# US voters: Are you afraid of the other side, and to what extent? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 1, 2021, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-voters-are-you-afraid-of-the-other-side-and-to-what-extent/953659 "2021-11-01T23:43:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2023, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-voters-are-you-afraid-of-the-other-side-and-to-what-extent/953659/221 "2023-09-10T00:47:26Z")
Moderating: > [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](#): > > They are fine with you putting stupid bumper stickers on your car and yelling let’s go Biden but they may have a problem with you unvaccinated crotch monkeys spreading easily avoided diseases because you don’t believe in science (they don’t care about the beliefs, just the diseases). This is dangerously close to a personal attack. You may have meant the collective “you,” but the comment could equally be taken as directed at the person to whom you are responding. Don’t do this. ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2023, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-voters-are-you-afraid-of-the-other-side-and-to-what-extent/953659/222 "2023-09-10T00:53:55Z")
As a Libertarian, my other “side” is communists, I think. I am not afraid of the American ones. ---
**Author:** ![El\_DeLuxo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_deluxo/32/9043_2.png) [@El\_DeLuxo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_DeLuxo)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2023, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-voters-are-you-afraid-of-the-other-side-and-to-what-extent/953659/223 "2023-09-10T02:55:04Z")
I’m on neither. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2023, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-voters-are-you-afraid-of-the-other-side-and-to-what-extent/953659/224 "2023-09-10T16:18:43Z")
> [@El\_DeLuxo](#): > > If your side doesn’t have the track record wrt oppressive tendencies and behaviors oif the competition, it is only because your side lacks the physical and political power to do so. If you think the will to punish nonconformity isn’t part of your side’s agenda, like I said to someone else upstream, you’re either naive or propagandized. Anybody genuinely totalitarian isn’t on my “side”, whether they claim to be right wing or left. “My side” is the anti-totalitarian side. For the most part, in the USA, that’s been more the left than the right. That’s certainly true currently. There certainly are totalitarian leftists; but they’re not the ones getting elected. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_fun_ball/32/17664_2.png) [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Fun_Ball)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2023, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-voters-are-you-afraid-of-the-other-side-and-to-what-extent/953659/225 "2023-09-10T18:40:57Z")
Right. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2023, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-voters-are-you-afraid-of-the-other-side-and-to-what-extent/953659/226 "2023-09-10T20:06:51Z")
Right. As of right now, in the US a highly visible, loud and conspicuous part of the “right” is a clear danger to my safety and well-being and that of my fellow citizens and our descendants. While the more visible, loud and conspicuous part of the “left”… on a bad day causes me to roll my eyes in annoyance. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2023, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-voters-are-you-afraid-of-the-other-side-and-to-what-extent/953659/227 "2023-09-11T14:14:18Z")
Mike Huckabee, who was once a presidential candidate and a former governor of my state, went on national televison warning us that convicting Trump will mean future presidential elections will be resolved with bullets rather than ballots. Republican leaders like Marjorie Taylor Greene have continued to demonstrate that they no longer care about the United States, democratic values, and are just itching for a fight. I don’t expect a civil war, and I’m sure Trump has been disappointed his calls for protests and action have gone unheeded, but I do expected isolated examples of violence. My MAGAt mother bought at AR-15 last year. This is a woman who hadn’t used a firearm since Reagan was in office and she felt the need to buy one last year. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2023, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-voters-are-you-afraid-of-the-other-side-and-to-what-extent/953659/228 "2023-09-11T14:27:42Z")
The Democratic Party may be disappointing in its lukewarm approach to much needed systemic election reform but Republicans are only too comfortable wielding power with an iron fist whether they have majority support or not. So, yeah, the other side’s hostility to democracy scares the crap out of me. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2023, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-voters-are-you-afraid-of-the-other-side-and-to-what-extent/953659/229 "2023-09-11T22:01:28Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > My MAGAt mother bought at AR-15 last year. This is a woman who hadn’t used a firearm since Reagan was in office and she felt the need to buy one last year. But did she get it to join the insurrectionist – er, ah, great patriotic save our country army, or to defend herself from the antifa hordes roaming the countryside? ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2023, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-voters-are-you-afraid-of-the-other-side-and-to-what-extent/953659/230 "2023-09-11T22:04:00Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > But did she get it to join the insurrectionist – er, ah, great patriotic save our country army, or to defend herself from the antifa hordes roaming the countryside? When I asked her why she bought it I couldn’t get more of an answer then “Because I wanted to.” Which is her standard answer she she knows I’m asking her a question about her actions because I think she’s headed for a cliff. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2023, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-voters-are-you-afraid-of-the-other-side-and-to-what-extent/953659/231 "2023-09-11T22:08:16Z")
