How can I become less affected by politics? since I started my buddhist practice some five years ago, I have made great advancements. I think I've become much more accepting and loving towards others. I used to be cynical and arrogant and I suppose I've since reached a point where I can claim to be free of both. All in all I am quite happy with my life nowadays. I feel no hatred anymore and have become tolerant towards more or less everybody and every aspect of life.

There is one exception however that is really nagging on me: I am an avid follower of politics and can get stirred up by political events, decisions or politicians themselves that are opposed to my own political convictions. Sometimes it is enough for me to see a certain politician to become filled with - I don't know if you might call it hatred - but at least a feeling of great antipathy, even disgust. I know that the person behind the political façade might very well be likable and live a normal life with her or his own needs and worries, personal shortcomings and qualities, just like anybody else.

I am not even talking about today's great "evildoers" like Kim Jong-un  or even less contested politicians like Donald Trump or Viktor Orbán. It's mostly politicians on a national or even regional level that are able to cause those bad feelings in me.

My wish is on the one hand to see and accept those people as being regular living beings like you and me that need to be loved and understood just like everybody else. Something that I nowadays don't find hard to see in virtually everybody else, even (bad) criminals. In some ways I even find it easier to feel compassion for somebody like Kim Jong-un than for some of Germany's or France's politicians, i.e. the countries that I feel most closely connected to. To be quite frank, I don't have the slightest idea why I find this so hard to achieve.

On the other hand I would like to be less affected by political issues in general. I know that it might not be the wisest stance to take, but I sometimes think I wouldn't mind losing interest in the local and international political scene altogether because I have the impression that I can't distance myself from it and that it is in some way poisoning my thoughts.

Has anybody else on here made similar experiences or has got some advice on how I can "fix" this strange condition? I already practise metta meditation and it does have a very positive effect on me, like I described above. It just does not seem to achieve much in this regard.

Thanks!
This is an easy one. Stop looking at the media so much. The media is not reality. It's a small negatively skewed snippet of it. There is so much more to life than the perpetual negativity we see in the media. 

It's only in recent times that the media has become way more invasive. 
We now have 24/7 news cycles and people walk around addicted to and staring at devises all day. All that negativity is going into your mind and colouring your world view. It pretty much works the same way as porn. People are addicted to the dopamine/adrenaline hit they get when something in the media fires them up. 

The politicians thrive on dividing people. Refuse to play into their game. Stop watcing it just for a few days and notice how much calmer you feel.   It's good to stay informed about important world issues but that but does not mean habitually checking the media every 5 minutes or even everyday. If Kim Jung is about to launch another missile what can I do about it?? Nothing!! So why do I need to know about it? So I can go on Facebook and rant? I don't need to know. It's pointless. Far better to use your energy in effecting real change where you can. 

You will need to break the habit. It's the only way. If you continue to look at that stuff on a daily basis it will continue to colour your mind in that divisive angry way that only politics can do.  Let go of it. You don't need it.