To what extent do you interact regularly with the opposition?

TexanStar

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Just curious to what extent you hang out w/ people who hold political views that are very different from your own (outside of political debates)

I ask the question because of this article, actually

White Supremacists Still Have a Safe Space Online
Discord is a hub for 150 million gamers—as well as some of the worst people on the web.

I'm a computer game enthusiast and I spend time on that same platform (discord). Most of my channels either have a "no politics" rule, or at least fence those discussions off into a subforum labelled with things like "Trash" or whatever :p

But anyways, I'm pretty sure that at least a couple of the people I game with day to day are neo nazis. Like if you're just playing / talking about whatever game they're fine, but if you talk about real world stuff they hold super bigoted opinions, have an almost divine reverence for Donald Trump, etc.

I don't think it's necessarily neo-nazis intruding into gamers space. I think there's unfortunately a lot of overlap if you draw a venn diagram of gamers and racists/bigots.


Just wondering how often you bump into those types and if you actually have some in your circle of acquaintances or friends.
 
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keenobserver

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I am living in a huge Trump area. My part of the state and community is overrun with Trump Republicans. There are a couple, and I mean only a couple Republicans who have not embraced Trump or the Tea party. The daily ignorance is staggering and everywhere. My own family and regular circle of acquaintances is moderate to liberal Democrats, but as a group there are not many of is. Many elections here are resolved in the primaries - no Democrats run, the GOP guys fight it out.

A few years ago I was in the hospital recovering from emergency surgery on my leg and foot. After the surgery they moved me into physical therapy so I could learn how to walk and maneuver with a wound vac on my surgery site. (An amazing, from Texas invention by the way!) I was uncomfortable but not in pain and while working on standing up, the therapist, a middle aged white woman whom I have never met before began a tirade about Obama being a foreigner, a Muslim and a threat to the virtue of young girls everywhere. I was thunderstruck. I am totally serious about what she said. I felt like I was in a bad Candid Camera stunt. I kept asking her, "Did someone put you up to this? You don't really think like that, so you? Seriously?" Yes, she was serious. This lady had a college degree - from a good school!

I avoid politics like the plague when I am out and about unless it is a political meeting. I really do not want to cause divide in restaurants, shopping malls (we still have one here) or anywhere. It does occasionally find me.

Gamer culture missed me by a couple of generations. My knowledge of it is limited - it's just not my thing, but things I was enjoying in my younger days baffled my parents as well. I have had gamers mention to me similar examples like you mentioned, and I see a number of what I once assumed were bright young people infected with white supremacy and male privilege.

I seriously blame public education going back at least to the start of the Reagan era - maybe longer. Students are not exposed to literature and art or for that matter a balanced, in depth look at history. They seem to learn punditry, and they have a surface sophistication but it is not deep and often not knowledgeable.

Back to the point, I do interact with the opposition daily. I guess I'm used to it, but it is a sad vison I often see. I really fear for our society some days.
 

TexanStar

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I'm in Texas (and in a county that voted for Trump by a 10 point margin).

On the one hand, I know those people are around here. On the flip side, I've not once overheard a bigoted remark. I've seen a few rude bumper stickers, but day to day I think people avoid politics in public life. The Texas I know first-hand is more like the other day when I went to wendy's and this older, blue collar white guy was carrying on light conversation in Spanish with this younger latino woman in front of me. They were both smiling and shooting the breeze. No screaming about border walls and rapists coming across the border, just gabbing in Spanish while waiting for a square burger and fries.

I have heard some anti-Trump sentiments in public. Mostly complaints about how he foments hate. Like I don't hear complaints about his policies so much as I hear complaints that he's actively trying to start fights between citizens (which is a very valid complaint).
 

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Several long time family friends are conservative/Republican. Some family members too. There's more hostility as of the past couple years, but generally in person I get along fine with them even though we disagree completely on so many things.

There have been more than a couple times where a conversation has to be abandoned because it gets to a point where there's no actual discussion being had, but I haven't had anyone disown me because I'm not on the same side of the political spectrum they are... And I haven't disowned anyone in my personal life for being a trump supporter.

There's a word I should add... YET. Time will tell if things will stay as civil as they have been for us (us being people in my face to face personal life, not society in general).
 

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I do for much of my day, pretty much every day. I live not too far outside San Francisco, so I'm very much the odd one out in terms of worldview. My capacity to hear out, engage, and learn from opposing POV is constantly developing. However, given the way people around here often react to deviation from the regional orthodoxy, I'm quite cautious about expressing myself and I usually am holding a lot back.
 

malakos

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This lady had a college degree - from a good school!

Higher education from a good school should provide a good deal of background information, and more importantly a complex of tools to enhance thinking abilities. People seemingly often assume that means one will be led down a specific track of "enlightened" thinking. But, to varying degrees, everyone chooses what they want to believe, and becoming educated doesn't fundamentally change that.
 
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Jjz1109

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In the current environment I find my friends, co-workers and aquaintences avoid politics at all costs, and if it happens to pop up, someone invariably changes the subject very quickly. I don’t believe people want to get into these discussions, whichever side they may be on.

