Is it possible to avoid politics if you live in the west?

Anonymous

I grew up in a time when political identity was like number 12 on the list out of 20 things you would judge a person by.

I am moderately conservative but I liked literature/arts. I believe global warming real. I attended an extremely liberal college campus. However at that time even people there wouldn’t automatically disassociate & hate you over political differences.

Then in 2014 I had two major incidents occur that forever changed my outlook on politics. Trump wasn’t even running for office yet but the radicalism was already happening.

The first was my then girlfriend (who was moderate liberal when I met her) made a bunch of new friends with far leftists types. They definitely influenced her. The way she treated me during the break up was nothing like I have ever experienced from any other woman in my life. She literally looked at me like I was less then human. I wasn’t perfect but I know I did nothing fundamentally wrong (e. g. cheating/abuse)

For a long time I didn’t believe it was over our political differences. However until I saw how large swathes of “modern” women hating any man who voted republican in 2016 and on.

The second major incident (in 2014) is that I experienced real life cancel culture at my former job. I never brought up politics at work. But I was asked to manage an advertising campaign for an abortion clinic which I politely declined (it was only 1 out 200 tasks I had). After that everybody’s opinion of me changed. One guy was trying to find minor mistakes I was making to get me fired. I didn’t realize it was politically motivated at the time. I didn’t think people would do that. But they did.

Ever since then I’ve had a very deep grudge for leftists. I follow politics very closely (I’m a Ben Shapiro fan). I want to stay informed but at the same time I am so sick of the division. I want to stop giving attention to it but I feel like I can’t.

Is it possible to avoid politics if you live in the west?
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