and that's what we call politics

Technically sure, but that's not what people generally mean when they say "politics." Crappy politics is where you become friends with the "right" people, or throw the "wrong" people under the bus, or where you adapt your behavior to look good, instead of doing actually good things. Parent comment is saying instead you could consider how your actions can positively impact someone else, rather than just telling people what to do and what to give you. The latter is technically politics, but more generally is just the general way a good person interacts with the world. Think "win-win" from 7 habits of highly effective people.