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[Transistor]

"Friends who want to stay friends don't talk about religion or politics."

I'm a firm believer in this for work, but I always discuss politics and religion with my friends. Sometimes we don't agree but that just makes the discussion more enthusiastic. Luckily, all of my friends are willing to listen to the other side without, well, being a trump about it

 

[ShiroAmakusa]

I have never ended a friendship over politics. It would be incredibly immature and childish to do so.

So you have no problems to stay friends with people who turn out to be bigotted racists? Please explain, maybe I just don't get your point.

 

[TheContact]

That's depressing. I work with a trump supporter, mostly because he's a gun nut, but I don't hold that against him or think less of him for it just because he's voting for the candidate that speaks more to him

 

[kewlmyc]

I do admit that I kinda look strangely at my friends who don't mind Trumps racist/sexist bullshit or just ignore it.

 

[His Majesty]

So you have no problems to stay friends with people who turn out to be bigotted racists? Please explain, maybe I just don't get your point.

Not really, no. Just like I have no problem with my atheist friends or my creationist mother or my communist friend or my far-right father. We've talked about these issues and we disagree on some parts but they are nice people and I like them.

 

[Maledict]

Not really, no. Just like I have no problem with my atheist friends or my creationist mother or my communist friend or my far-right father. We've talked about these issues and we disagree on some parts but they are nice people and I like them.

I think the point is if you are a racist bigot then you aren't a nice person. Just because someone smiles to you and acts friendly doesn't stop them being an unpleasant racist.

 

[DontBeThatGuy]

Not really, no. Just like I have no problem with my atheist friends or my creationist mother or my communist friend or my far-right father. We've talked about these issues and we disagree on some parts but they are nice people and I like them.

Bigots are nice people? Interesting hot take.

 

[entremet]

No I don't end friendships over politics.

 

[Massive Duck. C.M.]

Be proud of enabling people with shitty politics brehs

 

[SliceSabre]

Just be like me: you can't lose any friends over this election if you don't have any.

 

[DontBeThatGuy]

No I don't end friendships over politics.

So, how terrible of an agenda would someone have to actively support and enable before you do end a friendship?

 

[His Majesty]

Bigots are nice people? Interesting hot take.

Bigots can be nice people, that's my point.

It's more convenient to label people of a different political ideology as evil caricatures but I'm not really a fan of such black and white portrayals. All they do is oversimplify the situation and increase the polarization.

 

[DontBeThatGuy]

Bigots can be nice people, that's my point.

It's more convenient to label people of a different political ideology as evil caricatures but I'm not really a fan of such black and white portrayals. All they do is oversimplify the situation and increase the polarization.

I mean, bigots are bigots, it's real simple, and I'm not one to enable regressive nitwits supporting shitty agendas, but you do you. I'll seek out better.

 

[Ketkat]

Bigots can be nice people, that's my point.

Bigots are literally not nice people.

"one who regards or treats the members of a group (as a racial or ethnic group) with hatred and intolerance"

 

[Primethius]

Luckily, I haven't had any friends come out as Trump supporters so I didn't have to.

But I totally would. Because luckily for me, anyone that is a good friend of mine, I know at their political leanings.

 

[Illucio]

Those Trump Supporting friends on Facebook from High School that you will probably never talk to again.

RIP

 

[Catdaddy]

I take the agree to disagree approach, if that's good enough for a friend (not an issue yet) and they want to unfriend me...fine its their choice...

 

[jmdajr]

Luckily I don't know anyone voting for Trump.

 

[jay]

Politics get to the heart of what someone really thinks about life and the world. Racism, sexism, classism, and most other isms are deeply ingrained in politics and governments. Really, politics is probably a better reason to not be friends with someone than most other reasons.

 

[EstoyBlackWaldo]

Luckily I don't know anyone voting for Trump.

Same for me.

I have family and friends with different views but I don't personally know anyone who said they were voting for Trump, AFAIK they've all said Hillary, especially after viewing the first debate.

 

[kahboomkin]

I've had two "friendships" end during this election season.
One was with a guy who was posting videos of BLM protesters getting run over by cars and was saying how he wished he could do it too. So he can fuck right off for all I care.
The other actually ended it because he was upset that everyone was fact checking his racist meme pictures.
This actually made me a little sad because this guy went from a cool dude I used to play halo with in high school to a hateful white supremacist. Not sure what happened to him but what's done is done I guess.

 

[His Majesty]

Bigots are literally not nice people.

"one who regards or treats the members of a group (as a racial or ethnic group) with hatred and intolerance"

From a 2013 opinion poll in Poland it followed that nearly 90% of the people were against adoption rights for same-sex couples. Are these people bigots towards gay people? Likely. But I disagree with your notion that you can conclude from this poll that 90% of the Polish people are evil.

