Separating People from their Politics

Published on September 22, 2004 By JillUser In Philosophy

I have had the past experience of having people comment that they enjoy my blogs except my political ones. I then asked myself the question "Do I let a person's politics affect my opinion of the person over all?" In general, the answer would be no. However, I think in the blog world it depends on what my initial experience is with the blogger in question. If my first experience is a negative political blog, I might form a hasty opinion that will be difficult to change.

I have plenty of friends and family who differ in political leanings than I. I have noticed that some seem to think if someone doesn't agree with their politics it means that person is inferior in intellect or is simply misinformed. I don't feel that way at all. If someone educates themselves and comes up with a well based opinion, I have no reason to feel my opinion is superior.

Comments

SSG Geezer

on Sep 22, 2004

I wouldn't let it bother you jill.
I always notice your comments because you are clear and concise in what you say. (at least when I have seen them)

Draginol

on Sep 22, 2004

When it comes to personal friends, I find I actually get along better with people on the left than on the right even though I'm a bit right wing myself. I may not agree with their positions but I do enjoy talking to people who think about these things.

dharmagrl

on Sep 22, 2004

If someone educates themselves and comes up with a well based opinion, I have no reason to feel my opinion is superior.

Exactly! It's not better or worse, it's just different. Most people don't think that way, however. I see a lot of 'you support/condemn this idea/philosophy, ergo you must be mentally and intellectually deficient' around here.

I'm getting better at separating people from their politics.

citahellion

on Sep 22, 2004

If someone educates themselves and comes up with a well based opinion, I have no reason to feel my opinion is superior.

I disagree insofar as my opinions are inherently better than anyone else's until proven otherwise. If someone demonstrates that their opinion is better than mine, then I will change my opinion to match. In this way I ensure that all my opinions are of the highest quality.
I believe this is true in general, not just for me personally.

bakerstreet

on Sep 22, 2004

Perhaps my experiences have been worse than usual, but when I make friends with people of a Liberal bent, it doesn't last long. I am conservative, decidedly so. There's not a lot of subjects that I don't bend a bit on, but a couple are pretty concrete, and these always seem to offend people.

Abortion is a good example. Once people find that I am adamantly pro-Life, they seem to have a hard time "agreeing to disagree". I suddenly seem to represent a fascist trying to take people's "rights" away. I'm the kind of person they would hope never, ever had any modicum of power, and who's political activism is seeking to destroy something they apparently hold dear. Understandably, they aren't interested in being friends with someone they consider to be their enemy.

Maybe I have had bad luck, but expecting the Liberals I have tried to befriend to continue an aquaintence seems to be akin to asking them to sit down and have coffee with Stalin. This seems to be made worse by the fact that such people feel it necessary to broach the subject every time they want to have civil conversation with someone. I had one friend for a while that I could see was trying to avoid such topics, but eventually we never seemed to meet up any more.

It goes to deep, maybe. Liberals seem to feel deeply that conservatism is a threat, and that taint seems to stick with me, at least in my experience. I can't imagine what it would have been like to be anti-Nazi in Germany and have to associate with Nazis on a daily basis, but when I sit down to eat with peopel who are pro-Abortion, pro-gun control, anti-war, etc., it actually feels like they think I am some sort of villian trying to destroy their civilization.

I've stopped trying. I either don't talk about politics at all, or avoid people that insist on railing about it in normal conversation. It is next to impossible, though. It seems like "Man, Bush is stupid" is some sort of ice-breaker for Liberals. In order for me to deal with them in real life, I just have to keep my mouth shut.

thatoneguyinslc

on Sep 23, 2004

I do not agree with a lot of the opinions expressed on this site. The fun part is arguing with them! But on a personal level, i really like some of the people i disagree with.

Example #1...Whip.

I don't think that we could be further away on 99.9% of the issues, but i really like her style of writing. Shes intelligent and viciously funny too.

Example #2. BakerStreet.

Baker and I have had some very infamous debates on JU. We couldn't be further away from each other politically. But i admire Bakers dedication and tenacity.

Example #3. Muggaz

Muggs loves to piss people off. I like that! I dont agree with a lot of what he says. But i respect the kid because he has brass balls!

I could go on, but ya get my point

citahellion

on Sep 23, 2004

I'd say that Muggaz likes to shock people, to be outrageous and edgy. I think he is honestly rather surprised and dismayed by the amount of disgust and anger that he generates instead.

JillUser

on Sep 23, 2004

What inspired this blog was a recent blog by Jamie Burnside. I love his blogs about his family and entertainment but we couldn't be more different when it comes to politics. What really got me was that he posted this conspiracy theory and then when I shot it down with information that has been in the news, he got ruffled with me and demanded I support my comments with sources. He went even further to say that anything that I heard from FoxNews didn't count because they are biased. What he meant was because they lean toward the right and other networks lean toward the left. I think CBS showed us that we have to think and do digging for the "truth" on our own.

