I hate talking politics. I hate that bringing this up is even necessary, but I feel like it needs to be said: the world is getting too political. The fact that political beliefs spawn legitimate hatred among people with differing views is absurd, and is clear evidence that politicizing every part of society ends with people upset and no ground made up.

I should add right off the bat that I am definitely not saying to stop standing up for what you believe in. Political awareness is part of what makes one a functioning member of society. I am merely saying that these views should only be inserted into situations where politics are relevant, and that someone else’s political beliefs aren’t enough to form an opinion on the person themselves.

As a big sports fan, I have seen my fair share of political debate in places it shouldn’t be, with the easy example being the reaction to the movement when Colin Kaepernick kneeled during the national anthem to protest police brutality. I just want to watch a football game, not hear the announcers and analysts debate Kaepernick’s politics.

I’m not criticizing Kaepernick’s protest, as I believe he brought up a serious issue in our society, but a sports game shouldn’t be the place to discuss these issues. Mixing sports and politics in this instance just takes out the fun in sports, which ruins the entire point of sports as a popular entertainment form.

Similarly, a conversation about the music of an artist such as Kanye West, who has supported President Donald Trump in the past, does not require West’s politics to be brought into the fray unless the song being brought up is politically driven.

Perhaps the most egregious of offenses is the large divide between people on each side of the political spectrum, and the alienation and resentment caused between the two sides due to constant political discussion. Both sides constantly find new ways to insult each other, which ends up terribly negative when we should be using our differences to come together, not tear each other down.

Of course the obvious criticism of my point here is that political debate is very important, meaning it should be expanded into domains that aren’t inherently political. While the importance of politics can’t be denied, that shouldn’t allow politics to invade situations that just don’t need to be dominated by them.

Politics harbor resentment, especially in scenarios where they’re unnecessary. This only decreases the level of productivity in a place where politics are appropriate because when people hate each other, no one listens to one another and nothing gets done. Easing up on making everything political allows there to be sacrality in non-political situations where the already common partisan contempt doesn’t need to spread any further.

In a non-political scenario, specifically domains intended for entertainment, simply keep it non-political. Inserting politics into an unrelated situation only makes for the same stale discussion that ends with completely unnecessary hatred between both sides of the political spectrum.