 

[Misha]

This election I learned that my family are racist (as in the kind where you directly state issues with different races and not the kind that's hidden behind classism)

The thing is I think it's a recent thing. My dad seems to follow exactly where republican talk radio goes and with them having to support the things trump says, it goes from complaining about "inner city drug problems" and such to directly complaining about "the blacks" and muslims and Mexicans.
It's really hard to rationalize as ignorance at this point.

I think I might eventually be able to educate my mom and sisters at some point but I don't have much hope for my dad at this point (and unfortunately they listen to him so it's an uphill battle)

 

[entremet]

So, how terrible of an agenda would someone have to actively support and enable before you do end a friendship?

Not sure.

But my friendships are based on years of mutual support and trust. I don't know any bigots so I couldn't answer that. But political affiliation is the last thing that crosses my mind.

I enjoy political debate as well and I would miss that if only engaged with those that are in lockstep with me on everything issue.

 

[fester]

No I don't end friendships over politics.

Donald Trump is no politician and the issues at stake are not mere "politics." The things people are most upset with are not classical Republican platform issues. If Jeb Bush had been the nominee this thread wouldn't exist.

 

[LegendofJoe]

Most Trump supporters I know are simply conservative Republicans. They always vote for whoever has an R next to their name, so it's not exactly surprising that they're voting for Trump. That said a few of them have decided to leave the Presidency choice blank when they go to vote. I gained a lot of respect for those people, my step-father is one of them.

More generally I don't typically associate with the diehard Trump supporter type, outside of my family where I have no choice, so I haven't had the need to distance myself from friends. All of my educated friends loathe Trump while all of my old friends that never left home or got an education are fervent Trump supporters. Discussing politics or any serious topic with them is a waste of time. When we talk the topic of discussion is usually entertainment like sports or music and their family life.

 

[25_Cans_Of_Bacon]

Funny to come upon this thread of all nights.

I share ownership of a car with my parents. My father is a diehard neocon, I'm independent. He worked as one of the top scientists for SDI under Reagan, so when I say diehard, I mean DIEHARD. Retired now, but he watches Fox News religiously, believes that Obama is literally the Manchurian Candidate (I'm not joking, literally), so generally politics are not a topic either of us trespass upon to maintain cordiality and so as to best retain my remaining respect for him, which diminishes each time we engage.

Today I take the car out, only to discover upon reaching my destination a big, fat TRUMP bumper sticker on the back. Rip it off, come home, we get into a huge fight. All's not well that doesn't end well. There's always tension living together, but today it came to a head. What fucking nerve. I informed him that I'd sooner walk everywhere and hitchhike before I will ever drive a car with anything that has Trump on it. And I will. I don't think he understands how much I despise that man. He was not a fan a while ago, but when it came to a choice between him and Clinton...well. The lesser of evils in his eyes but it's created an incredible rift between us.

Fuck these times.

 

[Thelonelykoopa]

I had a friend a long time ago who didnt agree with any of the republican platform but was a republican out of the belief it would allow him to make more powerful friends and become successful.

 

[esms]

"Friends who want to stay friends don't talk about religion or politics."

Bingo.

 

[ShiroAmakusa]

From a 2013 opinion poll in Poland it followed that nearly 90% of the people were against adoption rights for same-sex couples. Are these people bigots towards gay people? Likely. But I disagree with your notion that you can conclude from this poll that 90% of the Polish people are evil.

Evil is a strong word, especially because ignorance, (missing) education and religious influence can lead to a catastrophic outcome even if there is no inherently harmful intent involved. Though I would claim that there is something wrong with 90% of the polled people, at least by the ethics I apply to our world.

But it's more of a topic for philosophyforums.com, feels like we're already derailing the OT. :/

 

[DedValve]

I wouldn't end a friendship over politics but I would over racism or the tacit and implicit support of such.

You can't separate the two anymore, at least not in the hate group known as the republican party.

 

[The Lamp]

It's pretty closed minded to cut off friends and family for voting differently than you.

I know trump supporters, but they haven't signed up for the KKK yet. They were already Republicans that just don't want another Democrat or their supreme Court nominees. Trump is their only option now in our glorious two party system.

This means they value Trumps words, ideals and plans as better for our country than that of a Democrat, and to me that kind of selfish ignorance is not worth forming deep friendships with in life.

 

[The Kree]

As the saying goes, you are the company you keep.

 

[Razorback]

I'm honestly bummed out by some of these stories. I'm not american so I'm grateful I don't live in a country with such a political divide. There's kind of an unspoken rule that talking politics is rude.

It's a shame but basic human psychology is to blame here, so I don't think there's much that can be done about this. People align their political beliefs with their identity, just like they do with religion. So an attack on their political party is an attack on them, an attack on their team, their tribe.

