We have been on a cross-country trip for the past couple of weeks, stopping when and where we feel like then moving on. Yesterday we stopped in a small tourist town and planned to stay for a couple of days. Every place we went; restaurants, shops, etc. the local owners/workers were loudly dissing on Obama for taking their guns, raising their taxes, increasing the cost of their health care. We blew out of town early, spending a fraction of what we would have.
Do you do this or just ignore it?
I left family gatherings over it permanently, so yeah, I’d definitely leave some tourist spot over it.
No, when I’m passing through conservative areas, I just expect it to be that way and filter out all of the political viewpoints I disagree with. I currently live in such an area where people will openly mutter about Obamacare while waiting in the post office queue.
I didn’t like to eat in the employee break room at work for years because of this. It was taken over by some very opinionated conservative folks, and they liked engaging me in conversation, unaware that I am a bleeding-heart liberal. I went out to buy my lunch instead, until the last of these folks retired or was transferred. I still prefer to eat elsewhere if I can help it, but now it’s because the break room was taken over by divorced coworkers who enjoy bashing their exes over lunch, something I don’t enjoy because I actually don’t hate my ex - imagine that!
I moved 2500 miles to get out of redneck country.
I dumped my older sister for her racist and anti-Semitic remarks (I don’t know if she is even dead or alive, and really do not care).
For a few days (burying my mother, mostly) I tolerated it - if it occurs in a place I want to be, I wouldn’t let it bother me - there are assholes everywhere.
I have a dislike of Mormonism - so my cross-country trip went around Utah. Do wish I’d have at least tries the SW corner (Bryce Canyon etc).
I was once banned from a conservative forum after I found out that racists there really get offended when you call them racists.
I don’t leave a place because of their politics, I leave a place because they try to force their politics on me.
I can happily eat in a gun totin’, conservative, GWB lovin’ steak house as long as they don’t try to convert me. If you don’t have signs up saying “OBummer” etc, and you can keep it to yourself, as long as you make a good steak we can agree to just let it go for the next hour.
However I get pissed when someone starts denigrating homosexuals or talking racist shit, because you have now crossed the line from politics to simply being a fucking piece of garbage and I have no need to be near you.
I respect you have your own opinion. That’s what makes America the place I choose to live. Allow me the courtesy of having my own opinion without trying to jam yours down my throat and I’ll be happy to frequent your establishment.
This is funny–I’m seriously considering moving from NY State to a redneck state so my vote will count. Far from the only reason, of course, but I’m prequalifying today for a mortgage on a Florida condo I saw over the weekend, and that’s one of the reasons I’m feeling good about this.
Seeing as how a large portion of my friends are conservatives, I’ve learned to just let it go for the most part. Fortunately, those things rarely get brought up because I’m pretty sure they know that I know far more about politics and would squash them in a debate.
No, I never leave a place because of politics. I think that’s mostly because I never go places where such political views are widely held. On the rare occasion that I do (such as northern Florida), politics are not talked about in my presence.
I’m not sure this is what you mean, but our family moved out of Montreal because of politics. Mainly it was my dad’s decision. I’ve told the story before on this message board.
Mostly, I try to avoid places that are deep, deep red.
Folks, do not do this, altho this is the easy path and I can understand. I had a friend at work years ago, a very conservative Log Cabin republican, who famously said to me when I recommended he read an article I was about to send him: “I don’t want to read anything I might disagree with.” I found his statement worthy of remembering, because it is instructive about keeping an open mind.
I do not avoid a place due to politics, but I have heard of people moving from California to Texas due to the politics, and that is their right.
I currently live in Montreal. I HATE the politics here. I am sometimes tempted to leave, but I’m deeply attached to Montreal and I have many friends here, and a class, and I may be getting a job here.
I grew up in Virginia, I know what I’m missing and I’m okay with it.
I moved from Texas TO California because I could no longer stand Texas politics or their politicians. I have never regretted it.
There are a couple of diners that my wife and I really enjoy (good food, nice service)…but they always have Fox news on in the corner.
If anyone actually ever said anything ridiculous to us I think we’d probably stop going. At least for a bit.
I loved Montreal, and still enjoy my increasingly rare visits to the city.
We left after the separatists started implementing the language laws in the late 70s. My dad decided that as someone who didn’t speak French, his career prospects were severely limited. We moved to Los Angeles.
Yep… Walked into a restaurant once, saw their ultra-conservative political motif – framed speeches by Limbaugh, big sloganeering posters, etc. – walked right out again.
And, as others have mentioned, walked out of family dinners, too, when the muck got too thick and too wet.
Leaving a business that’s pushing (my non-prefered) politics, definitely, but I couldn’t see leaving a town over it. Despite the much ballyhooed red/blue or urban/rural divide, when you actually look at the local level election results, there’s very few places in the US that are truly dominated by one party. Even precincts considered to be reliable for one party or another are usually only by a 10-20% margin, which means there are still a helluva lot of people who don’t agree with the allegedly dominant political paradigm.
Just because some blowhard business owner in a “reliably” Republican precinct apparently feels he can alienate 30-40% of his customers with some ridiculous in-your-face politicking doesn’t mean you should write off the whole town.
Although, to get somewhat introspective, even though I’d walk out of a restaurant with anti-Obama crap in a heartbeat, a lot of my favorite restaurants aren’t shy about pushing their food politics that I also generally disagree with and yet I’ve never considered not eating at them.