# Which is harder - being liberal and surrounded by conservatives, or vice versa **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 1, 2019, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-harder-being-liberal-and-surrounded-by-conservatives-or-vice-versa/831871 "2019-04-01T17:59:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2019, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-harder-being-liberal-and-surrounded-by-conservatives-or-vice-versa/831871/61 "2019-04-03T21:55:41Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > “Out in the middle of nowhere…” One of my favorite kinds of liberal bigotry. _Of course_ rural people are dangerous bigots. Is it bigotry if it’s true? In your opinion, are a guy wearing a dress or an interracial couple going around to bars out in “the middle of nowhere” taking a significant risk, or is it perfectly safe to flout social norms that way? I posit that conservatives flouting liberal norms might get criticism and/or mockery, but they are generally not considered to be at risk of physical attack. Possibly because the potential attackers expect the conservative to pull a gun and shoot them at the first hint of an excuse. > [@BeagleJesus](#): > > I think it’s significantly easier to be a liberal in a conservative area than vice versa. The reason: conservatives ain’t shit in a debate and (thanks to the Trump administration) it’s become increasingly easier to put their ignorance, bigotry and fear on display for all to see. I go into left vs. right debates armed with facts and a well thought out perspective and they come armed with bigotry, fear, conspiracy theories and the latest conjecture spoon fed to them by Fox News or some other information source prized for it’s truthiness. Once the conversation moves to an area that wasn’t discussed on Fox & Friends they are out of their depth and they know it…and then I win… > > I have found that if you do this enough they eventually start to avoid any conversation topic that will allow you to put their ignorance on display. It’s hard to talk shit about liberals to your conservative friends after those same friends saw a liberal hand you your ass and then gloat about it. > > I am one of a few black people living an area infested with Trump supporters and I am done playing nice. You can run rings around them, but it’s not like they ever admit defeat, so I find that the entertainment value is low. It’s like dealing with trolls, except they’re sincere. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2019, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-harder-being-liberal-and-surrounded-by-conservatives-or-vice-versa/831871/62 "2019-04-03T22:20:41Z")
I’m as liberal as they come, and I live in what is probably one of the most liberal areas in this country, i.e., brownstone Brooklyn. So, that said, my observation is that it is incredibly hard to be a conservative (or even have some attributes associated with conservatism, even if one is not a conservative) in this area. The liberals around here are \*total assholes \*towards conservatives. For example, from one of the local BBS/listserves/fora, I saw a post from a homeowner in the 'hood who had hired someone to do some flooring in her brownstone. The poor guy showed up wearing a t-shirt that apparently displayed some symbols associated with conservatism, or Trumpism (I forget, eagles or something). It wasn’t even a MAGA hat. So she refused him entry into her home. And this was pretty much applauded by everyone who read the post. Yeah, she taught him a lesson. Don’t differ with your betters. Vote the way the ruling class dicates, otherwise we’ll take away your very livelihood, your means of putting a roof over the head of, and food on the table for, your children. To admit that one is a Christian, of any stripe, from liberal Catholic (and believe me, liberal Catholics are pretty liberal), to absolute fundie, is to be socially ostracized. To deviate in any way from orthodox identity politics/intersectionality is to be shunned. And this comes up a lot in local community meetings when it comes to the local public schools, which my children attend. I’m getting tired of trying to convince my neighbors that every time we prove to some working dude that we are the ruling class, and he better get in line and think the way he’s told, we’re simply generating Trump voters for generations to come. I don’t want to see a President Ivanka someday, but some people seem determined to make it happen. This is just one area, where I live, but the OP was looking for anecdotal stuff. ---
**Author:** ![BeagleJesus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5daacb/32.png) [@BeagleJesus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeagleJesus)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2019, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-harder-being-liberal-and-surrounded-by-conservatives-or-vice-versa/831871/63 "2019-04-03T23:03:07Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > You can run rings around them, but it’s not like they ever admit defeat, so I find that the entertainment value is low. It’s like dealing with trolls, except they’re sincere. The entertainment comes from shattering their misguided concept that they can talk shit about liberals in front of a liberal, in all of their loud and ignorant glory, and the liberal isn’t allowed to say anything in response (also known as the conservative 1st amendment). I don’t go around starting shit but if I happen upon some bullshit in progress then I don’t mind helping myself. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2019, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-harder-being-liberal-and-surrounded-by-conservatives-or-vice-versa/831871/64 "2019-04-03T23:13:25Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > “Out in the middle of nowhere…” One of my favorite kinds of liberal bigotry. _Of course_ rural people are dangerous bigots. There is a film cliche where city/surburban folk go out into the country and are violently attacked by the country folk. (Bonus points if they are depicted as in-bred). Some examples include _Deliverance_, _The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,_ and _The Hills have Eyes_. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2019, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-harder-being-liberal-and-surrounded-by-conservatives-or-vice-versa/831871/65 "2019-04-03T23:20:50Z")
Liberals are intolerant of people who don’t think like them. Conservatives are intolerant of people who don’t look like them. ---
