Identifying as "apolitical" is a choice to ignore politics, which typically means the person is privledged and benefits from the status quo (but not always). Being "independent" can mean different things, from organizing with a non-dominant party to having a weird, ill-defined set of beliefs not covered by any party.
this post was submitted on 16 Sep 2026
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independent just means you don't belong to or identify with a political party. if people classify themselves this way, they are definately not apolitical.
apolitical people don't care about politics. just like asexual people don't care about sex.
No.
Apolitical means you don't care about politics or you don't really hold enough interest to discuss it at any degree.
Independent in politics means, you're going your own way about how you take in the issues and causes around you than the two parties.
No, not in the US at least.
Independent means you have not registered as a voter for a particular political party and tend not to vote for the same party election after election.
Apolitical means completely disengaged, and probably doesn't vote at all.
No. Independent means you're not sure which side of the table you're going to sit on today, while apolitical means you aren't at the table at all (and thus you are on the menu, as the saying goes).
No. Being independent means you aren't part of one of the main parties, but are still involved in politics.
Being apolitical means you don't want to discuss it be involved in politics.
As others are saying it's definitely NOT the same thing, but that doesn't mean that apolitical people aren't incorrectly calling themselves Independents.
Lot of good information, but I have a clarification. Independent actually means you're a Republican in hiding.
Typically reserved only for lying con artists. See Fetterman for example.
And a Democrat in hiding. They are a triple quadruple agent who votes based on their beliefs rather than a party name. It's some crazy shit.
If there is a chance that you share beliefs with a Republican then I've got some bad news for you.
If you like cheese does that make you a Packers football fan? What if you also like purple? Does that make you a Vikings fan instead?
I'm confused, you say you can't be both and also say you have to be one, so which is true for this example? Is this person a Vikings fan or Packers fan? (U.S. football analogy)
We're not talking about football, we're talking about Nazis and fascists. Fuck you for your false equivalence.
Right... Because every single Republican position is Nazi ideology. Like... small government. Nazi's were notoriously small government... Right? Talk about false equivalencies, have you looked in a mirror?
You know what was a Nazi position? Socialized healthcare. Does that mean Democrats are the Nazi party?
Republicans don't believe in small government.
Between Democrats and Republicans, which one has the ideology of small government? Not what they do, what is the official rhetoric? I have never in my life heard that be a Democrat position but I have certainly heard it as a Republican position.
Not that it matters, I'm sure I could find a different example if what I said doesn't make sense unless it's an ideology you accept as Republican.
Or, you agree with George Washington that partisan politics was the stupidest thing this country could ever do.
Or, your religion forbids you from engaging in partisan politics.
The long con
Lol. Dude was arrested during civil rights protests. He's not good at hiding if that's the long con. 🙄