MegaSack DRAW - 6pm Christmas Eve - LIVE on our YouTube Channel
if a friend had a different political outlook to yours, would that offend you?
would you become not friends.
No.
Largely no, but I suppose it'd depend on the views. ie if they were politically racist or what not, then I'd guess I'd question the friendship. in general no, but it'd depend.
No. I don't make/break friends based on their political outlook.
A friend of mine is pretty racists and makes derogatory comments about some races. But who am I to judge his opinion?
Are we counting UKIP/BNP like opinions as 'political outlook' or just an indication of stupidity? Probably yes if we are.
Depends how rabid they were. I'm pretty moderate in my views, but I'm not sure I'd be able to get on with anyone that was fanatical about pushing their agenda to me every time I met them.
Them's the friends you want!!
Who the hell wants to go to the pub and have a nice conversation where you're in general agreement with each other? About politics? Wheres the fun in that?
**** that!
You want mates who you violently disagree with on pretty much every subject imaginable, so that you can have massive arguments, (sometimes, after a few too many, leading to you having to be physically separated) and spend the evening having sly digs, and making completely insulting remarks! Thats a proper night out!
😀
Depends. If by "political" you actually mean racist, bigoted & narrow minded etc, then yes, that person probably wouldn't be my friend for long. If they just thought that the Tories were great, but I don't then no problem.
No, not at all.
It would depend.
I'm a typical middle-class mildly hang-wringing liberal, and if he or she voted Labour or Tory, then fine. If they started agreeing with UKIP I'd probably think they were a bit naive/dim, but that would be about it. If they started attending BNP rallies I doubt our friendship would last.
Generally no, though mention anything positive about 'britain first' and there is a strong chance I won't speak to you again.
You want mates who you violently disagree with on pretty much every subject imaginable, so that you can have massive arguments, (sometimes, after a few too many, leading to you having to be physically separated) and spend the evening having sly digs, and making completely insulting remarks! Thats [s]a proper night out[/s] the STW of yesteryear!
ftfy
I've had (and have) many friends and family with differing political views, I sometimes vainly imagine that we all have a moderating effect on each other 😉
Have had fall- outs too but it's usually over moral issues, and usually ends in ribald disbelieving laughter and pisstaking (moderating, see!) I suppose moral issues are at the centre of many political orientations. Friends over politics any day. Disclaimer - I've never knowingly befriended a Neo-Nazi. Have 'unfriended' a few old acquaintances on certain social media tho, just couldn't bear the drivel.
A friend of mine is pretty racists and makes derogatory comments about some races. But who am I to judge his opinion?
Ah! Now that would be different I'd not even give them the time of day in that case.
No, as per @binners post having people with different views helps you understand alternative perspectives.
I'd a best mate I grew up with for years, and I eventually just started ignoring him till I no longer see him anymore.johndoh - Member
A friend of mine is pretty racists and makes derogatory comments about some races. But who am I to judge his opinion?
From not long after our 20s started, his views just kept getting more racist as the years went on. I tried to convince him otherwise, but it was futile and I just didn't want to be around it any longer. I've not seen him for 10 years, and I've not missed him in the slightest.
No, and I can't understand people that fall out/won't talk to someone because of their views on a particular subject whatever it might be
People are different, with different outlooks, views, childhoods, aspirations
It makes for good conversations/arguments 😆
I [s]am offended by[/s] dislike [b]apathy[/b], far more than other political views
Ah! Now that would be different I'd not even give them the time of day in that case.
Why not? Someone's political views do not make up their whole. I have known this person pretty much my entire life, through primary school, secondary and onwards as a friend. I know all his views about different things such as relationships, family life, social responsibility etc and I feel that his better points make up for his negative ones. And as I said, why should I judge a person based on their views anyway? He is entitled to have them.
The Referendum up here in Scotland outed a few opposing views among my friends. We are all too horribly middle-class for Binners approach though, and agreed not to discuss it. Has made my think twice about a few people in my acquaintance, but not close friends.
I'm with you johndoh
Everyone has their own opinion, sometimes idiotic, but it's their view not mine
It's a moral issue rather than a political issue that determines friendships for me.
I have friends with wildly differing political views. No problems, even over immigration.
But to actually be racist - as opposed to xenophobic - is a moral position I can't tolerate, same with criminal matters.
No
Funnily enough my wife just asked (thnks Jeremy Vine phone-in) if 'you had nematode parasite worms living in your brain would you kill yourself?'
'No I'd foster political views that are so repellant to worm life that they would all exit via my nose'.