**Author:** ![rbroome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/838e76/32.png) [@rbroome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rbroome)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-harder-being-liberal-and-surrounded-by-conservatives-or-vice-versa/831871/66 "2019-04-04T00:42:06Z")
> [@puddleglum](#): > > They did an experiment where they had a person walk around a liberal area with a conservative message on their T shirt and vice versa. The person with the conservative message on their shirt got much more verbal abuse. Conservatives are just more tolerant. That has been my experience as well. I live in a very conservative area. For here, I would be considered liberal. Which makes me a moderate up north. I never hear any conservatives abuse liberal individuals. They don’t like liberal policies, and often don’t like liberal social causes, but rarely do they criticize “liberals” to their faces or as individuals (politicians excepted. All liberal politicians are referred to with scorn). Liberals OTOH, are quite willing to point out the moral failings of conservatives. At this point it seems almost like part of the definition of a liberal. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-harder-being-liberal-and-surrounded-by-conservatives-or-vice-versa/831871/67 "2019-04-04T01:24:59Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > Is it bigotry if it’s true? > > In your opinion, are a guy wearing a dress or an interracial couple going around to bars out in “the middle of nowhere” taking a significant risk, or is it perfectly safe to flout social norms that way? > > I posit that conservatives flouting liberal norms might get criticism and/or mockery, but they are generally not considered to be at risk of physical attack. I posit that you, like most bigots, are ignorant. What you think you know about rural people is almost certainly a product of movies and tv i.e. fiction. ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-harder-being-liberal-and-surrounded-by-conservatives-or-vice-versa/831871/68 "2019-04-04T01:33:21Z")
> [@Pantastic](#): > > But violent confrontations are common enough that it’s an expected result. Do you really think that a guy wearing a dress or an interracial couple going around to bars out in the middle of nowhere is taking no significant risk? Personal violence enforcing conservative norms is a routine and expected part of life. What do you mean by significant risk? My guess is an interracial couple is significantly more likely to beat each other up than ever be beaten up by randos “in the middle of nowhere”. > **[Intimate Partner Violence in Interracial and Monoracial Couples](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3611980/)** > > This study investigated intimate partner violence in interracial and monoracial relationships. Using a nationally representative sample, regression analyses indicated that interracial couples demonstrated a higher level of mutual IPV than monoracial... Violence against transgender people appears to be pretty evenly distributed geographically. > **[Fatal Violence Against the Transgender Community in 2018](https://www.hrc.org/resources/violence-against-the-transgender-community-in-2018)** > > As HRC continues to work toward justice and equality for transgender people, we mourn those we have lost. … Except in Florida. If you’re transgender in Florida, I’d move. I’d move anyway, but especially if I were transgender. ---
**Author:** ![raventhief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raventhief/32/4_2.png) [@raventhief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raventhief)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-harder-being-liberal-and-surrounded-by-conservatives-or-vice-versa/831871/69 "2019-04-04T02:11:19Z")
Which is worse, getting called nasty names or having the shit kicked out of you? ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-harder-being-liberal-and-surrounded-by-conservatives-or-vice-versa/831871/70 "2019-04-04T07:15:32Z")
“Sticks and stones can break my bones, but names will never hurt me.” > [@raventhief](#): > > Which is worse, getting called nasty names or having the shit kicked out of you? +++. Some liberals insult with words, but “conservatives” tend to be more violent. As **Wesley Clark** ’s stat above shows, killings by right-wingers outnumbered those by left-wingers 73 to 3. One right-wing Doper condoned Tim McVeigh’s mayhem against innocents in Oklahoma, while other right-wing Dopers still rant and rave about the time a petite antifa woman pushed a Nazi with her hands. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-harder-being-liberal-and-surrounded-by-conservatives-or-vice-versa/831871/71 "2019-04-04T09:51:26Z")
Well, one guy did ask which players were Republicans before shooting up a baseball game. So there’s at least one killer liberal out there. No one died, but that was just bad aim. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-harder-being-liberal-and-surrounded-by-conservatives-or-vice-versa/831871/72 "2019-04-04T11:32:50Z")
