What is Politics?

So, the forum rules unambiguously forbid talking about real-world religion or politics, even tangentially. Religion is pretty easy to define and avoid, but I'm not sure about politics. Given that I, at least, take the maxim that "the personal is political" to heart, if I were to apply my standard we'd be eliminating nearly every conversation about real life which clearly wasn't the intention of the rules. What is the standard here? And does it apply to historical politics like the religion ban applies to historical religions? (e.g. Is talking about Cicero's animosity towards Julius Caesar verboten? The conflict between the Tories and the Patriots in the American Revolutionary War? Truman vs. Dewey?)

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Originally Posted by Jeff the Green

So, the forum rules unambiguously forbid talking about real-world religion or politics, even tangentially. Religion is pretty easy to define and avoid, but I'm not sure about politics. Given that I, at least, take the maxim that "the personal is political" to heart, if I were to apply my standard we'd be eliminating nearly every conversation about real life which clearly wasn't the intention of the rules. What is the standard here? And does it apply to historical politics like the religion ban applies to historical religions? (e.g. Is talking about Cicero's animosity towards Julius Caesar verboten? The conflict between the Tories and the Patriots in the American Revolutionary War? Truman vs. Dewey?)

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I have this same problem. Some years ago when the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose past 9,000 I started the "It's over 9,000!" thread, and although the thread was deleted, I received no warnings.

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Originally Posted by Armin

I have this same problem. Some years ago when the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose past 9,000 I started the "It's over 9,000!" thread, and although the thread was deleted, I received no warnings.

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It miiiiight have just been deleted because it was an overused joke. :smalltongue:

Sheriff: As with religion, the line is real world vs. not real world. Discussions of the government in some piece of fiction, whether published or PbP, aren't a problem. Real world politics, present day or historical, are inappropriate.

Just what is politics? As with religion, think broadly. If it has to do with some branch of real world government, whether international, national, provincial, local or whatever, it's better to avoid it. It's not limited to electoral politics, political electioneering or debate, or any other subset of real world politics.

Finally, when in doubt, err on the side of caution.