Politics isn't necessarily some dirty thought-terminating cliche. It did used to have an actual meaning:
>the activities associated with the governance of a country or other area, especially the debate or conflict among individuals or parties having or hoping to achieve power.
As long as you work with people, you will have to engage in some politics. But I guess another definition has become the more popular lately:
>activities within an organization that are aimed at improving someone's status or position and are typically considered to be devious or divisive.
Politics or "people who don't know what they are doing doubling down on decisions or lack thereof and others aligning themselves because they are busy doing stuff and rocking the boat isn't useful unless you have time, mandate and mindshare enough to coordinate with others".