Rational discussion is out the window because every single cognitive bias will come into play to make sure our identity is not damaged.

 

[Messofanego]

Funny to come upon this thread of all nights.

I share ownership of a car with my parents. My father is a diehard neocon, I'm independent. He worked as one of the top scientists for SDI under Reagan, so when I say diehard, I mean DIEHARD. Retired now, but he watches Fox News religiously, believes that Obama is literally the Manchurian Candidate (I'm not joking, literally), so generally politics are not a topic either of us trespass upon to maintain cordiality and so as to best retain my remaining respect for him, which diminishes each time we engage.

Today I take the car out, only to discover upon reaching my destination a big, fat TRUMP bumper sticker on the back. Rip it off, come home, we get into a huge fight. All's not well that doesn't end well. There's always tension living together, but today it came to a head. What fucking nerve. I informed him that I'd sooner walk everywhere and hitchhike before I will ever drive a car with anything that has Trump on it. And I will. I don't think he understands how much I despise that man. He was not a fan a while ago, but when it came to a choice between him and Clinton...well. The lesser of evils in his eyes but it's created an incredible rift between us.

Fuck these times.

This election I learned that my family are racist (as in the kind where you directly state issues with different races and not the kind that's hidden behind classism)

The thing is I think it's a recent thing. My dad seems to follow exactly where republican talk radio goes and with them having to support the things trump says, it goes from complaining about "inner city drug problems" and such to directly complaining about "the blacks" and muslims and Mexicans.
It's really hard to rationalize as ignorance at this point.

I think I might eventually be able to educate my mom and sisters at some point but I don't have much hope for my dad at this point (and unfortunately they listen to him so it's an uphill battle)

Speaking of dads and republican radio or getting more extreme conservative recently, you might want to watch The Brainwashing Of My Dad documentary. It's pretty insightful and might explain what happened to your dad.

 

[Diddy Kong]

Trump voters are very scary

 

[thelastcrusader]

All my friends and I don't judge eachother on politics. Some like Trump,some like Johnson,some like Clinton. We're all adults who can be friends outside the realm of politics.

Funny to come upon this thread of all nights.

I share ownership of a car with my parents. My father is a diehard neocon, I'm independent. He worked as one of the top scientists for SDI under Reagan, so when I say diehard, I mean DIEHARD. Retired now, but he watches Fox News religiously, believes that Obama is literally the Manchurian Candidate (I'm not joking, literally), so generally politics are not a topic either of us trespass upon to maintain cordiality and so as to best retain my remaining respect for him, which diminishes each time we engage.

Today I take the car out, only to discover upon reaching my destination a big, fat TRUMP bumper sticker on the back. Rip it off, come home, we get into a huge fight. All's not well that doesn't end well. There's always tension living together, but today it came to a head. What fucking nerve. I informed him that I'd sooner walk everywhere and hitchhike before I will ever drive a car with anything that has Trump on it. And I will. I don't think he understands how much I despise that man. He was not a fan a while ago, but when it came to a choice between him and Clinton...well. The lesser of evils in his eyes but it's created an incredible rift between us.

Fuck these times.

If he paid for that car then he can put whatever the hell he feels like on it.

 

[DontBeThatGuy]

Judging a Trump supporter is the only rational course of action.

 

[Brinbe]

I have plenty of conservative friends and it hasn't affected our friendships much at all. But I think context is key and in some cases, I think my view of that person would be drastically effected if I found out they were an ardent Trump supporter. It would be hard to properly respect them.

 

[DrArchon]

I'm so happy that I'm ignorant of the political views of everyone at my workplace and that they're ignorant of mine. I'm sure plenty of them are planning to vote for Trump and probably think horrible things about Obama and Hillary, but I don't need to know about that and I can remain blissfully unaware.

The only people I talk politics with are my parents, one of which is an ardent liberal and the other is an anti-establishment independent who'll be reluctantly voting for Hillary because he's smart enough to know all of the other options are awful on various levels. Makes conversations over dinner a lot easier.

 

[Air Zombie Meat]

Sounds similar to what happened in the uk over brexit. It opened up some huge divides between people.

 

[SGRX]

I have ended one friendship over this election so far. One of my oldest friends apparently considered Trump's success to be tacit permission to spew whatever hateful shit he could come up with. He started cheerleading Trump as soon as he began winning primaries, and everything he's posted on social media this year has either been pro-Trump, anti-muslim, racist, mysoginistic, some insane conspiracy theory, or a combination of those things. I've known this guy for years, even let him stay at my house for a while years back when he was down on his luck, and he was always a conspiracy theorist, but the rest seemed out of nowhere. I wound up blocking him just after the DNC and cutting off all contact. I think he was in the middle of having a meltdown on Facebook over Sarah Silverman "celebrating the murder of Christ" at the time.