**Moderator Warning** > [@Scumpup](#): > > I posit that you, like most bigots, are ignorant. What you think you know about rural people is almost certainly a product of movies and tv i.e. fiction. This is an official warning for personal insults. Do not call another user a bigot or ignorant outside of the Pit. This is not your first warning for personal insults. You should know better by now. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-harder-being-liberal-and-surrounded-by-conservatives-or-vice-versa/831871/73 "2019-04-04T12:11:39Z")
IME conservatives are generally more likely to be polite toward individual liberals but will actively support legislation and government action that harms liberal-leaning minority groups\* (and, these days, blue states in their entirety). Offering someone tea and cookies while promoting laws and practices that will turn that person into a second-class citizen or depriving them of disaster relief is not exactly evidence of tolerance. Liberals, especially lately, are more likely to be abusive in person to conservatives, (especially these days) but are less likely to push for laws that disadvantage conservative groups (despite claims that not allowing them to discriminate constitutes a violation of religious freedom). \*Minority groups which may well be liberal-leaning because of their treatment at the hands of conservatives. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-harder-being-liberal-and-surrounded-by-conservatives-or-vice-versa/831871/74 "2019-04-04T18:16:52Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > I posit that you, like most bigots, are ignorant. What you think you know about rural people is almost certainly a product of movies and tv i.e. fiction. I posit that you for some _mysterious_ reason failed to answer the question. ---
**Author:** ![wahsahzii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a6a055/32.png) [@wahsahzii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wahsahzii)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2019, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-harder-being-liberal-and-surrounded-by-conservatives-or-vice-versa/831871/75 "2019-04-05T00:43:42Z")
IMHO anyone who identifies as a liberal or a conservative deserves any abuse they get. “It doesn’t matter if it is a white cat or a black cat, if it catches mice it is a good cat.” Deng Xiaoping. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2019, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-harder-being-liberal-and-surrounded-by-conservatives-or-vice-versa/831871/76 "2019-04-05T01:38:00Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > I posit that you for some _mysterious_ reason failed to answer the question. I’d say the danger depends on the individuals they encounter. Rural people are just people. As a group, they are neither better nor worse than urban dwellers. Most violent crime occurs in the cities, so maybe you should take that into account. ---
**Author:** ![racepug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@racepug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racepug)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2019, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-harder-being-liberal-and-surrounded-by-conservatives-or-vice-versa/831871/77 "2019-04-05T16:03:59Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Also keep in mind that Islamist terrorism is right wing terrorism, it is just right wing terrorism from a different culture. Thank you for this. It could NOT be more spot on. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2019, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-harder-being-liberal-and-surrounded-by-conservatives-or-vice-versa/831871/78 "2019-04-05T16:19:55Z")
> [@racepug](#): > > Thank you for this. It could NOT be more spot on. Well, it COULD be more spot on if it were accurate, or if he (Wesley Clark) hadn’t put it in such absolute terms. The reality, however, is that there are plenty of ‘Islamist terrorist’ groups that are Marxist or left wing. It seems counter intuitive (and more than a bit ironic), but then terrorist groups aren’t always the most rational or consistent. If he’d said many Islamic Terrorist groups could be seen as right wing (or conservative at least), then if one was willing to squint then it would be a loosely accurate thought, but as he stated it? You are thanking him for being wrong, or at the best only partly right. Perhaps that’s your definition of ‘spot on’? ---
**Author:** ![racepug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@racepug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racepug)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2019, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-harder-being-liberal-and-surrounded-by-conservatives-or-vice-versa/831871/79 "2019-04-05T16:21:19Z")
> [@Corry\_El](#): > > Putting bumper stickers on your car which oppose the general local opinion, especially in a non-upper middle class area but anywhere really, is just not a good idea. Couldn’t agree MORE with this. > [@Corry\_El](#): > > Do you lead with your chin (outright foolishly IMO) by publicly emphasizing your political views to strangers when they haven’t asked? EXCELLENT point, in my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![racepug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@racepug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racepug)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2019, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-harder-being-liberal-and-surrounded-by-conservatives-or-vice-versa/831871/80 "2019-04-05T16:38:06Z")
> [@XT](#): > > A person who is neither fish not fowl, neither conservative nor liberal but something…else. Even though most of views lean (slant?) Progressive, this is pretty much how I think of myself. How others view me in that regard is immaterial as far as I’m concerned. > [@XT](#): > > I get into real nasty fights with my family or family friends over immigration, even when I’m just pointing out the irony of a bunch of Hispanics complaining about illegal immigrants and the threat to the country…when most if not all of them come from families who WERE illegals when they came here (my family was). My wife (who _also_ is very Progressive in her views) and I have, over the years, had some nasty verbal spats over Israel vs. “Palestine.” Apparently “Support Palestine!” is a “big thing” with Progressives, on the whole (or at least that’s what I’ve gathered over the years), and I’m DEFINITELY _not_ in that camp (although knowing that “Bibi” Netanyahu **A** ) HATED President Obama [or at least didn’t care for his “policies towards Israel”] and **B** ) has now been found out to be CORRUPT AS HELL doesn’t exactly make me want to put an “ISRAEL” sticker on my car, either). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-harder-being-liberal-and-surrounded-by-conservatives-or-vice-versa/831871.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-harder-being-liberal-and-surrounded-by-conservatives-or-vice-versa/831871.md?page=5)