The Personal Is Not Political and how it ties into Whataboutism
Something that was true in the past: that the personal was not inherently political. Life itself was not political.
In our current day by day life, everything we do is inherently political. Whether we stay at home with our children and or whether we scrutinize over the food we eat. Or even if we stress about the fabrics of the clothes that we wear.
These topics were not inherently political before now.
In recent years, we have been trained to highlight every single facet of our lives as political, and every action that we take is seen as having inherent meaning and opposition regardless of if we meant it that way or not. We are forced to think about the 'other' often. Guilted and shamed into constantly thinking about the 'other'.
A consequence of this is that our lives have been factioned and compartmentalized. Now, you can [supposedly] tell someone's politics by their health choices, by their linen clothes, or even by mere demographics.
The truth is that lifestyle isn't supposed to be about left or right.
It's not radical to want to be healthy and to eat only whole foods and home cooked meals.
It's not radical to want to raise your children at home just like every other woman that preceded you and your mother.
Or, if you're a man: it's not radical to want a family, or a wife. It's not odd or misplaced to want to be the provider.
So what lead to the political mindsets that labeled our lifestyle one or the other?
Well, I'm not sure, but probably one layer of it is 'whataboutism'.
"what about the people who can't do x or y because they're poor?"
"what about the poor who can't afford whole foods?"
"what about the rich who only wear cotton?"
"what about the women who want to work and not raise children?"
What about them? It shouldn't take away from other topics already highlighted and mentioned. It doesn't make them any less relevant.