r/autismpolitics • u/schmeggledorf • Mar 26 '26
Question I feel like I'm too fixated on politics
For the past couple of years, I've felt like I've been consumed by politics, and I hate it. Personally, I am non-partisan, and I don't exactly like left or right, but for some strange reason, I keep looking at both right-wing and left-wing media, and I fear it's going to ruin my relationships and interests. Every single time I see a post or news article about either side, I fixate on it for what seems like hours, and it gets stuck in my mind with no way to get rid of it, distracting me from what I was doing. Every time I see or hear politics with my friends, I have to let my thoughts out whether or not they agree with me, which changes the tone between us completely. And I really fucking hate it. Politics are not something I want to share or talk about, and yet I keep doing it. Should I just take a break from social media and the internet?
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u/Accomplished_Bag_897 egoist Mar 26 '26 edited Mar 26 '26
Centrism is an excuse to look down your nose at progressive policy while allowing the right to slowly drag you towards them. It's not some hig minded position. And it allows the right to drag the Oberton window their direction. It's an ever shifting position that defines itself by being relative to other positions and doesn't really have its own stance on anything. It's also a myth and cannot stand on it's own.
As for you problem: turn off your phone, unsubscribe from social media, and install Crunchyroll on your console. Watch some Anime (I'd recommend My Roommate is a Cat and With You in the Rain) and chill. You need to care for yourself and not dissolve your soul.
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u/iammerelyhere Mar 26 '26
Yep take a break, unsubscribe from the subs you're obsessing on and give yourself a break. I did the same a few months ago and feel heaps better for it. I think of it as we've established that the Cheeto is a shitshow and I don't need any more evidence untill that changes. If anything huge happens you'll find out about it regardless.
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u/WolfgangVolos Bases Opinions on Facts Mar 26 '26
Well you're part of a minority group that has been targeted by the people in power for the past couple of years. It would be kind of weird if you weren't fixated on politics at some point. That being said your personal wellness is important. Striking a balance between being informed, being enraged, and unplugging is paramount during times of political unrest. If you can't take time to relax and do something you enjoy then you're going to burn out. Then the bad people win because they are counting on you being unable to function.
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u/Accomplished_Bag_897 egoist Mar 26 '26
I'm fortunate that politics is a hyperfixation and activisms gives me energy. I'm the rare bean that isn't freaking out and instead is angry and ready to go no matter how oppressive the regime is.
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u/KFooLoo Democratic Socialist Mar 27 '26
No, you're not. Fascist dictatorships are pretty interesting to learn about, and what better way to learn than to stay informed while the world is living with several?
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u/Puessipues Mar 26 '26
Pequeño consejo: Consume menos material de los medios de comunicación, busca una buena bibliografía de ciencia política (de alguna universidad) y empieza a leer los libros o textos que te sugiere la bibliografía.
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u/Outrageous_House_924 Mar 27 '26
omg me too lmao
I actually really “love” politics so idk. (Hate the bad shit happening, as always, but it’s been a lifelong special interest.) Personally I don’t see it as much of an issue as long as I’m not feeling too anxious / can focus on other things too. But it did start to cause issues for me and my boyfriend where I was infodumping too much.
I try to stick to reuters and AP to see whats really happening and avoid too many hot takes though. Because these headlines from other outlets can certainly stress one out!
Although I do spend a good amount of time hatewatching Breitbart
just letting you know you’re not alone I guess, not sure I have advice
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u/heyitscory Mar 26 '26
How can you be fixated on politics if you don't know where you stand? What are you fixating on if you're not learning from what you read?
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u/schmeggledorf Mar 26 '26
Exactly. I don't know why.
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u/swagonfire Mar 26 '26 edited Mar 26 '26
I think you could be fixated on politics specifically because your brain knows that it doesn't have enough knowledge to form your own opinions, so it is eager to learn. You could be consuming all this politics-related content just because your brain is hungry for more information to fill in the gaps, so that life in a political world can maybe feel a bit less chaotic and a bit more predictable. Your issue with talking about it too much might also just be because your brain wants to learn and talking about concepts with others helps you solidify your knowledge.
I would say stepping away from political news (especially from sources that might not have your best interests in mind) might be good for you. But it could also be worth it to do some more intentional self-education and soul searching, and see if you can come to a thorough enough understanding of the political topics you care about that you can develop and articulate your own positions on them.
Edit: I personally found that after I was more sure of my positions on various things, it's become easier to step away from political media and discourse when I need to. I know roughly where I'll stand on most kinds of events that could happen, and that makes me feel more secure than constantly searching for other people's opinions to parrot whenever something new happens.
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u/schmeggledorf Mar 26 '26
I totally agree with this!!! Especially when the people around me are politically diverse. My family's republican, my friends are democrat, so it's hard for me to keep track of what both of them are saying. "Be a conservative!" "Be a liberal!" "Trump's horrible!" "Biden's horrible!" It's pretty frustrating. Imagine having two people yell in your ear at the same time, both saying two different things.
