. Last tended to <ahref='https://code.incremental.social/thepaperpilot/pages/commit/50fc43997fde6ba5648dcf9bb2ad34df5e125be5'title='Thu Nov 28 22:20:23 2024 -0600'><timeclass='dt-updated'datetime='Thu Nov 28 22:20:23 2024 -0600'>2024-11-28</time></a>
.</span></p><hr><details><summary>Referenced by:</summary><ahref="/garden/incremental-social/index.md">Incremental Social</a><ahref="/garden/kronos/index.md">Kronos</a></details><p>Communities - be they discord servers, forums, message boards, etc. - tend to have rules, and you'll likely see the same rules come up often. One of these common rules is the "no politics" rule. These rules may vary slightly in wording, but all share in being highly contentious. These are easily the rules most often broken and most often fought over - for <em>and</em> against.</p><h2id="apolitical-spaces-appeal"tabindex="-1">Apolitical spaces' appeal <aclass="header-anchor"href="#apolitical-spaces-appeal"aria-label="Permalink to "Apolitical spaces' appeal""></a></h2><p>Apolitical spaces are very appealing to many people, hence the proliferation of "no politics" rules. These communities represent anything from safe spaces to escapism, depending on the person. These are genuinely useful and absolutely crucial for some peoples' mental well-being.</p><h3id="apathy"tabindex="-1">Apathy <aclass="header-anchor"href="#apathy"aria-label="Permalink to "Apathy""></a></h3><p>Naturally, some section of the population truly does not care about politics and does not wish to be bothered by discussions about it. However, political apathy is implicit endorsement of the existing power structures and is typically unique to those who are already benefitting from those power structures. Privilege doesn't make you feel special, it makes the world feel "normal". Therefore, political apathy is not a good reason to create a "no politics" rule, and enacting such a rule under this pretense is very much a political act in and of itself.</p><h3id="mental-health"tabindex="-1">Mental health <aclass="header-anchor"href="#mental-health"aria-label="Permalink to "Mental health""></a></h3><p>Some political topics are deeply personal and emotionally exhausting to engage with, even (or especially) the important ones. For example, trans rights are a critical political issue, but demanding that trans people engage in political discourse about their right to exist amounts to a form of re-traumatization. Personally, I think a "be kind" or "no attacking others" rule suffices here though.</p><p>I think moderation should be heavy handed when it comes to protecting community members. The intolerant do not deserve the benefit of the doubt.</p><blockquote><p>If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them. - Karl Raimund Popper, <em>The Open Society and Its Enemies</em></p></blockquote><h3id="debate-is-ineffective"tabindex="-1">Debate is ineffective <aclass="header-anchor"href="#debate-is-ineffective"aria-label="Permalink to "Debate is ineffective""></a></h3><p><ahref="/garden/debate/">Debate</a> is not about solving the issues in society and is typically rhetorical sport that cares more about winning the conversation than building consensus. It has been shown to be ineffective at changing minds, and even more rarely for the right reasons (underlying philosophy rather than rhetorical performance). Honestly, this is a great justification for disallowing politics, although later on I'll add some nuance to this point so it doesn't stifle legitimately constructive conversation.</p><h2id="the-issues-with-banning-politics"tabindex="-1">The issues with banning politics <aclass="header-anchor"href="#the-issues-with-banning-politics"aria-label="Permalink to "The issues with banning politics""></a></h2><p><ahref="/garden/everything-is-political/">Everything is Political</a>. So what "no politics" really means is very subjective and likely to differ between different moderators, and will definitely differ from at least some community members.