Ah. Could be both, then. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2024, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-voters-are-you-afraid-of-the-other-side-and-to-what-extent/953659/232 "2024-04-22T15:50:37Z")
Gonna bump this one because… in a test of this hypothesis… the Godfarter, Don Snoreleone, has called upon MAGA to rally around courthouses across the country. > ---
**Author:** ![Akaj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/akaj/32/145_2.png) [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2024, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-voters-are-you-afraid-of-the-other-side-and-to-what-extent/953659/233 "2024-04-22T16:05:16Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > the Godfarter, Don Snoreleone, has called upon MAGA to rally around courthouses across the country. Why does he think MAGA crowds _aren’t_ allowed to peacefully protest? More to the point, how many MAGAts actually believe it? ---
**Author:** ![BrickBat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2024, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-voters-are-you-afraid-of-the-other-side-and-to-what-extent/953659/234 "2024-04-22T16:05:43Z")
What a maroon. Still though, I do find it interesting that he encourages his base by quoting the same man who brought us the [sic] _soshulist_ New Deal. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2024, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-voters-are-you-afraid-of-the-other-side-and-to-what-extent/953659/235 "2024-04-22T17:02:21Z")
> [@Akaj](#): > > Why does he think MAGA crowds _aren’t_ allowed to peacefully protest? Well, there aren’t any massive protests across that country against the prosecution of Trump, so it must be that they are being suppressed. That is my read on his Twuth. Not a call to arms, but an excuse as to why his call to arms have thus far been ignored. ---
**Author:** ![Akaj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/akaj/32/145_2.png) [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2024, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-voters-are-you-afraid-of-the-other-side-and-to-what-extent/953659/236 "2024-04-22T17:44:21Z")
You’re probably right – but I can also see MAGAts reading that and, within days, it becomes an inarguable “fact” in RW-land that white Christian groups are prohibited from public protests. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2024, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-voters-are-you-afraid-of-the-other-side-and-to-what-extent/953659/237 "2024-04-22T18:13:05Z")
> [@Akaj](#): > > but I can also see MAGAts reading that and, within days, it becomes an inarguable “fact” in RW-land that white Christian groups are prohibited from public protests. And they’re not self-aware enough to understand that, if they want Massive Protests, they themselves have to get off their asses to do the protesting. Scene: Bubba and Cletus are watching Fox News, and discussing politics. Bubba: Man, Cletus, why don’t the Tee-Vee never show no massive protests for Trump? Cletus: Fuck, man I dunno. _\>Cracks open another Natty Light.\<_ Switch the Tee-Vee over to the wrastlin’. I hears they’s beatin’ up them trans-jenners now! ---
**Author:** ![Akaj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/akaj/32/145_2.png) [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2024, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-voters-are-you-afraid-of-the-other-side-and-to-what-extent/953659/238 "2024-04-22T19:14:32Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > > [@Akaj](#): > > > > but I can also see MAGAts reading that and, within days, it becomes an inarguable “fact” in RW-land that white Christian groups are prohibited from public protests. > > And they’re not self-aware enough to understand that, if they want Massive Protests, they themselves have to get off their asses to do the protesting. Plus they probably think all those other groups have nothing better to do, whereas they are hard-workin’ Americans who don’t have the time or luxury to go protest stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2024, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-voters-are-you-afraid-of-the-other-side-and-to-what-extent/953659/239 "2024-04-22T19:18:37Z")
> [@Akaj](#): > > within days, it becomes an inarguable “fact” in RW-land that white Christian groups are prohibited from public protests. Well, it does give them a good excuse for why they are just sitting around doing nothing to help Trump, while at the same time giving themselves pats on the back for “supporting” Trump. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2024, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-voters-are-you-afraid-of-the-other-side-and-to-what-extent/953659/240 "2024-04-22T23:10:08Z")
Man, I hope the number of protestors is a HUGE disappointment to trump. HUGE! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-voters-are-you-afraid-of-the-other-side-and-to-what-extent/953659.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-voters-are-you-afraid-of-the-other-side-and-to-what-extent/953659.md?page=13)