People can disagree about what's related to work. They can do so in bad faith by starting fights for personal prestige, or by trying exclude topics just because they are served by the status quo. Or they can do so in good faith, because something impacts the working life or effectiveness of some people in ways that aren't obvious to others.
My list was about how the US has more issues requiring good faith discussion, which certainly opens the door to bad faith as well.
As far as using "let's stay away from politics" as a magic wand to shut down a topic, you are expecting people to agree with you about what belongs at work without discussion or judgement. I think companies and individuals can make things more efficient by clearly articulating a mission, and by proactively taking a stance about how hot-button issues relate to that mission or not. But nothing is going to exempt you from judgement when people disagree, and there's always the chance that you really are the bad guy. That's life with other humans.
My list was about how the US has more issues requiring good faith discussion, which certainly opens the door to bad faith as well.
As far as using "let's stay away from politics" as a magic wand to shut down a topic, you are expecting people to agree with you about what belongs at work without discussion or judgement. I think companies and individuals can make things more efficient by clearly articulating a mission, and by proactively taking a stance about how hot-button issues relate to that mission or not. But nothing is going to exempt you from judgement when people disagree, and there's always the chance that you really are the bad guy. That's life with other humans.