he was all about free speech, but he only cares about it so long as what people say lines up with his views. If not, free speech goes out the window.
He supposedly cared about the environment, yet he supported Trump, who is arguably one of the worst US presidents in this regard.
Also libertarians are even dumber than "regular" conservatives, so that isn't exactly the flex they think it is.
How come? I am not up to date with US politics right now but I thought that conservatives were anti gay rights (until maybe recently) and anti trans rights and anti marijuana and that libertarians were still into “financial conservatism” (something that I know that liberal people have argued against) but are at least pro gay rights and other personal freedoms.
But am unsure and things could have changed since I read the definition a decade ago. (Or it could have been co-opted by bad people or something)
I'll just leave you with this
https://newrepublic.com/article/159662/libertarian-walks-into-bear-book-review-free-town-project
Only one? All conservatives are white supremacists (or at least supremacists of the locally-dominant ethnicity).
Mhmm. They only hide it because they've learned it won't get them laid in this day and age.
"misogyny isn't political. You know what is political though? A single black person in Lord of the Rings."
"The mythical singing mermaid wasn't canonically black!!"
The child in The Last Of Us wasn't hot
HAHA it’s like yeah way to really say something… 😬
check their hard drive
Apolitical means happy enough with he status quo, and doesn't feel affected much by politics. Usually this is a pretty privileged person insulated with other privileged people. They 100% will turn political and fight for the status quo when cornered. This almost always means conservative.
I considered myself to be a Democrat but mostly apolitical when I was in my early/mid-20's.
That was 20 years ago.
Being apolitical in 2026 is ridiculous.
I could have written your comment, it’s exactly true for me as well!
I also grew up in/near DC, so it was a bit of a "Not Like Other Girls" thing for me to say. I voted, but that was the extent of my political participation.
Exactly, the only people with the luxury to be apolitical are those with the privilege not to have their everyday lives, basic rights, autonomy or safety influenced by politics.
Though I do want to add, Being apolitical is different from someone being "burned out on personal political action".
When people spend their every waking minute fighting for their safety in a political system that is systematically crushing them, sometimes there is a need to step back and try to bury your head in the sand for a moment, just to be able to catch your breath and recharge to resume political action.
Someone saying they're tired of engaging in politics, or don't want to talk about it, is not the same as someone who has zero interest in caring about improving the situation. Not everyone has the luxury of escaping the personal effects of political systems, so they need to take respite in spaces where they can.
Wow. I've never seen my vague thoughts put into words so perfectly. I screenshotted
Libertarians are either conservatives in disguise or fucking idiots. I would say the third category is predators who want to get rid of the age of consent, but all of those have been able to jump ship and openly join the Republican Party now.
There is a fourth category: naïve anti-authoritarians making a stop on their way to the Left. I was one. But that group is much smaller than the others.
I've worked with libertarians. Can confirm they're fucking idiots but they protect each other so they keep being allowed to fail up.
Bodily autonomy? Boring Immigration rights? Boring LGBTQ+ issues? Boring Gun control? Boring
Libertarian, as in, I got mine. Y'all take care of yourselves
At this point it's both "I got mine" AND "They won't come for me/mine."
I'd also say that anyone who is apolitical doesn't care about women's rights, working conditions, healthcare, the environment, etc. Basically, the only thing they care about is themselves.
They're probably not curious either because if they were, they'd realize there are many issues they should be concerned about.
Or he is so privileged and ignorant that he doesn't care about people that are not like him and their rights.
I identified as a libertarian exactly once, and then a tinder message asked me if I was just a lying conservative. I did more research after that one ....
Libertarianism sounds fine and even good on paper, but unfortunately I have learned over time that most self-described libertarians just want total freedom for themselves and fewer rights for other people.
Libertarianism is like communism. Great on paper, until you add the human factor.
Capitalism isn't even good in theory.
I once heard that Communism works on paper but fails in the real world; Libertarianism doesn’t even work on paper.
Like, even their hypothetical libertarian scenarios completely fall apart when asked basic questions on the details of their imaginary society.
To be fair, I once (very, very briefly) called myself a leftist-libertarian because I was first exposed to the original use of the word, lol.
Apparently “libertarian” used to have a broader meaning that encompassed solidly left-wing ideas too and not just right-wing ones… but then the most insufferable cohort of young conservative-leaning debate bros latched onto it and ruined it forever, because they thought the label made their opinions sound smarter than they actually were.
More specifically, Libertarian was originally pretty much just another term for Anarchist, but then people like Milton Freedmen came along.
That said, Classical Libertarianism and Libertarian Socialism retain their roots, thankfully!
This; most present-day “Libertarians” are basically just AnCaps lmao
libertarian is code for conservatives that like weed, and have even more questionable ideas about the age of consent than conservatives do
Never lonely enough.
At least in America all the people who were serious when they called themselves Libertarians a decade or so ago call themselves Anarchists now for exactly this reason.
that’s social libertarianism
Ive tried to explain to men, or really anyone, that claim to not be political or care about politics that is their great privilege and blessing to not have politics be life or death for them, and that they can choose to disengage or ignore what’s happening in their country because they believe (correctly or not) it won’t affect them in any meaningful way.
Not everyone can say I don’t care about politics, because those politics could mean at the least the loss of their freedoms, and at the most loss of their life.
Last week we were in Florida visiting my inlaws for a late Christmas.
My FIL was bitching to me about how much my MIL has gotten radicalized against the right wing and Trump. She's a former conservative who had a Hillary Clinton chew toy for her dogs, so it's kinda a big swing for her)
We're talking about ICE overreach looks at me and says "she really needs to step away and stop reading the news. She gets so upset about these things that don't even affect her life"
Reader, my sister in law (married to their son) is a Hispanic and Indigenous woman, and their grandson is therefore also Hispanic.
I looked at him and said "doesn't affect your life? Have you forgotten that the reason your son and grandson aren't here celebrating Christmas with us is because it's no longer safe for her to travel, especially to your state, given that ICE is actively ignoring birth certificates at this point?"
I swear to fucking god white men will be the death of me.
Ugh, 🤢 libertarian that leans right. 🤢
Literally writes he’s leaning conservative
"I’m not conservative"
"That's not true!" proceeds to provide evidence for it being true
I don’t think there’s really a way to be apolitical. Politics is a lens. You can apply it or not when watching something, playing a game, etc. but you still have a point of view.
Everyone has things they do or don’t care about. No one says politics is passion towards any specific belief.
My ex used to ask me who to vote for but some how always included some incredibly vile side party. Yeah, he's just mask off racist now.
r/SelfAwarewolves
Honestly, it’s just safer to not date any guys at all.
Men aren’t lonely enough.
Every time a guy says he is apolitical I hear elevator music playing in his head.
If a guy says "politics bore me" he is the most out of touch fedora wearing incel in the world
"I'm apolitical/ not political" secretly conservative.
"I don't follow politics" vaguely progressive but politically illiterate. Probably middle class.
Yeah like in this day and age you can’t not be political when the politics in question regard taking peoples rights away. If you’re conservative then you want peoples rights taken away, and If you don’t care about politics then you don’t care about people’s rights being taken away, that means you’re not a good person and are at best an apathetic asshole who only cares for themselves.
I will accept someone is apolitical if they live in the woods so disconnected from society that they dont know who won the last few elections. I sort of see the appeal...
Because Conservative is the default status and a sign that someone has done very little, if any, digging on a topic that didn’t get sent to them by a grifter or a repost from their friends