Office politics can be good, bad or in between. Every office has it to some degree and for your own protection, you can't totally bury your head in the sand. I tend to agree that it's better to come to work, do your job and go home, but in reality, in order to get along with co-workers, gain cooperation from other departments and be considered for advancement, you have to be in the know. If nothing else so you can know who not to associate with. Getting on your boss's good side without overtly brown-nosing is common sense. You can't always let your work speak for itself and hope someone important notices. Sometimes politics is necessary to get the job done; i.e. knowing who to go to in a pinch and returning favors (maybe this is just good old fashioned teamwork, but you do have to know the unwritten rules on how to expedite things or take the right shortcuts). Of course the bad type of office politics is dangerous and can be damaging. I agree with staying out of the gossip pool, don't bad mouth co-workers and don't kiss up to the boss just for the sake of kissing up. Oh, and don't run with scissors.
