Rule 7: Politics is Poison

Now in the spirit of full disclosure, I will admit that I am a Libertarian Conservative, a Reaganite, a Norvus ordo roman catholic heavily influenced by Pope John Paul II's philosophy, Pro-life, Pro-Free Market Capitalism, pro-traditonal family values, and a patriotic American with occasional Japanophile tendencies. That's all I am going to say about myself politically

That all said, the seventh rule is to remember that "politics is poison"

While The Donoverse does reflect most of the values and benefits I have as a person, I never dare to bring up politics or soapbox my political opinions in my work or even in my blog. 

Unfortunately, not only is breaking this rule not uncommon, it seems to be encouraged.

First off, I can't tell you how many times (more often than not) I been deterred from a Webcomic because of its soapboxing (especially regarding radical LGBT activism of all things). I also have not been back to a movie theater since 2017 because of how "woke" the movies have gotten.

 Not even my own side of the political spectrum is immune of this. Most indie movies on the right nowadays (with the exception of The Chosen) have a notorious reputation of low quality; especially anything made by Pureflix or Daily Wire.

Even I was guilty of this at one point, having learned the hard way when I tried to make a subtle "Let's go Brandon" joke. It backfired on me and I promised myself "never again".

The problem with bringing up politics or soapboxing political opinions is that, no matter what your politics are, people still just want to be entertained. They view your stories to take a break from the problems of the world, not drown in them. If you make something inherently political; you'll only be riling up your supporters and enabling their mental pathology while alienating people who disagree with you who might still enjoy your work otherwise.

The only time such adherence to an ideology works is in faith based Christian media. That Said still; that only works if the Christian morals are not overt or partisan; and entertainment values are still applied (think VeggieTales). Often times, just having a character pray before bed or discuss just basic christian theology in secular media had been good enough for christian audiences.

Now this doesn't mean you should never incorporate some of your values into your work as an artist. As a matter of fact, it would be hard not to incorporate at least some of what you believe in your work. But if you really want to do it justice, present it in a tasteful and entertaining way that even your staunch political opponents can enjoy. The good thing about entertainment is that it is universal.