--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: There were no political ideas. It was an…" description: "\"There were no political ideas. It was an apolitical time. It was the '50s and in the privilege of the suburbs.\" — Bill Ayers" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8b4/bill-ayers-1848_apolitical_there-were-no-political-ideas-it-was-an_1502241.png" --- # There were no political ideas. It was an apolitical time… ![“There were no political ideas. It was an apolitical time. It was the '50s and in the privilege of the suburbs.” quote by Bill Ayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8b4/bill-ayers-1848_apolitical_there-were-no-political-ideas-it-was-an_1502241.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8b4/bill-ayers-1848_apolitical_there-were-no-political-ideas-it-was-an_1502241.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8b4/bill-ayers-1848_apolitical_there-were-no-political-ideas-it-was-an_1502241.png) > “There were no political ideas. It was an apolitical time. It was the '50s and in the privilege of the suburbs.” [Bill Ayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-ayers/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The era was free of political discourse, characterized by suburban privilege and a lack of ideological focus. **In simple terms:** The 1950s suburbs were apolitical and privileged. Key Takeaway Recognize how environment shapes political awareness. Themes politics suburban life privilege history Mood reflective critical Type sociological historical When to use this quote - urban planning - historical analysis - media studies Key Concepts social context ideological silence Questions to Reflect On - How does living in a privileged suburb affect political consciousness? - What hidden political forces existed in the 1950s? A Different Perspective May ignore underlying political currents. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Apolitical](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/apolitical/) [Ideas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ideas/) [Political](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/political/) [Politics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/politics/) [Privilege](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/privilege/) [Suburbs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/suburbs/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) ## Related quotes > [It's the height of the Cold War, but I grew up in apolitical family and politics wasn't on the agenda.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/it-s-the-height-of-the-cold-war-but-i-grew-up-in-apolitical-family/) [Bill Ayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-ayers/) > [Fairly apolitical. Kind of aspiring to participate in life. I'm 18-19 years old. Wanting to dive into the world and finding the world opening…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/fairly-apolitical-kind-of-aspiring-to-participate-in-life-i-m-18-19/) [Bill Ayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-ayers/) > [A war not only arises, but derives its nature , from the political ideas, the moral sentiments, and the international relations obtaining at the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ferdinand-foch/a-war-not-only-arises-but-derives-its-nature-from-the-political-ideas/) [Ferdinand Foch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ferdinand-foch/) > [A large percentage of those living in developed societies are told what brand of soda they should drink, what cigarettes they should smoke, what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fidel-castro/a-large-percentage-of-those-living-in-developed-societies-are-told/) [Fidel Castro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fidel-castro/) > [“An idea is a very powerful thing, and political ideas or religious ideas or economic ideas have always affected and often controlled the courses…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-c-wylie/an-idea-is-a-very-powerful-thing-and-political-ideas-or-religious/) [J.C. Wylie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-c-wylie/) > [It didn't even occur to me that I could use my strong image in cinema to propagate my political ideas. To me, cinema was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vijayashanti/it-didn-t-even-occur-to-me-that-i-could-use-my-strong-image-in-cinema/) [Vijayashanti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vijayashanti/) > [“Religious ideas, supposedly private matters between man and god, are in practice always political ideas.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/religious-ideas-supposedly-private-matters-between-man-and-god-are-in/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [“the ethical and political ideas of Locke, Rousseau and Jefferson. However, once the heretical scientific insights are translated into everyday technology, routine activities and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yuval-noah-harari/the-ethical-and-political-ideas-of-locke-rousseau-and-jefferson/) [Yuval Noah Harari](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yuval-noah-harari/) > [All my economic ideas as developed over twenty-five years can be summed up in the words: agricultural-industrial federation. All my political ideas boil down…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-joseph-proudhon/all-my-economic-ideas-as-developed-over-twenty-five-years-can-be/) [Pierre-Joseph Proudhon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-joseph-proudhon/) > [This is the marketplace of political ideas. This is how America operates. It's a free market. It's free-wheeling. From the outside, it looks unpredictable.