The Six Steps To Dealing With Liberal Friends And Family
Scape @ Tue Aug 05, 2008 12:32 pm
$1:
#1) Avoid talking about politics in the first place. I mean, if you think George Bush is the Truman of his time, a man who will be vindicated by history for bringing freedom to the Middle East and your friend thinks he's Hitler, it's going to be hard to bridge the gap -- especially since there are probably 50 issues where you have that big of a disagreement. So, try to stay away from politics in general.
#2) Be big enough to handle disagreements. If you can't handle the fact that your friend thinks Michael Moore is a cinematic genius and that Barack Obama is a "lightbringer," then how are you going to be able to hold up your end of the friendship? You have to just realize that you're not going to agree on some very important issues and deal with it.
#3) Correct them gently. I hate to be this blunt, but in my experience, the average person thinks it's very important to know about politics, but simultaneously, is horribly uninformed about the subject compared to the typical person who reads blogs, listens to talk radio, etc. So as a general rule, most people believe all sorts of things that are ridiculous, completely incorrect, that some "friend of a friend" told them, etc.
With that in mind, if you are well informed, it's generally very easy to make them look like an idiot. Don't do this. Feel free to politely disagree with them if they are wrong and then move on. If THEY ask for a follow-up, explain your opinion, in neutral language -- and then try to move on from politics.
#4) Do you want to be friends or do you want to prove you're right? I'm not saying you should go along to get along, because I don't believe in doing that, but people get very sensitive about how little they know about politics. If you rub it in their faces or make them look like idiots, which incidentally, is what generally makes for a good blog post =D, it's going to upset them. It's one thing to do that to liberal bloggers or liberals in a comment section, whom you probably don't care about one way or the other, but it's another thing to do that to your friends and family. So, let them know you disagree, but don't make a huge issue out of it or humiliate them.
#5) Remember that people are not groups. As a group, liberals suck. They're dishonest, selfish, hedonistic, and slowly eating away at everything that's good, decent, and worthwhile about American society. However, your friend or a family member is not "liberals;" he's just a person. Treat him like an individual and don't try to make him bear the sins of liberals everywhere. That's too heavy of a burden for anyone to bear.
#6) Just realize it may not work. I find that there are liberals and then there are fanatical liberals. Liberals who aren't all that into politics, you can have fairly normal discussions with. On the other hand, the fanatical liberals tend to infuse politics into every part of their life and if you are conservative, they genuinely see you as a bad person just because you don't agree with them. Realistically, you're probably not going to be able to be friends with someone like that, no matter how great you are as a friend, unless you want to be a doormat who spends all your time getting browbeaten and pretending you agree with him.
#2) Be big enough to handle disagreements. If you can't handle the fact that your friend thinks Michael Moore is a cinematic genius and that Barack Obama is a "lightbringer," then how are you going to be able to hold up your end of the friendship? You have to just realize that you're not going to agree on some very important issues and deal with it.
#3) Correct them gently. I hate to be this blunt, but in my experience, the average person thinks it's very important to know about politics, but simultaneously, is horribly uninformed about the subject compared to the typical person who reads blogs, listens to talk radio, etc. So as a general rule, most people believe all sorts of things that are ridiculous, completely incorrect, that some "friend of a friend" told them, etc.
With that in mind, if you are well informed, it's generally very easy to make them look like an idiot. Don't do this. Feel free to politely disagree with them if they are wrong and then move on. If THEY ask for a follow-up, explain your opinion, in neutral language -- and then try to move on from politics.
#4) Do you want to be friends or do you want to prove you're right? I'm not saying you should go along to get along, because I don't believe in doing that, but people get very sensitive about how little they know about politics. If you rub it in their faces or make them look like idiots, which incidentally, is what generally makes for a good blog post =D, it's going to upset them. It's one thing to do that to liberal bloggers or liberals in a comment section, whom you probably don't care about one way or the other, but it's another thing to do that to your friends and family. So, let them know you disagree, but don't make a huge issue out of it or humiliate them.
#5) Remember that people are not groups. As a group, liberals suck. They're dishonest, selfish, hedonistic, and slowly eating away at everything that's good, decent, and worthwhile about American society. However, your friend or a family member is not "liberals;" he's just a person. Treat him like an individual and don't try to make him bear the sins of liberals everywhere. That's too heavy of a burden for anyone to bear.
#6) Just realize it may not work. I find that there are liberals and then there are fanatical liberals. Liberals who aren't all that into politics, you can have fairly normal discussions with. On the other hand, the fanatical liberals tend to infuse politics into every part of their life and if you are conservative, they genuinely see you as a bad person just because you don't agree with them. Realistically, you're probably not going to be able to be friends with someone like that, no matter how great you are as a friend, unless you want to be a doormat who spends all your time getting browbeaten and pretending you agree with him.
