COMMENT | Why too much politics is unhealthy

COMMENT | Oh my! I think I have an overdose of politics of late. I have been back in Sarawak for almost two months now and that’s a long time of stressful and unnecessary politics (to be honest) – more than enough to last quite a while.

I believe I have written and said enough about the just-concluded Sarawak state election. So, I will refrain from doing so here.

Instead, let’s take a closer look at how we weigh in on the political discussion, whether we have too much of it (as I think I have) and why too much politics is unhealthy to ourselves and the nation’s soul.

A 2012 university survey made a startling finding of the Americans’ news-consumption habits and their thoughts about political and economic events.

The Fairleigh Dickinson University found that those watching the most partisan television news sources - both the left and the right - were often less knowledgeable about world affairs than those who consumed no news at all!

A 2018 data analysis in the journal, Political Opinion Quarterly, published by Oxford University Press for the American Association for Public Opinion Research, revealed that “even strong partisans dislike too much political discussion - even agreeable discussion”.

We can gauge from these findings that engorging more political views will crowd out nearly everything else in other realms; even salient issues like the menacing Covid-19 and the lack-lustre economy...