He doesn’t sound like much of a friend. In this case I’d cut him loose if I were you. (There are exceptions to every rule. ;))
MyFootsZZZ, you have my sincerest sympathies. I have a brother-in-law who consumes conspiracy theories like they’re candy. Secret cabals of Jews run the world, the CIA engineered 9/11, you name it. The U.S. is pure evil, something he learned from, and keeps reinforcing with…wait for it…Russian Television videos on YouTube. Of course, he can’t just explain What They Don’t Want You To Know; he rants and rants and rants, hopping from CT to CT with a religious-like conviction until I want to strangle him.
Underneath all that, he’s really a decent guy. He’ll help anyone, anytime. We used to hang out a fair bit, but for my own sanity, I finally cut off contact with him and now see him only at family gatherings. At the last one, he was defending Donald Trump–and he’s been a die-hard socialist all his life.
After reading the OP, I guess I should be thankful that he’s the only person I know like that and was able to cut him out of my life. If I had to deal with several every day, I really don’t know if I could take it. Again, my sympathies.
Thank you. Very mature attitude; I copied this to my desktop and I’ll read it more than once as I endure my (far far right wing) family until November.
Thank you!
Yeah. All that you’ve explained sounds very familiar. I seem to attract these kinds of people in my life. :rolleyes:
I got some free tickets for it, so seeing it tonight. I figure at least we won’t have overpaid.
Sympathies about your work situation. Even when I worked with a guy whose views largely aligned with mine, I thought it was inappropriate to keep bringing it up at the office. I like a good political debate as much as most but not at work. Fortunately, the place I work now is pretty quiet about that stuff aside from an occasional “Trump’s Wall” joke.
Dude, I remember that dude. He taught the band to play.
I have a line that I’ve used at work a few times to cut off political conversations.
"Three things I don’t talk about at work - politics, religion, and sex."
Believe no good will ever come from having discussions at work about these three topics.
What do you talk about? I’m stuck on-boxing clothing for hours with about 5 people where I work…
I understand that ultimately I’m responsible for any debate I get into. I do.
It’s difficult for me to stay quiet when I hear people criticize my ways of thinking, (not knowingly).
Hope he has some friends left.
My tactic is to respond with something like, “How `bout those Carolina Hurricanes this season?”
It’s basically saying what leftfield6 said, while making them read b/t the lines.
And I’ll quote him on this next point, because this is quite true:
Go to your FB options and click it so that your aunt’s stuff doesn’t automatically pop up on your feed. As for coworkers, a gentle “I’m really busy right now, I don’t have time to talk” should shut down all but the most dogged ranters. I’d stop hanging out with them for breaks and lunch, if possible. Other than that, good luck, you only have 3 more months of this before you can bask in the light of winning
I don’t blame you for wanting a break from all that. It’s exhausting.
You could just say three words: “Snopes dot com”
To be more specific: the next time you see anything from them, click the little down arrow in the upper right of the post. You can “Hide Post” or “Unfollow [name].” It sounds like you’d rather do number 2. I did a lot of number 1, and got it to where politics rarely appears on my wall. It only shows up from people who normally don’t talk politics.
I sorta agree with SA and sorta don’t. Dumping a friend just because of their political views is dumb, but the views can reveal things about the person that makes them not someone you want to be friends with. Politics isn’t as ephemeral as all that–it entangles with morality a whole lot.
My work has rented out a theater, and is giving everyone free tickets to see it next week. During work hours. And we’ll still be on the clock. We’re actually going to be paid to watch it.
And after the reviews I’ve been reading, I’m still about 50/50 whether I’ll go or not.
Everyone experiences this. Even conservatives who have reasonable positions have to listen to someone who just became a liberal and is really excited about his new worldview but doesn’t understand it well enough to actually explain or defend it, all he can do is jeer at his opponents. There’s no one more evangelical than a newly converted acolyte of a particular philosophy, set of politics, or religion.
It’s insufferable, and universally so. It’s not just a liberal versus conservative phenomenon.
However, if you lack the self-awareness to understand that referring to black people as negroes, or women as dumb cunts, or your liberal co-workers as Dummycrats, then you probably don’t have the kind of self-awareness to realize when you’ve got no supporters, and the people who are nodding when you talk aren’t *actually *agreeing with you until they say something supportive. Sometimes you’re being insufferable and they’re just being polite and professional, and that means not taking turns ripping your belief system apart in an environment which is supposed to be one of colleagues who respect one another’s differences, and directly calling you a moron to your face like you’re doing to Democrats.
