Not P but DFW: politically indifferent

[J Tracy]

Basically agree with Mark. indifferent - not into aligning with partisan take, but wanting to sound like insider wisdom,   



> On Feb 11, 2026, at 10:05 AM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> I suggest it also could be read---and this isn't an either-or---as
> bipartisan....Vanity Fair's stories
> of the famously elite in style, influence, new kinds of success,
> etc.......is beyond partisan politics
> and politics doesn't really matter in their --VF's--profiles and
> pieces......,
> 
> On Wed, Feb 11, 2026 at 10:00 AM Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> 
>> Point taken, but you get the general idea. This was prompted by another
>> change suggested by a proofreader.
>> 
>> Thanks for replying, Mike.
>> 
>> 
>> On Tue, Feb 10, 2026 at 11:40 PM Mike Weaver <mike.weaver at zen.co.uk>
>> wrote:
>> 
>>> I'd say apathetic isn't quite correct - I'd say it means it doesn't care
>>> about/ not concerned with politics - which maybe is the same as
>>> apathetic and of an individual I'd agree but to describe a publication
>>> as apathetic doesn't seem right. You wouldn't describe a mag dedicated
>>> to fashion as apathetic about a subject beyond its remit.
>>> 
>>> Clearly in a hairsplitting mood today.
>>> Cheers
>>> Mike
>>> 
>>> On 10/02/2026 14:24, Mike Jing wrote:
>>>> The following excerpt is from David Foster Wallace's *Up, Simba*:
>>>> 
>>>> The far-Right *National Review*, for example, calls McCain “a crook
>> and a
>>>> showboat,” while the old-Left *New York Review of Books* feels that
>>> “McCain
>>>> isn’t the anti-Clinton … McCain is more like the unClinton, in the way
>>> 7Up
>>>> was the unCola: different flavor, same sugar content,” and the
>>> politically
>>>> indifferent *Vanity Fair* quotes Washington insiders of unknown
>>> affiliation
>>>> saying “People should never underestimate [McCain’s] shrewdness. His
>>>> positions, in many instances, are very calculated in terms of media
>>> appeal.”
>>>> 
>>>> Does the word "indifferent" here mean "neutral" or "apathetic"? I'm
>>> pretty
>>>> sure it's the latter since the first meaning is labelled as "archaic"
>> by
>>>> the OED, and the fact that *Vanity Fair* is not known for its political
>>>> leanings.
>>>> --
>>>> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>>> 
>> --
>> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>> 
> --
> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l