So long as the weren't members of the Judean People's Front SPLITTERS!
As above, being racist or whatever does not necessarily make someone a bad person - just ignorant. I would have to disown my parents otherwise 😀 It is better to just challenge these views instead I think.Ah! Now that would be different I'd not even give them the time of day in that case.
Of course there is a difference between just having such views and going out of your way to spout them in order to cause offence. That is just being a nob.
We are all too horribly middle-class for Binners approach though, and agreed not to discuss it.
I think the after-dinner activists who want to talk political waffle among themselves half pissed tend to be rather middle-class.
If you want to avoid that sort of bollocks I would suggest a more working-class environment.
Why not?
Because I don't like racists.
That was what it ended up like and ultimately the tipping point that made think, ohh just **** right off..zilog6128 - Member
Ah! Now that would be different I'd not even give them the time of day in that case.
As above, being racist or whatever does not necessarily make someone a bad person - just ignorant. I would have to disown my parents otherwise It is better to just challenge these views instead I think.
Of course there is a difference between just having such views and [b]going out of your way to spout them in order to cause offence. That is just being a nob.[/b]
"saddened" is probably more accurate.
One of my best, oldest friends has recently started 'liking' a lot of posts on FB from pages like "I'm Proud to be British" the stuff he likes is usually their "flags for orphans" type posts designed to suck in people - but a lot of their stuff is seriously Xenophobic and whatnot.
He also voted UKIP recently, we're both adult enough to discuss it without it turning into an argument, but he thinks voting UKIP is some kind of nose thumb at the establishment - I tried to show that even if you set aside their far-right views a UKIP government would decimate working class people like us, but he doesn't see it, as far as he's concerned Labour and the Conservatives are "equally bad" - but I can't draw him into exactly why.
Im not so desperate for companionship that I would be friends with anyone who's views are diametrically opposedp to mine. That doesn't mean I live in a world of folks that all agree on stuff, but why waste time and energy being friends with racist misogynistic folks when im just going to want to scrape their face off with a hammer drill?
One of the things that interesting for me about STW is I get to hear what people with differing political views to me think.
Until I started using STW I'd never knowingly encountered a tory. CHF broke my cherry, as when the tories were in the total political wilderness his was the [i]only[/i] tory voice I was aware of. And in many senses he's an a-typical tory.
Its not a question I have to face that I'd choose to cease being a friend of someone because our views differed its more that the social accidents that have to happen to lead to me meeting someone and developing a friendship don't seem to happen with people who would voice wildly differing views to me.
It must be the case that I know tory voters, but I think tory voters generally keep their views very quiet. They'd have no problems trumpeting them on an anonymous platform like STW or in the bottom half of the internet, they'd be more guarded in person on even on platforms like Facebook. There must also be environments you can move in where tories don't meet any lefties and can talk tory with impunity but for myself - with a social and professional circle that includes all the social strata from homeless junkies to the landed gentry - I haven't found myself in one of those environments yet.
Having followed this thread I am vowing to become more accepting of other people's opinions. Even if they are completely wrong.
A mate of mine in work is an horrendous racist but he's Eastern European and I don't think he knows any better. My aim is to rehabilitate the bloody commie and make a good Westerner out of him.
What a dreadful idea ernie - I might catch poor people germs. Or start pronouncing the t in often. It just doesn't bear thinking about.
You RACERIST!*Because I don't like racists.
*this may not be a real word.
I think the after-dinner activists who want to talk political waffle among themselves half pissed tend to be rather middle-class.If you want to avoid that sort of bollocks I would suggest a more working-class environment.
Absolutely. Its miles more fun to have it out outside the kebab house at 3 in the morning, while someone yells 'leave it Darren!! Heres not worth it!!!!' 😀
I went to uni with a girl who had opposite political view to me but I did fancy quite a bit. Although not in a way where I thought anything could ever happen, due to said political views.. she's now late 30s like me and still rather nice, but still the same situation!
Racist/Homophobic/Genocidal politics thrust down my neck would annoy me I'm sure.
But then again, that kind of person would never have become my friend in the first place.
Within reason no, I wouldn't be offended by a different political view. But, if I'm honest it probably depends on how extreme the view and whether they are rubbing my face in it.
Political debate among friends is great especially with those tied to dogmatic political positions. But concerned that MIL buys and even reads the Wail. However....
I couldn't really GAS, if you cannot argue with your mates then its time to give up.
It's only politics for god sake. Maybe if you were married to them and they insisted on ramming it down your throat it would be annoying but a mate? Bigger things to worry about.
