by Jochen Szangolies

Politics does not come naturally to me. Part of it is because I have a tendency to be interested mostly in the view sub specie aeternitatis, in the deep truths of the world, what it is, what we are, and how it all hangs together, rather than in the accidents of human squabbling. I like to uphold an idealized image of myself as engaged in the pursuit of Truth and Beauty, and there seems to be little of either in politics.

Yet this is a stance of luxury. An ideal world may permit the secluded scholar in the ivory tower to disengage from worldly affairs, safe in the certainty that everyone’s base needs are met. But we very much do not live in this world: people suffer needlessly because of bad politics. To disengage is to be complicit in this suffering, in the last consequence. So while, with the late, great Daniel Dennett, I begrudge every hour spent worrying about politics, I find it rarely leaves my mind these days, romantic pursuit of capital-T Truth notwithstanding.

The other reason I prefer to avoid politics is that I’m not very good at it. The mode of thought that unravels complex interpersonal alliances, social scheming and behind-the-scenes maneuvering is difficult for me. Even in social settings, I often find myself having missed some subtext entirely obvious to others. This is self-reinforcing: my lack of interest feeds my lack of ability, due to not engaging with it enough to get better, and my lack of ability makes developing an interest difficult.

But there is an opportunity in being bad at things: it means you get to go slow. If you don’t grasp a mechanism in the large, break it down into its components; if you lack the intuition for great leaps, be explicit along every searching step. That way, sometimes, the outsider looking in might even notice something buried beneath the implicit assumptions just obvious to the seasoned practitioner (or expose themselves as a know-nothing out of their lane).

Thus I write about politics only with some trepidation and in the hopes that my own halting explorations might be of use to others who, like me, have been left dumbfounded by recent events. Read more »