A consequence of this is that you may find yourself changing your views-- or at least being more open minded about things your friends don't approve of.
If it's just politics with no direct relevance to your life-- are you really better off that way? Is being more right or just more open minded about something that you have no influence do you any good if it alienates you from friends or family at all?
Political opinions aren't just allegiance to some guy you haven't met. That's party allegiance. True, core, political opinions are much more about allegiance to principals and ways of thinking. IMO that's much more important than allegiance to individuals.
If I witnessed a family member commit murder, what's ultimately my core political views are what would determine if I did or did not turn them in for it. And I probably would turn them in.
It's not uncommon for kids concerns to mirror their parents politics.
I'm sure the idea that "my kids agree with me is a data point to indicate I'm right" crosses all political boundaries.
My family is my most sympathetic audience. Also, my closest friends understand me well and accept who I am.
However, I have tons of friends apart from the groups mentioned above; people that I appreciate, whom I have met through different hobbies or passions. None of these bonds have a connection to politics, but it is common for some of them to bring up political topics during these months. I reserve my opinions on these topics because I understand that there are a lot of emotions involved. Moreover, we all have biases. We are not at war, we just digress on the solutions the country needs.
People, for the most part, don't come to political opinions on their own, they are influenced by others. It doesn't take overt threats, people just don't want to be different than their peers, so they do what the people around them do.
It was said in a different direction. People who hold political opinion X must be from this background because they don’t understand the issue like I do.
I’m from a working class background and arrived at a different conclusion in my own experience. But I get lumped in with people raised upper middle class just because I couldn’t possibly have such opinions. Granted, this is why I try not to be defensive about it: who I am doesn’t really matter (nor should it for anyone else) when we’re discussing ideas.
the problem is, many, very many people love to tell others how they should live, speak, and especially how they should feel.
I have come to the conclusion that my own political preferences are not with the left, the right or any other particular pole.
I just dislike people trying to force their opinion on me, and especially those who try to do it by manipulating my feelings. Doesn't matter what their beliefs are.
If the people you meet and associate with and and the ways in which you impact other people aren't influencing and being influenced by the parties, ideologies, buzzwords and presidents you support, then you probably need to think a little more deeply about both of them.
I have convinced one or two to think differently, on one or two subjects, after them knowing me for long enough to not assume I'm some leather-chewing CNN puppet. I finally got my dad to say that "no one should die from lack of healthcare because they're poor" and that "the act of being a billionaire implies unethical behavior". But he doesn't think the government should do anything about any of it, all the Democrats are evil and corrupt, and Trump is the best president of the past 120 years.
Another relative, after one of the recent shootings, said there was nothing we can do about gun violence. I immediately named off a few modest proposals that don't involve mass registration or confiscation, and he immediately said "yeah those don't sound bad".
Both my parents were conservatives for a long time, but were not angry, bitter, finger-pointing people about it until they had a traumatic event happen, AND a black Democrat became president, AND they got access to high speed internet and Fox News in the same year - 2008.
Now they watch four+ hours of Fox propaganda per day, my mother more because she goes onto bona-fide hate and misinformation sites and prints out articles on how Ukraine is the hub for US bioweapons labs and World Order money laundering because Ukraine is literally the most corrupt government in the world. With bylines of made up names, whose biographies are empty when you click the hyperlink. But that is more trustworthy than the Wall Street Journal, or the New York Times, or gasp NPR.
I've had experience in these conversations. I know that the approach is to get them talking about what matters to them first, and find common ground. Believe me, I'm not "doing it wrong".
Doing it, even doing it correctly, is exhausting, full stop.
Yes and no. I live next door to a couple (who have become our friends) that are ideologically opposed to us. Despite our houses being physically next to each other, we might as well inhabit a different world when it comes to politics. It would not be accurate to say they disagree with us on the issues, because to get to disagreement we would at least need to agree on the underlying facts. Without that structure, any discussion stalls immediately. It's like living in a different country.
reply