The flotation device is also politics.

You better get interested in politics before the politics get interested in you.

Is there a reference I'm missing?

It's a reference to people who like to ignore discussion of contentious issues by saying they're not really into politics while failing to realize or care that literally every single aspect of their modern life is directly intertwined with politics.

https://jamesclear.com/great-speeches/this-is-water-by-david-foster-wallace

Or, if that is (understandably) TL;DR, then: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/97082-there-are-these-two-young-fish-swimming-along-and-they

As the comic says, politics (among other things) is the water we live in.

But like, really, is it that bad? Because I care about politics it just make me unhappy, and at the end of the day we all have the same shitty candidates to vote, weather you like politics or don't. So I totally get people who are not interested in that.

But not being into discussing politics doesn't mean that you're unaware of how politics is directly intertwined with every single aspect of modern life.

In fact, that awareness could be the reason you don't want to discuss it. It's stressful shit that can seriously impact one's mental health.

I think they're saying they ignore the discussion, i.e. don't pay attention, not they they don't want to get into a passionate argument.

I say "I'm not into politics" in public often.

It's fantastic, you don't have to argue, and you quickly find out what they really think.

You know, if I'm out for a drink or having dinner or something, I don't want to discuss politics with you, ever.

There are so many fights to get in, everywhere.

In private with friends, it's different. I'll argue and laugh with them. It's a ridiculously hostile topic.

I'm also confused by this one, what is the last frame supposed to be.

To me, politics is like my dick: I don't whip it out in front of strangers.

This advert has stuck in my head ever since I saw it

https://youtu.be/Ame0j8jbMY4

If you don't do politics, you don't do anything

They're both swimming in politics.

It's bad to stick your head in the sand and not be aware of what's going on in the world, but it's also bad to let how awful everything is make you miserable. It's a balancing act!

I sort of get that that's what it's trying to be, but I feel like the comic does a poor job of conveying that. The last panel should be something that demonstrates how their life is affected by politics. But it doesn't. It just zooms out further without showing anything new.

They’re in floaties in the water. The last panel shows that the water they’re in, is in fact politics. The word politics is labelling the water that they’re in.

If you don't keep an eye on politics, it only keeps an eye on you

That is…a really weak presentation.

...and ideological!

I think the biggest issue is people are trying so hard to get you to think a certain way about politics, that having an actually good and proportional understanding of what is going on and what the real options are, and expressing that effectively, is somewhere between very difficult and impossible. Of course everything is enmeshed with politics, and you might care about that, but if you also know that you are not immune to being manipulated it might be a reason to think engaging in overtly political discourse won't be useful or good for you.

What do politics have to do with me?

I would've never understood that it's a label on the water if it weren't for your explanation. I second that it's conveyed rather suboptimally

That's not what it said. It said, "if you don't do politics, there's not much you doo-doo."

I noticed that most people I bump into that says they are not into politics, they mean partisan politics. Often from places where they are disenfranchised about their civics.

But if you bring up "holly shit, did you see the price of milk is 7CAD?". They will be more than happy to provided their cents on why and think about solutions.

I say it at work because it's not of their fucking business. I don't want to be judged by my stance. I come to work for a paycheck and I intend to keep it.

Me and the boys love to bitch about how much money gets stolen off our pay cheques while it gets spent without any accountability as to where it goes.

The Sally Bowles Effect

Some people try to avoid unpleasant subjects and constantly keep themselves in a bubble until that bubble gets pricked.

I was going to say, the people that vote against your interests are definitely "into politics".

So is it time again to start activating the people for the midterms? Will democracy be on the ballot this time? Will it be too close to call?

Personally, nobody on the ballots has the ability to stop everything wrong in the entire world within the first week, so I'm not voting, and if you are choosing to take part in voting then you're just a fascist child raping genocider.

/s

You should start bitching about how the rich don't get stolen from the same way instead.

Ok after reading the other comments I finally understand enough to say... Those do not look like floaties and that does not look like water. I thought the last panel was supposed to be raised fists or something. Very needlessly confusing.

Hehehe, good point

And some just want to pick and choose (for their own mental health) how and when they interact with politics instead of mainlining it from every quarter.

I retort: if you don't do politics, you don't do much of anything

Yep.

Whole load of people who've thrown the baby out with the bathwater on that.

Interesting.

So, a celebration of ignorance can be used as an abuse of cunningham's law. Hrmmmm.

Its quicker than "I'm not interested in discussing a volatile subject with a rando who may get violent."

Oh, that's brilliantly done.

I'll have to start using that in place of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ame0j8jbMY4

I like how your last one is about a person going on a political rant.

OH!

That was not clearly depicted.

Thanks.

' Did not see that's what it was trying to do. To me it red like it was just stamping "politics" there, like that's a summation of what politics is.

Is there a difference between the government and the rich at this point? They all use political influence to fuck us and better themselves.

Yeah this is why I say it to anyone bringing up something political to me irl. I live in a deep red Midwestern state and know pretty much everyone around me is full on MAGA or at least leans to the right. I'm not getting assaulted because some random dude in the locker room believes Newsome is covering for pedophiles while Trump isn't (actual thing someone tried to talk to me about at work).

And all three of them are either mistaken or lying

Not being into politics sounds incredibly boring. If you swear off talking about politics, then you can't talk about books, movies, video games, the weather, sports, celebrities, science... what's even left?

Not being into politics sounds incredibly boring. If you swear off talking about politics, then you can’t talk about books, movies, video games, the weather, sports, celebrities, science… what’s even left?

Can't tell if the UK's Electoral Commission did this concept better or worse...