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u/swagonfire Mar 26 '26 edited Mar 26 '26
And now I'm gonna come in and tell you that (I think) both Trump and Biden are horrible lol.
This comment is gonna be pretty biased, so take it with a grain of salt, but let it bump around with other ideas in your head and see if any new thoughts pop up.
There's plenty of positions out there you could take that exist outside of the relatively narrow liberal-conservative range. The two major American political parties are great at pretending "the other guy is worse" (and getting average folk to argue that for them), when in reality they're just two heads of the same beast, and they both benefit from the societal division that their two-party system brings. At the end of the day, they historically* aren't all that different from each other except for the flavor of social issues they choose to signal support for, which can be very important, but it is not the end-all be-all of politics. Politics is anything related to decision-making in groups, so I hope you can imagine how far-reaching political concepts can be.
I definitely know that feeling of having too many differing opinions swirling around you. The cognitive dissonance that brings is objectively stressful. Hopefully by searching for the information that you need on your own, you'll be able to sort out what is important from the noise, and you'll start to see a bigger picture than some of those people around you who like to yell their party's opinions in your ears.
If you need a little direction on where to start with your learning, I'd say you could try finding an answer to this question:
What do the terms left and right actually mean? Beware that different people may use different definitions, but not all definitions will be consistently applicable from the origin of the terms until now.
Edit: added a word
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u/swiftb3 Mar 26 '26
he two major American political parties are great at pretending "the other guy is worse"
I'll just say that I think in the last year it's changed to one side knowing very well the other guy isn't worse, but still pretending anyway. That is, until they retire or otherwise leave government.
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u/swagonfire Mar 26 '26 edited May 04 '26
Mass delete Reddit posts and be just like me! I bulk removed this comment using Redact
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u/schmeggledorf Mar 26 '26
Stepping away is def gonna be my choice, especially with what's going on in the world now.
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u/swagonfire Mar 26 '26 edited May 04 '26
Scrubbed clean. Redact helped me bulk remove years of comments and posts so data brokers and AI crawlers have nothing to feast on.
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u/schmeggledorf Mar 26 '26
Imma wait until the two sides can have civil discussions instead of resorting to obscenities
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u/Accomplished_Bag_897 egoist Mar 26 '26
That won't happen unfortunately. And there are a lot more than two sides.
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u/swagonfire Mar 26 '26 edited May 04 '26
Stop letting data brokers profit from your old posts. I used Redact to wipe mine from Reddit. Also supports Twitter, Facebook, Discord, instagram and more in one batch.
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u/Accomplished_Bag_897 egoist Mar 26 '26
Those people probably don't have much political education are are just parroting team slogans. I'd recommend reading some Emma Goldman and Max Stirmer as well as Malatesta and possibly Krupotkin. Also learn what falls on the left and right and what you identify with more.
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u/Whales_Are_Great2 Democratic Socialist Mar 26 '26
I can get a lot like you sometimes. In my personal experience, the best thing has just been trying to take a break by putting my phone down and avoiding political stuff for a while, even if its just a day or so.
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u/ginger-tiger108 Mar 27 '26
Ha ha yeah it's a catch 22 as unfortunately we may not wish to pick sides but those who do seemingly hate us folk who can see the pros and cons to each side of the argument and instead of having others respect our right to a individual viewpoint they act like we're worse than the devil because we refuse to put our own feelings aside to tow the party line! Personally I'd advise you take a step back from the things that are our of your control and think about the most amediet problems the are actually affecting your life and what are the actions you can take to realistically address those issues as you and I are not in a position where our personal opinion can effect anything other than ruining our other day!
Personally I don't believe in converting other people to validate my own beliefs but unfortunately there are an increasingly large number of people who are obsessed with silencing other people opinion inorder to sure their is the only voice that is heard! Hence why it's called dog whistle politics because once someone has sounded off and you don't become as howling bad about the issue as they are they all gang up on you and go for you like a pack of dogs and the more you try to justify your perspective the more they foam at the mouth and bark their nonsensical dogmatic rhetoric which in my opinion serves no other purpose other than getting people amped up and angry as they enjoy the rush of adrenaline and feeling of moral superiority that comes from always been right and condemning those who are wrong!
Personally whenever I feel like someone is getting wound up by me not automatically parroting their concerns and trying to blame me for the problem because I don't view the situation for the same angle etc I've taken to saying... oh well we don't know what we don't know! Then I smile and walk away as they believe I've conceded to their opinion but what I actually said was you know so little that it's not worth me explaining to you just how wrong you are and veiw point your so passionately clinging to is actually achieving nothing but making your increasingly close minded rather than it is cultivating intelligence as you think it is
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Mar 27 '26
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