I think it is basically wrong, and the supposed disinterest of the public is very often used as an excuse for wrongdoing–“no one really cares and everyone does it.” You know, the Bill Clinton defense. And it leads to a morally bankrupt and totally repugnant Clintonian worldview. Because on a broad scale, there is virtually nothing as important and world-changing as politics.
I mean, you get shirts like this:
Why one star? Politics. It’s certainly not a rating of the weather or the Pacific Coast Highway!
Politics affects your life, your job, your ability to provide for yourself, your religion, your family, and what kind of world you will leave to those who come after you.
The very air you breathe and the water you drink is tied up in politics. The way you worship–or don’t–is tied very directly to politics. It is myopic in the extreme to pretend that you can just ignore politics and all will be fine. Honestly, what is more important than politics?
To ignore politics is to jam your fingers in your ears and avoid the world. It is a frantic effort to escape reality and to retreat into the numbness of know-nothingisn.
Let’s face it, most people would rather discuss grandma’s fungal infection than the circus on the Potomac.
OK, but that is a symptom of learned helplessness, not a sign of good or even adequate psychological functioning. Go ahead, tell all the soldiers killed in battle and their loved ones that politics is irrelevant. They might disagree with you…