Oct 12, 02:23 AM by Kimberly | How to Lose Friends and Alienate People
Posted in Politics & Miscellanea
As election time draws closer, I hear more and more political comments by people I interact with. Some comments are mildly derisive towards Republicans, while others are downright insulting. Why do people think it’s ok to speak this way to people who they don’t know the political leaning of? Is the thought of actually talking to somebody that’s a Republican so alien to them that they assume everybody they talk to is a Democrat, and therefore it’s ok to insult Republicans? Are they saying “I’m talking to you, therefore you must be a Democrat. I mean, I can say this stuff because I wouldn’t be talking to you at all if you were a Republican.”? It sure seems like it. Somebody may say that they’re playing the odds, but they’re really not, because they think the odds of that person being a Republican is 0%.
If you want to lose freinds and alienate people this election season, show your intolerance for other views by either implying or saying outright that Republicans (or McCain supporters, this will work either way) are stupid/ unreasonable/ ignorant/ [insert derogative term here]. No matter that political leaning is as emotionally based as religion. You’d certainly lose freinds and alienate people if you walked around saying that all people that believe that Jesus is the son of God are stupid/ unreasonable/ ignorant/ [insert derogative term here], and it will work just as well for political leaning. Next time you’re talking to somebody whose world views you are not 100% certain of, think about this before you insult what could be theirs.
Append: I was reading theonion.com, and came across this article. This was too funny, and really nailed it.
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Unfortunately both McCain and Obama are bought and paid for, corporate puppets -break your left and right paradigm and support someone who isn’t a globalist and has no intention of protecting the sovereignty of our nation.
— Jason at Oct 12, 07:17 PMI think of political leaning as 2 dimensional, not one dimensional. Instead of just an x-axis for left or right, there is an x-axis for socially liberal or conservative, and a y-axis for fiscally liberal or conservative.
— Kim at Oct 12, 07:51 PMBut regardless of that, either McCain or Obama will win the election.
i turn and walk, no run, the other way when at work or family functions and this topic comes up. run, ride, just move faaast!
— aham23 at Oct 13, 02:40 PMKim – I sympathize with you. However, I think it’s mildly insulting to mention that people you have met insult Republicans. I would have given your post more merit if you simply stated that, this past political season, you found some comments to be inappropriate/in poor taste/insulting, in part because people made assumptions about you that they should have determined by asking you about first.
But tell me, would you still have been as insulted, once they knew of your own political leanings (if you really were to the right, because for all I know you’re a liberal), if people then went on to imply it was a dumb mistake to support Republicans? Which it was, of course. Kidding aside, whether or not someone knows the political leanings of another person, saying people are dumb, ignorant, etc., for holding certain beliefs is always going to be insulting.
As far as religion goes, I wouldn’t jam my ideas about reality down anyone’s throat who didn’t bring their own up first. After they do, I have no problem saying I believe those who think Jesus is the son of God, and/who who believe a god can exist, are misguided, or, brainwashed from childhood, or suffering from some traumatic event, and either have not or will not think through what the concept of believing in a god entails – essentially, it means putting faith in impossible contradictions.
Come tomorrow morning, I’ll be on my bike, in my church – the great outdoors, where I’ll experience nature and pavement, and not an imaginary god.
— Marc at Nov 22, 10:48 PMMarc, you miss the point. If you spout out your position on anything, you need to be prepared to accept the consequences of saying it to people who don't agree with you. Around Santa Barbara, most people assume I'm a liberal. If I were in Utah, people there would probably be assuming everyone they socialized with is a conservative.
Mentioning what happens is not an insult. It's a statement of fact.
Have fun on your bike.
— Kim at Nov 22, 11:10 PMMarc, We were at a dinner theater, and the people we were with said (to each other) “Can you believe that most of these people are republicans? They look like such reasonable people”. They had assumed we shared their views and the truth was that Kim did not. So the people we were being social with were saying to her face unknowingly that she seemed reason, the implication being that she was, of course, not reasonable because she was republican. The resulting conversation did not go well from that point. This was a clear case of them literally being insulting to republicans, on their face, not their merits. I don’t see how you can find her objection to that situation insulting.
— Steve at Nov 22, 11:27 PMYou could have mentioned what happened without discussing specific political parties that were slammed.
Bit I apologize for my intemperate remarks – maybe I’m just a bit saddle sore tonight. ;-)
The truth is, an insulting remark is an insulting remark, and my own point was – is – that people of all political stripes have – on purpose or accidentally – said insulting things to people they do and do not know.
I know you were only relating what you experienced, but insults have no political boundaries.
— Marc at Nov 22, 11:31 PMFair enough but I’m still not sure how you found a way to be insulted in what she wrote.
Also, if you will notice the time on the post, you will see that she wrote this at 2am. After driving home for 2 hours upset from the events that had transpired.
— Steve at Nov 22, 11:50 PMMarc, nowhere did I say that liberals are the only people that insult others. But it is true that as SB is a ‘liberal community’ that people will assume most people they socialize with are liberals. Therefore this particular situation arose.
And I did have a particular reason to mention the political parties involved. I was saying to the community that reads this that if they spout any judgemental crap out to me, I won't take it well. And as it's a liberal community, people would assume I was insulted by conservatives, and they would still go on saying crap.
— Kim at Nov 22, 11:55 PM