It may simply be my bias, but I ran into the above example daily, and not a whole lot of the liberal counterexample. I know it exists, I just didn’t see it. Probably because I wasn’t on a college campus.
Solutions? It’s tough.
It seems like the right thing to do, but that just leads to:
“Just another example of liberal tolerance. When people insist on spewing inflammatory bullshit that you can’t debunk or else you’re a brainwashed deluded latte-lapping liberal loonie leftie, and you try to shut down their FREEDUMB OF SPEECH, or cut them out of your life, that’s liberal tolerance for you! Liberals are ever so tolerant! Why can’t you just stand your ground and debate every single person who repeats racist and misogynistic rhetoric and thoroughly debunked talking points? What else do you have to do, your job?”
This being the reasonable response to the choice to not engage on political disagreements at work. Guy at the Pizza Hut I worked at spent all day talking about how great Trump was, and no one responded to him. Strangely, that never stopped him from continuing on and on about Trump.
You *can’t *tell him to give it a rest, because that’s liberal intolerance. But you also can’t engage, because sometimes it takes more than 140 characters to debunk Trump talking points, and the fucking phone is ringing, or I’ve been working for 11 hours straight and it’s now 3am and I want to go home and talk to my then-fiancee about our romantic future together.
BTW, I just paraphrased former Republican and still-conservative George Will. “He has an advantage on me,” (George) Will said on Fox News Sunday. “He can say everything he knows about any subject in 140 characters, and I can’t.”
Also, I’m your supervisor. Do you really want to argue politics with me and tell me I’m dumb while you’re on the clock? Is that the best way for our working relationship to remain professional?
Also, you’re a genuinely nice guy apart from politics and some outdated ideas about race. But you’re old, and I am giving you the old people’s pass and when I hear you say things which are offensive, I try not to hold it against you. But I still have a shred of respect for you, because I do like you in spite of your viewpoints. And if it were possible for you to ever change your mind, it’d be even better. But why ruin our working relationship by fighting this out? Why must you fight this particular battle in this very inappropriate location?
You absolutely want to debate me on it, let’s find neutral ground, not at work, or in my home or yours, and actually have a timer so we actually have to listen to each other and not shout over each other. And you and I are both free to walk away when it’s clear the opposing side is just being insulting. Bring a notebook so you can write down the cited sources I’ll have for you which are not liberal publications, but neutral and conservative ones. Be ready, because I’ll be quite prepared, so you’d better be as well.
Then I’d be willing.
Right now, at work?
Or in my home, at what’s supposed to be a nice, family dinner?
There’s a time and a place for discussions about ethics, philosophy, politics, religion, and controversy. And it’s not dinnertime, unless I’m allowed to disagree with you without you calling me stupid. And it’s not at work either.
Let me buy you a beer, off the clock. At the bar. Then you can talk about whatever you want, and I’ll actually respond. But I won’t guarantee you’ll like it.
I’ve been thinking about your dilemma MyFootsZZZ and I think I have come up with a solution. When people force you into a political conversation reply by saying that you are voting for Clinton because you are sexually attracted to her. Talk about her sexy voice and her smoking bod. Go into unnecessarily fine detail. Also mention that you like to drink milk past its expiration date.
I guarantee you’ll be avoided for future political discussion.
You’re welcome.
Oh, that is SO evil… I’m tempted to do that with my elderly mom who goes on and on about how evil Mrs. Clinton is: “Oh, but mom, if you could just start unbuttoning her pantsuit, then…”
So just be honest about my feelings for her? 
That’s an interesting collection of thoughts.
Even if I were to have a more “formal debate” with one of these people, it’s difficult to argue with ‘stupid’, when people are ready with stupid counter arguments.
Them: “Trumps not a biggot”
Me: “Nah! Only to that one Muslim who had lost his son fighting for our freedom.”
Them: “So what? You don’t think the Democrats and the media are usinng them?”
Me: “I didn’t say they weren’t… I’m just saying that…”
Them: “You know, Obama’s a muslim too, right?”
I don’t have what it takes to be quick on my feet.
Just saw this. Thanks, I hope it helps. 