Hackers don't bother with politics because they understand that it's the people who change the world and not the politicians. Politicians' job is to get re-elected, everything else is irrelevant.
Agreed, but not entirely - people in position of power do have a theoretical opportunity to make some meaningful change, but they seldom make use of it (often exactly because they focus on being re-elected).
The way I phrase it is usually this: if you want to change the world, politics is waste of time. It's one of the least efficient ways of helping, because you'll end up stuck in constant battles over trivia, status and, well, office politics. By the time you wind up in position of actual power, you'll likely be up to your ears with various deals, and you won't be really helping society anymore.
(Corollary: I don't buy that the higher up you go, the more power you have. Looking at the dynamics of political parties, it's very rare someone will let you achieve position of power if you've not proven again and again to be open for deals and preserving status quo. My current belief is that usually, the higher you go, the less actual agency you have.)
Politicians are people, they definitely are changing the world and affecting people's lives. If you care about your society, the world in general, then it is relevant.
True. The problem is - most of the political public sphere is just noise. To the point that e.g. following regular media sources is just a waste of time (and risks infecting the brain with lies).
Being efficiently engaged in local or global politics has little to do with discussing e.g. the latest media blunder of a politician, or whatever promise they made that probably won't happen anyway.
Showing no interest in politics is like having no self-preservation instinct. You, as a hacker might hope that your work will change the world someday, while the politicians are busy changing the world to their liking right now. So it is better to keep an eye on them.