Closer to home, I have a sister-in-law and brother-in-law (not married) who have diametrically opposing political views from me. Any political discussion with my sister-in-law is impossible as it has in the past immediately escalated from 0-60 in just seconds, often resulting in her screaming and yelling and saying things things that shouldn’t be said. Her husband has had to intercede to keep family peace. My brother-in law is equally fervent in his political views, but is able to make points and engage in discussion. Ironically, these two family members do not get along, mostly because they’re on different intellectual and educational levels. In any case, I see these family members only a number of times a year, and it is now generally understood that politics are not brought up under any circumstances.
 

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I see these family members only a number of times a year, and it is now generally understood that politics are not brought up under any circumstances.

That's basically my situation. My wife's parents a Trump supporters (although I'm not sure how strong). My wife's sister and her sister's husband are the definitive Northeast Liberal Elites. They always know more than you do (mostly because they won't discuss anything they're not experts in to begin with). My wife and I fall into the middle somewhere.

Politics is rarely a topic among friends, and it's always quickly passed over with nervous laughter.

We're in a Red state, by the way.
 
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Chrysippus

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But, to varying degrees, everyone chooses what they want to believe, and becoming educated doesn't fundamentally change that.

‘everyone chooses what they want to believe’ is a generalization you offer without conclusive proof; ‘becoming educated doesn’t fundamentally change that’ is another such generalization.

Granted, to you it may seem so because of the limits of your own experience with the sample you know. Glad you can settle for that. I can’t because in my experience those statements are not universally and categorically true.
 
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tripod

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The Republicans are insane, I don't agree with hardly any of their platform or party goals.

The Democrats have gone insane and I don't agree hardly with any of their goals or party platforms either.

Libertarians are frauds.

That's basically who I am surrounded by and I don't agree with any of them. So I interact with the opposition nearly 100% of the time. I certainly don't share an ideology with anybody here on this site...

I'm a DJ so I work with the general public and meet many people every week & have conversations with dozens of strangers regularly. Most of them don't know what the fuck they are talking about.

I have a small family, no wife or longterm girlfriend, one child, one brother, grandparents are dead... cousins I don't ever talk to. One step parent that is a conservative and one that is a liberal. My Dad is a partisan Democrat with Trump derangement syndrome and my Mom is largely apolitical but leans left.

My daughter and brother are my closest relatives and we are in 100% agreement about everything though which is wonderful.

My friends range from Trump deranged Democrats to MAGA hat wearing conservatives but are mostly apolitical musician types who lean left but aren't glued to their newsfeed.
 

keenobserver

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The Republicans are insane, I don't agree with hardly any of their platform or party goals.

The Democrats have gone insane and I don't agree hardly with any of their goals or party platforms either.

Libertarians are frauds.

That's basically who I am surrounded by and I don't agree with any of them. So I interact with the opposition nearly 100% of the time. I certainly don't share an ideology with anybody here on this site...

I'm a DJ so I work with the general public and meet many people every week & have conversations with dozens of strangers regularly. Most of them don't know what the fuck they are talking about.

I have a small family, no wife or longterm girlfriend, one child, one brother, grandparents are dead... cousins I don't ever talk to. One step parent that is a conservative and one that is a liberal. My Dad is a partisan Democrat with Trump derangement syndrome and my Mom is largely apolitical but leans left.

My daughter and brother are my closest relatives and we are in 100% agreement about everything though which is wonderful.

My friends range from Trump deranged Democrats to MAGA hat wearing conservatives but are mostly apolitical musician types who lean left but aren't glued to their newsfeed.

I do appreciate your post here. You had mentioned before you worked in wedding related services - which can encompass a lot, but for some reason your deejay credential really alters my perception of you - in a positive way - but I'm hard pressed to give you a coherent reason why. I appreciate you putting it out there.
 
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I am a radical moderate, so I can't get along with either side anymore; although as @tripod previously stated I too am surrounded by the opposition.
 
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The Republicans are insane, I don't agree with hardly any of their platform or party goals.

The Democrats have gone insane and I don't agree hardly with any of their goals or party platforms either.

Libertarians are frauds.

Amen. Probably the most concise way to capture the current political climate.
 

TexanStar

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The Democrats have gone insane and I don't agree hardly with any of their goals or party platforms either.

Amen. Probably the most concise way to capture the current political climate.

Hrm. I'm moderate and I'm good with the bulk of the Democratic Party platform: Party Platform - Democrats

I can cherry pick things in the GOP platform I'm okay with, but there's a lot more bullshit in it I find unappealing: Republican Party Platform | GOP

As America has polarized, the influence of the liberal and conservative wings on their respective parties has grown larger, but the portion of the Democratic party that identifies as moderate is higher in the Democratic party than in the Republican party (1/3 moderate -vs- 1/4 moderate).

https://news.gallup.com/poll/225074/conservative-lead-ideology-down-single-digits.aspx

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