The Daily Stoic - You Don’t Get To Be Apolitical

Episode Date: December 13, 2018

There is a common complaint drifting through the culture these days: Why did you have to bring politics into things? Can’t she or he just sing/dance/dribble/write/paint? I was a fan until you said ___________. First off, how fragile are your views that you can’t handle someone articulating different ones? Second, how fragile is your support that you only like people who agree with you? And third, what makes you think you get to tell other people what they can and can’t say or think?None of those stances are Stoic. In fact, they are the opposite of Stoicism. The fundamental distinction between the Stoics and other schools of their time (like the Epicureans) was that the Stoics believed a philosopher was obligated to participate in politics. Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, and Cato—each of them spent the balance of their adult lives, and had their most profound impact, in politics. To be apolitical is to be unphilosophical. Of course, each person should be thoughtful, inclusive, and civil in all their discussions, particularly ones about government and social issues. We should not needlessly seek out argument or contention. We should be ready to change our minds (in fact, that’s why we should talk politics). But the idea that we should take whole topics off the table so as not to offend? C’mon now. Our job as citizens is to participate in the polis. To cast our votes. To contribute to the common good. To take stands when we feel they matter. This will occasionally bother snowflakes on either end of the political spectrum, but that’s to be expected. What it cannot be is accepted, as the way we will engage with ideas, with each other, with the world. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey, prime members, you can listen to the Daily Stoke podcast early and add free on Amazon music. Download the app today. Welcome to the Daily Stoke. For each day, we read a short passage designed to help you cultivate the strength, insight, wisdom necessary for living the good life. insight, wisdom necessary for living good life. Each one of these passages is based on the 2000-year-old philosophy that has guided some of history's greatest men and women. For more, you can visit us at dailystoic.com. You don't get to be a political. There is a common complaint drifting through the culture these days. Why did you have to bring politics into things? Can't she or he just sing, dance, dribble, write, paint? I was a fan until you said, blank.

First off, how fragile are your views that you can't handle someone articulating different ones? Second, how fragile is your support that you only like people who agree with you? And third, what makes you think that you get to tell other people what they can, can't say? Or think, none of those stances are stoic. In fact, they are the opposite of stoicism.

The fundamental distinction between the stoics and other schools of their time, like the Epicurians, was that the Stoics believed that a philosopher was obligated to participate in politics. Marcus Aurelius, Senica, Epictetus, each of them spent the balance of their adult lives and had their most profound impact in politics. To be a political is to be unphilosophical. Of course, each person should be thoughtful, inclusive, and civil in all their discussions, particularly ones about government and social issues. We should not needlessly seek out argument or contention. We should be ready to change our minds. In fact, that's why we should talk about politics.

But the idea that we should take whole topics off the table, so as not to defend? Come on, our job as citizens is to participate in the polis. To cast our votes. To contribute to the common good, to take stands when we feel they matter. This will occasionally bother snowflakes on either end of the political spectrum, but that is to be expected. What it cannot be is accepted, because we will engage

with ideas with each other and with the world. If you like the podcast that we do here and you want to get it via email every morning, you can sign up at dailystoke.com slash email. Hey, prime members, you can listen to the Daily Stoic early and add free on Amazon music, download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen early and add free with Wondery Plus in Apple podcasts.