Further, when people with political motivations begin to impose those leanings upon a subculture, their true motivation is to subjugate that subculture to the power structure implied by their chosen political leaning. Which means bringing that subculture into line with whatever standards their chosen political leaning holds up.

Even if that means core aspects of the subculture must be changed.

The encroachment of politics into people’s day-to-day lives is palpable, especially in this day and age. Some might insist that the personal has always been political, but in previous decades we did not feel the necessity for political respite that many of us do now.

Political interests have convinced many people, younger and older, that the political battle lines exist in all spaces and must be enforced. That the power structure must rule over all aspects of life. That they’re doing the subculture a favor by turning it into a power play.

Political interests can seldom tolerate the presence of open spaces free from their influence. The comingling of people and free exchange of ideas that subcultures encourage could very well result in people shifting political leanings, simply by virtue of interacting with others in the subculture who happen to have differing worldviews, in a space that lacks a political context.

As a result, when people in the subculture start to draw political battle lines, it’s seen by others, especially those who don’t share those politics, as an inappropriate space for that type of influence. This goes double when the people drawing those lines are in positions of influence within the subculture. It’s an abuse of the position.

When no aspect of life is seen as inappropriate for political influence, people are forced to choose sides, dividing themselves while doing so, as what once united them becomes divided, politicized, and balkanized.