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Why is politics important?

1. We can be tempted to find our balance by working on ourselves, by remaining on the margins of society. However, it is a precarious situation. The dominant group can make a decision at any time that ruins the viability of such a marginal life project.

2. A satisfactory social organization is above all a social organization that functions well even with a large number of less than moral individuals.

The danger of trying to live on the margins

When the dominant group makes a decision that ruins the life project of an individual or a small group trying to live on the margins, they have little chance of being able to defend themselves effectively, for two reasons:

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It is statistically insignificant, therefore of no interest to politicians.

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He is seen as 'different', so he does not provoke empathy from the dominant group. Indeed, human empathy largely presupposes that we can identify with others, that what happens to them could happen to us too.

Limits of individual development

When we do in-depth work on ourselves, we can eventually reach a stage of maturity where we no longer need rules other than those we set for ourselves, and therefore be tempted to no longer follow interested in politics. This is a mistake, because we still need an effective political system to supervise those who do not make this effort, who will always be the most numerous.

Effect of cognitive dissonance in the event of political underinvestment

When an individual is too invested in politics, cognitive dissonance risks leading them to adopt a simplistic Rousseauist vision, by essentializing the oppression exercised by society. Concretely, this individual gradually perceives this oppression as natural, impossible to combat. Consequently, individual development gradually becomes his last possible refuge, ultimately leading him to adopt, without even fighting, the risky position - at the margins - described at the beginning of this document.

Psychology

As we have just seen, if the space granted to political struggle is too weak, the functioning of society gradually becomes seen as natural. This also leads, through a transfer effect, to seeing any individual who does not feel comfortable in this society as suffering from too little capacity to adapt. It is the individual who should therefore be treated.
Thus, by underinvesting in the political field, we gradually transform any rejection or inadequacy to the system as it currently functions into a psychological pathology. This is illustrated by the excessive extension of pathologies in the latest versions of the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders), and by the growing number of individuals who recognize themselves in it, in a more or less attenuated form, and engage therefore a fight for the recognition of their disability, instead of the political struggle.
See the question 'End the abusive use of psychotropic drugs and psychotherapies'.

Go deeper

Arte report: The time of the peasants
     Perfectly illustrates that it is illusory to think that we can do without politics. If the masses find it difficult to defend themselves against the limitless appetite of the dominant, then what can we say about an isolated individual?

See also questions 'How to succeed in life?' And 'Should we seek pleasure?' which deal with priorities in life.

 

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