Overall I try to avoid discussing politics with friends and family, unless it's someone I agree with, or someone I know I can have a civil discussion with, since a lot of people seem to want to take it as a personal attack when someone disagrees with them. It's been difficult this year, though. It's an embarrassment that Trump won a single primary, much less his party's nomination, and much less again that he has a legitimate shot at the Presidency. I've gotten into a couple arguments this month at work over the election, and even if Trump loses I'll probably have to skip Thanksgiving this year. If he wins, I'll probably have to skip it for the next decade.

 

[Timeaisis]

I would never end a friendship over politics, that's just stupid. Everyone has a different opinion on everything, it happens. However, if through discussing politics I find out someone is a terrible person who holds opinions that pass above politics and move into a realm of hatred for me or other's and their beliefs, that's another matter entirely.

 

[Viewt]

Thankfully, no one I'm close to is voting for Trump. Even my father's side of the family, which is fairly conservative, is either voting for Hillary (with a sigh, but hey, a vote's a vote) or abstaining out of principle. Considering how much most of them hate Hillary (they're Reagan Republicans and have hated the Clintons since '92), I can live with that.

I would never end a friendship over politics, that's just stupid. Everyone has a different opinion on everything, it happens. However, if through discussing politics I find out someone is a terrible person who holds opinions that pass above politics and move into a realm of hatred for me or other's and their beliefs, that's another matter entirely.

I basically feel the same. I wouldn't end a friendship with someone because they support the TPP, but if they protest at abortion clinics or against gay rights, I'm done with them as a person.

 

[Hilbert]

I have unfriended online only friends on facebook due to trump support. Even then it is usually only when they will explicitly say something racist or sexist in support of Trump.

I did make my sister lose a friend during the primary. I posted something complaining about how Bernie didn't suitably chastise the supporters of his that were calling in death threats. One of my sister's friends was responding very aggressively to me about that and eventually called me stupid over facebook. My sister cut ties with him. I felt a little bad about ruining my sister's friendship.

 

[AuthenticM]

Honestly, it's probably for the best.

but many voters blame both sides equally for the negative tone of this year's campaign

Fuck this shit thinking. There is only one side that is dragging America down along with her reputation, and it ain't Clinton's.

 

[TheOfficeMut]

I would never end a friendship over politics, that's just stupid. Everyone has a different opinion on everything, it happens. However, if through discussing politics I find out someone is a terrible person who holds opinions that pass above politics and move into a realm of hatred for me or other's and their beliefs, that's another matter entirely.

It is not stupid. I wish people would stop treating politics as if it's separate from social values and exists in a vacuum - it doesn't. Many people voting for Trump are racist, sexist and bigoted and can be categorized under a plethora of 'isms,' therefore it is perfectly acceptable for, say, a minority, to want to disassociate him or herself with a friend who supports such as a candidate.

A person's support of a political candidate, especially Trump, is a tacit indication of how they may feel about you or others. How could I be friends with such a person whose views are antithetical to my own and completely subvert swathes of minorities? I'm not even a minority and I find it just as acceptable as a white male to want to not be friends with anyone who supports these views. Ignorance should not be bliss in this case. If there was ever an appropriate time to 'unfriend' someone over their political standings, this election is certainly the best one to do so.

 

[Kasumin]

There's a colleague of mine posting insufferable "both sides are bad!" diatribes on Facebook while enacting a know-it-all attitude about the whole thing.

He's a cool guy otherwise. Now I avoid him in face to face interactions because I'd rather not let slip just how stupid I think he is when it comes to this election. And yeah, his posts have lowered my opinion of him overall :\

 

[Yoshi]

I have both ended friendships and dropped clients/ work from people who openly support Trump.

So you don't serve people at work over their political views? Is this actually legal in the US?

EDIT: To answer the topic, I enjoy having friends of completely different views. I am friends with right-winged people, people who are arguing for extreme reduction of social wellfare, very religious people - I even have people among my friends who play download games on non-dedicated platforms like PC or phones . There can still be commonalities with people who have different views on some fundamental things and different views can lead to interesting discussions. Even people who want to stop immigration, want no homosexual marriages, believe in a deity or want to cut social welfare to a minimum can be very intelligent people who can have intersting arguments, even though I absolutely don't agree with them. Building yourself an echo chamber among the people you deal with is intellectually very limiting.

 

[therealist]

Bigots are literally not nice people.

"one who regards or treats the members of a group (as a racial or ethnic group) with hatred and intolerance"

I have family members who may be considered bigoted and I love them more than anything in the world. I don't see how the logic is different for, say a childhood friend, who has helped you and supported you through all these years.

Now, if it's a random acquaintance that you don't care about dropping, that's fine, but I would not drop what I would consider a "friend" unless his/her views are extreme.