 The Privilege of Politics by Jeff Deist an audio Mises wire narrated by million Quinteros Actor Chris Pratt finds himself a target of left Hollywood and various social media enforcers for his apparent lack of support for Joe Biden a Sin in his industry Pratt has endorsed neither Biden nor Trump which seems eminently sensible for a boy next door type who plays superheroes and adventurers in big blockbusters But staying quiet is never enough for the political jackals who insist silence is violence and a form of privilege Trump is a Nazi his electorate is full of hateful fascist enablers and this is no time for quietude To make matters worse the reticent Pratt also belongs to a Christian church, which is anti-LGBT Which is to say not anti-LGBT at all But simply not in full conformity with the language and demands of its accusers When his actor friend and sometimes co-star Mark Ruffalo rushed to defend Pratt's character the Twitter adi reacted angrily, but predictably This is a classic case of the imposers positioning themselves as the imposed upon LGBT advocates weaponize and contort simple words hurt harm apathy privilege marginalized Vulnerable in ways reminiscent of Orwell's politics and the English language They use words in consciously dishonest ways They shift the parameters of what it means to support or oppose LGBT causes into a stark binary You are for us or against us Simply living one's life peaceably is not an option in this bizarre worldview And the imposers unconditional terms change constantly seemingly overnight One cannot avoid conflict by being not overtly political as Ruffalo termed Pratt The accusations against his church for example amount to nothing more than a demand for Unconditional surrender of any theology or doctrine which does not comport with today's instant though far from universal view of transgenderism Unless on until that happens his church is per se transphobic and evil Indifference or even kind and loving disagreement cannot satisfy the imposers It does not matter whether Pratt's church welcomes everyone even those individuals it considers engaged in sin Which presumably includes just about every person on earth? It does not matter whether Pratt is a good person or friend to his fellow actors His church must affirmatively endorse the views of LGBT activists Pratt must actively endorse biden Anything else is weaponized privilege Of course, this is nonsense, but the imposers always claim to be imposed upon Media and politicians play along and then social media voices join the chorus until the original reality becomes completely obscured Both Chris Pratt and his church were minding their own business and not hurting anyone The Biden and LGBT activists came looking for them not the other way around What incredible arrogance and hubris? This is real privilege the privilege of demanding others not only share your political views But also see the world in starkly political terms This is real hate actual hate not the phony kind imagined on hate has no home here yard signs When taken to an extreme a positive rights worldview requires not only conformity and acquiescence with a political project of the day But your affirmative participation Not keeping up with the latest outrage political machinations or campaign Not leading a holy political life becomes a dereliction of duty Political liberty is quite simple but not easy We all owe our fellow citizens a duty not to aggress against them or their property and not to commit fraud against them In the broader societal sense, we all should strive to be kind open and generous with everyone we meet Unless and until they give us a reason to be otherwise But that is all we owe Being a political or even anti-political is your absolute right At best politics is an uneasy and imperfect mechanism for peacefully transferring political power At worst it is barely a substitute for war More commonly politics is a turf battle waged by rival gangs to control the state apparatus The turf is us and our money Politics is not noble virtuous or even necessary The people attacking chris pratt and even hoping to harm his career reputation and finances hold no moral high ground My great aunt now departed once told me about a decision she and her husband had made as newlyweds just after world war two Starting life together in a very modest house. They wanted to build lasting memories with family and friends So they made a pact they would never discuss politics in their home or allow guests to discuss politics In her view politics was like sex and religion a private matter They wanted to avoid the disharmony and ranker They had witnessed among their own parents and families a decade earlier over the rusevelt administrations new deal programs They determined their hearth and home would be devoted to happiness an apolitical refuge where every visitor would be welcome The goal is a less political world not a world which bends to our political will We are not imposers so participate in politics and voting if you like or refrain if you like Voting is optional and anonymous for a reason But never let anyone force you into taking a political stance or even to hold a political stance In 2020 privilege manifests as political extortion Push back against these bullies For more content like this visit mises.org