I have a lot of tolerance for opposing views but very little for conspiracy theories and talking points spewed forth by people too lazy or stupid to do any independent thinking. That goes for people I agree with as well as those I don't.

stevendedalus

on Sep 28, 2004

It is said that politics and religion don't mix; perhaps it should be said that politics and people don't mix.

Bungy32

on Sep 28, 2004

I am not sure I think I can separate myself from my politics. I could join the bandwagon here and assert "I have several friends who are conservative" and I wouldn't be lying. But these are largely friendships based on "don't go there" topics. Or, at best, playful teasing and baiting about issues. But these friendships only make it if we both admit that the other is entitled to their position -- and that we recognize when to back off on pushing an issue when it is bordering on the personally offensive.

Case in point: Gay Marriage. I can listen to someone explain to me why they think gay marriage is problematic or not the answer. I can, to a certain degree, accept a somewhat patronizing "love the sinner but hate the sin" attitude so long as there really seems to be some attempt at loving the "sinner." I chalk it up to belief systems -- everybody has at least one and, even if your beliefs are incompatible with mine, it is better to believe in something than nothing. Better still to constantly question and then either affirm or change your beliefs. (I do this all the time.) But where we part company is when someone with a particularly judgemental belief system tells me I am going to burn in hell or uses phrases like "fagot marriage" or jokes that it is alright to kill a faggot just for looking at you. At that point, it stops being a simple difference of opinion and becomes a judgement of my being. I can no longer draw even a "for argument sake" line between my politics and my being.

Where I get in trouble on these discussion boards is that I get tired pretty quickly of two phenomena: (1) zealotry and (2) opportunistic inconsistency. By zealotry, I mean absolute and total commitment to a position without even conceding that there are other interpretations worth at least considering. For example, people who cannot concede that Bush has ever made a mistake. People, you can support a political candidate or even the President without believing everything s/he does is golden. (For me, these were the Clinton years.

) By opportunistic inconsistency, I mean folks who will mobilize a critique against a position/argument but will not see or concede that a similar critique of their position yields similar flaws. Call this the "my sources are objective but yours are biased because I say so" line of reasoning. When I get tired of these two phenomena I tend to drop any pretense at reasonable debate and shift into snide posturing and sarcasm -- which doesn't help matters and usually only escalates the conflict. Especially when I then appear to be (or actually become) an opportunistically inconsistant zealot. But hey, I'm learning...

Mostly, though, I get tired of attributions made about the Right and the Left, as if these were actual groups with membership cards and coherent identity claims. There is a considerable diversity of folks on the Right. I do my best not to make attributions based on stereotypes about folks who identify as conservative or make arguments from such positions. I get pretty tired when folks turn to making attributions about Liberals and those on the Left. I've been called whiney, America hater, pot smoker, hippy, weak, Moore worshipper, Tokyo Rose, baby killer, tree hugger, eco-nut, etc. Some of these are just flat out wrong -- and others are skewed simplifications of very considered positions on my part. None of them really contribute to dialogue.

For me the bottom line is that no one does (or should) hold their political views for sport. Our political views impact who we are and guide our decisons and actions in our everyday life. What I want is a country that allows diversity and gives everyone an equal (or at least proportionate) voice in the political process -- even conservatives. I worry sometimes that the other side doesn't want the same thing but would like to see my kind packed off to internment camps. Hopefully, that's just Leftist paranoia and propaganda....but let me check my talking points to be sure.

citahellion

on Sep 28, 2004

people who cannot concede that Bush has ever made a mistake.

Not to cherry-pick topics too much out of your much larger and generally interesting post, but I just have to point out that there are plenty of wingnuts (as I like to call them) on both the right and the left who think Bush has never made a mistake.

The right wingnuts think that he's done everything as perfectly as possible under the circumstances (or nearly so).
The left wingnuts believe that he has purposely lied, cheated, distorted the truth, etc.; no "mistake" about it, it's all planned and plotted down to the tiniest little deception.

Texas Wahine

on Sep 28, 2004

The left wingnuts believe that he has purposely lied, cheated, distorted the truth, etc.; no "mistake" about it, it's all planned and plotted down to the tiniest little deception.

he he he . . . it's funny too how he is painted to be the stupidest man alive all the while also being touted as the most devious evil genius to ever hold public office.

Welcome Guest! Please take the time to register with us.
There are many great features available to you once you register, including:

Richer content, access to many features that are disabled for guests like commenting on the forums.
Access to a great community, with a massive database of many, many areas of interest.
Access to contests & subscription offers like exclusive emails.
It's simple, and FREE!