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jon-huntsman-jr/this-is-the-marketplace-of-political-ideas-this-is-how-america/) [Jon Huntsman, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jon-huntsman-jr/) > [ “Some of his \[Chester Bowles's\] friends thought that his entire political career reflected his background, that he truly believed in the idea of the… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-halberstam/some-of-his-chester-bowles-s-friends-thought-that-his-entire/) [David Halberstam](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-halberstam/) > [There is no connection between the political ideas of our educated class and the deep places of the imagination.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-trilling/there-is-no-connection-between-the-political-ideas-of-our-educated/) [Lionel Trilling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-trilling/) > [I make songs based around my political ideas because they're a big part of life; politics affects my life, politics affects my friends and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/declan-mckenna/i-make-songs-based-around-my-political-ideas-because-they-re-a-big/) [Declan McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/declan-mckenna/) > [What's the use, there never was a woman living who could understand political ideas.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dos-passos/what-s-the-use-there-never-was-a-woman-living-who-could-understand/) [John Dos Passos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dos-passos/) > [What we are against is the teaching of contested political ideas as if they are accepted facts. We don't do this with communism. We…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kemi-badenoch/what-we-are-against-is-the-teaching-of-contested-political-ideas-as/) [Kemi Badenoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kemi-badenoch/) ## More by Bill Ayers > [ It wasn't \[Barack\] Obama per se; it was the feeling on the ground; it was seeing an old black woman in a wheelchair being… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/it-wasn-t-barack-obama-per-se-it-was-the-feeling-on-the-ground-it-was/) [Bill Ayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-ayers/) > [I didn't respond to people thrusting microphones at me and asking me questions that were unanswerable in a sound bite.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/i-didn-t-respond-to-people-thrusting-microphones-at-me-and-asking-me/) [Bill Ayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-ayers/) > [I haven't been silent. I teach, I lecture at universities, I write, I'm not silent.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/i-haven-t-been-silent-i-teach-i-lecture-at-universities-i-write-i-m/) [Bill Ayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-ayers/) > [ One of the great crimes of the Bloomberg/Klein administration \[in New York City\] is that they've removed themselves from communities, as if communities have… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/one-of-the-great-crimes-of-the-bloomberg-klein-administration-in-new/) [Bill Ayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-ayers/) > [I was involved in the anti-war movement.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/i-was-involved-in-the-anti-war-movement/) [Bill Ayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-ayers/) > [ \[Lyndon \] Johnson was responding to a black freedom movement that was tearing the country open and he did what he had to do… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/lyndon-johnson-was-responding-to-a-black-freedom-movement-that-was/) [Bill Ayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-ayers/) > [ I'm wary of government. Part of \[the Tea Party\] impulse is to dislike and be worried about the rich. I'm that way too. So… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/i-m-wary-of-government-part-of-the-tea-party-impulse-is-to-dislike/) [Bill Ayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-ayers/) > [ I'd been arrested many times by then. I'd been an organizer, so many things had changed over those three years \[from 1965 till 1968\]. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/i-d-been-arrested-many-times-by-then-i-d-been-an-organizer-so-many/) [Bill Ayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-ayers/) > [You cannot live a political life, you cannot live a moral life if you're not willing to open your eyes and see the world…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/you-cannot-live-a-political-life-you-cannot-live-a-moral-life-if-you/) [Bill Ayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-ayers/) > [I was a good liberal in some sense at that point. I wanted to end a war. I wanted to support the civil rights…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/i-was-a-good-liberal-in-some-sense-at-that-point-i-wanted-to-end-a/) [Bill Ayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-ayers/) > [The fact is that in my prep school, I went to a boarding school, 39 young men graduated from that prep school. Five years…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/the-fact-is-that-in-my-prep-school-i-went-to-a-boarding-school-39/) [Bill Ayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-ayers/) > [ \[The whole first year at university\] was a great time for me and great time of awakening. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/the-whole-first-year-at-university-was-a-great-time-for-me-and-great/) [Bill Ayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-ayers/) > [The truth is that the antiwar movement was powered by the working class. The students were the ones that got the media and so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/the-truth-is-that-the-antiwar-movement-was-powered-by-the-working/) [Bill Ayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-ayers/) > [There was one moment when J. Edgar Hoover and us had the same distorted lens about who we were - "a real threat," you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/there-was-one-moment-when-j-edgar-hoover-and-us-had-the-same/) [Bill Ayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-ayers/) > [Every politician - FDR, Lyndon Johnson, Abraham Lincoln, Barack Obama - they're all conservative by nature. They are part of the big thing and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/every-politician-fdr-lyndon-johnson-abraham-lincoln-barack-obama-they/) [Bill Ayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-ayers/) [Explore all 204 Bill Ayers quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-ayers/) ## More Apolitical quotes > [I would say that no film is apolitical. There are politics in all films. Any film that is anchored in a society, any film…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abbas-kiarostami/i-would-say-that-no-film-is-apolitical-there-are-politics-in-all/) [Abbas Kiarostami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abbas-kiarostami/) > [I kind of became apolitical.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-waitt/i-kind-of-became-apolitical/) [Ted Waitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-waitt/) > [What I've found is that a lot of soldiers are surprisingly apolitical. Their reality is, "Today I'm going to leave the gate for twelve…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-rollins/what-i-ve-found-is-that-a-lot-of-soldiers-are-surprisingly-apolitical/) [Henry Rollins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-rollins/) > [It is essential that anyone reading this book know at the outset that the author is apolitical. I was convinced in 1927 that humanity's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/it-is-essential-that-anyone-reading-this-book-know-at-the-outset-that/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [To the very limited extent that I have a political consciousness, to some extent I'm a lazy, apolitical sort of guy that just flits…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/to-the-very-limited-extent-that-i-have-a-political-consciousness-to/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [So I think all gays who are born gay are overwhelming conservative, maybe apolitical, and all those angry gays, causing trouble for everybody, I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-coulter/so-i-think-all-gays-who-are-born-gay-are-overwhelming-conservative/) [Ann Coulter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-coulter/) > [Well, the movie isn't bad. For a while, I even told myself I liked it, even as it missed one mark after another. But…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-edelstein/well-the-movie-isn-t-bad-for-a-while-i-even-told-myself-i-liked-it/) [David Edelstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-edelstein/) > [There are those who view the abolitionists as just maniacs, apolitical fanatics who helped to cause the war, and Lincoln is the model of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-foner/there-are-those-who-view-the-abolitionists-as-just-maniacs-apolitical/) [Eric Foner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-foner/) > [“Finally, we arrive at the question of the so-called nonpolitical man. Hitler not only established his power from the very beginning with masses of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilhelm-reich/finally-we-arrive-at-the-question-of-the-so-called-nonpolitical-man/) [Wilhelm Reich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilhelm-reich/) > [I'm becoming more and more apolitical - I think the most revolutionary thing you can do is just live your life and have a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meshell-ndegeocello/i-m-becoming-more-and-more-apolitical-i-think-the-most-revolutionary/) [Meshell Ndegeocello](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meshell-ndegeocello/) > [As human beings you cannot be apolitical, the way we frame a character is telling our politics.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kabir-khan/as-human-beings-you-cannot-be-apolitical-the-way-we-frame-a-character/) [Kabir Khan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kabir-khan/) > [I am a people's person and especially with my position on 'Dragons' Den' I think it is best to stay apolitical.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/touker-suleyman/i-am-a-people-s-person-and-especially-with-my-position-on-dragons-den/) [Touker Suleyman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/touker-suleyman/) > [It's horrible when actors say that they are apolitical.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ali-fazal/it-s-horrible-when-actors-say-that-they-are-apolitical/) [Ali Fazal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ali-fazal/) > [What I used to say to people, when I was much more engagé myself, is that you can't be apolitical. It will come and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/what-i-used-to-say-to-people-when-i-was-much-more-engag-myself-is/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [No citizen is apolitical; as a citizen, by definition, has to take interest in public affairs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mohammad-hamid-ansari/no-citizen-is-apolitical-as-a-citizen-by-definition-has-to-take/) [Mohammad Hamid Ansari](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mohammad-hamid-ansari/) [Browse all 69 Apolitical quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/apolitical/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "There were no political ideas. It was an apolitical time. 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