BartSimpson @ Tue Aug 05, 2008 12:36 pm
$1:
As a group, liberals suck. They're dishonest, selfish, hedonistic, and slowly eating away at everything that's good, decent, and worthwhile about American society.
I agree.
Benoit @ Tue Aug 05, 2008 12:42 pm
The first step to get rid of abuse of power: we admitted we were powerless over power - that our lives had become unmanageable.
Zipperfish @ Tue Aug 05, 2008 12:56 pm
I love the part where he says that
$1:
the average person thinks it's very important to know about politics, but simultaneously, is horribly uninformed about the subject compared to the typical person who reads blogs, listens to talk radio, etc.
Yeah, that's teh way to stay informed--read blogs and listen to talk radio.
bootlegga @ Tue Aug 05, 2008 1:00 pm
A reader could just as easily drop the replace 'liberal' with 'conservative'...
BartSimpson @ Tue Aug 05, 2008 1:24 pm
Zipperfish Zipperfish:
Yeah, that's teh way to stay informed--read blogs and listen to talk radio.
Says the guy who cruises a certain internet forum for much of his news and commentary.
Benoit @ Tue Aug 05, 2008 1:30 pm
BartSimpson BartSimpson:
Zipperfish Zipperfish:
Yeah, that's teh way to stay informed--read blogs and listen to talk radio.
Says the guy who cruises a certain internet forum for much of his news and commentary.
Internet forums are not places to make friends either.
BartSimpson @ Tue Aug 05, 2008 1:47 pm
I don't know about that. I've made some nice friends over the years on this forum and on a couple of others, too.
Benoit @ Tue Aug 05, 2008 1:51 pm
BartSimpson BartSimpson:
I don't know about that. I've made some nice friends over the years on this forum and on a couple of others, too.
Allies are not friends.
Zipperfish @ Tue Aug 05, 2008 1:53 pm
BartSimpson BartSimpson:
Zipperfish Zipperfish:
Yeah, that's teh way to stay informed--read blogs and listen to talk radio.
Says the guy who cruises a certain internet forum for much of his news and commentary.
For commentary--you bet. For news--not so much. Actually, I've had to cancel my newspaper subscription, and I rarely watch TV. I can't say I'm missing the news very much. A lot of my friends are going on about the McCain / Obama contest, and I'm feeling none-the-poorer for being relatively uninformed on the issue. So much of it is just noise. I find reading retrospective journals (Economist / Journal of Foreign Affairs, etc.) to be a good way to keep track without all the silliness from the pundits and political archers.
BartSimpson @ Tue Aug 05, 2008 1:55 pm
Um, no, I've actually met and made friends with a few people I first knew online. One of the people from this site moved from Toronto a couple years ago to near Sacramento and we stay in touch and my wife and I even attended her wedding in November 2007.
Zipperfish @ Tue Aug 05, 2008 1:57 pm
BartSimpson BartSimpson:
I don't know about that. I've made some nice friends over the years on this forum and on a couple of others, too.
Yeah, I get along fine wiht you, and a lot of other staunch conservatives on this site. That, in and of itself, belies this article. And, more importantly, the views of conservatives have changed my views on matters. I hopefully, my views have influenced some of my conservative friends.
Arctic_Menace @ Tue Aug 05, 2008 2:00 pm
BartSimpson BartSimpson:
$1:
As a group, liberals suck. They're dishonest, selfish, hedonistic, and slowly eating away at everything that's good, decent, and worthwhile about American society.
I agree.
Bart, I can't lie...
I have suddenly lost any and all respect I've ever had for you if you truly stand by that statement.
Benoit @ Tue Aug 05, 2008 2:05 pm
Arctic_Menace Arctic_Menace:
BartSimpson BartSimpson:
$1:
As a group, liberals suck. They're dishonest, selfish, hedonistic, and slowly eating away at everything that's good, decent, and worthwhile about American society.
I agree.
Bart, I can't lie...
I have suddenly lost any and all respect I've ever had for you if you truly stand by that statement.
There is nothing like a bad (stereotypic) joke to be able to recognize who are your allies.
hwacker @ Tue Aug 05, 2008 2:42 pm
Arctic_Menace Arctic_Menace:
BartSimpson BartSimpson:
$1:
As a group, liberals suck. They're dishonest, selfish, hedonistic, and slowly eating away at everything that's good, decent, and worthwhile about American society.
I agree.
Bart, I can't lie...
I have suddenly lost any and all respect I've ever had for you if you truly stand by that statement.
it's true though, hard to handle eh ?