How surrounded are you by opposing political views?
4 days ago by nixukty to c/asklemmy
I was curious how common it is to be, say, a leftist in a very conservative area.
My county, family, and school are all very conservative. It makes it a bit intimidating to engage in any political discussion. I also rarely get to hear leftist opinion anywhere in person, which means i need to devote a lot of time to considering and thinking about arguments that are probably already solved.
Are you, or have you been, in a similar situation?
at least you dont live with them. it would be problematic if you have to live with them and hear them rant everyda.
I live in Texas… I consider myself Progressive… yeah it sucks. Only saving grace is I live in a city and most all my friends are liberal, so I can be open with them.
Outside of there though, i used to have to stay quiet, but lately, if someone brings up something political, I very much am more outspoken about telling them my thoughts. I usually get disgusted looks, but don’t care.
Some though, are truly just ignorant. Was talking with one person about Madhani and she asked “isn’t he trying to make everything islam there?” I told her about all the things he’s doing, including a coop grocery store for lower prices and she was genuinely surprised.
Was talking with one person about Madhani and she asked “isn’t he trying to make everything islam there?”
I just can't with this kind of person. And apparently we're in a country full of them.
I mean how fucking thoughtless do you need to be to hear that and not question it? It's so fucking embarrassing, honestly
I live in Kentucky, so I'm in a similar boat. It's very isolating. It's frustrating to know that no matter how I vote, Democrat or third party, it really isn't going to make a difference. My goal at this point is to raise my daughter to be a kind, empathetic, honest person, despite what she might see from other people around her.
I live in a very blue area, but most of my coworkers are conservative. I spend a lot of time at work so inevitably political topics come up here and there. I have to handle them with kid gloves when we do talk politics, but they do extend respect to me and can agree to disagree with me. Well, as respectful as they can be considering some of their conservative political beliefs.
I have slowly but efficiently removed every single Republican from my life (except for my grandmother, because I love her to death).
If I find out that you are a Republican, that will be the last voluntary interaction we have.
I have eliminated all from both parties. They both are the problem. They both are guilty of genocide... even little precious AOC
I live in Canada and on an island where the capital city is historically extremely liberal and leftist, but immediately outside of that city it is conservative country all around. Its pretty wild living 25 minutes out of the city where I can go from being out in full pride gear to feeling less and less safe the closer I get to home.
This was two years ago but I was in Canada for a business trip and in Montreal, was ridiculously liberal. I mean colored hair, piercings and furries walking in the street without a care in the world. Then we drove about 1.5 hours into the woods and I saw fucking MAGA flags? In Canada?
I think the urban/rural divide is a global phenomenon, but yeah some of my fellow Canadians are truly unhinged. My next door neighbour (not rural) was sporting his Trump 2020 hat well into the 20's and had openly hateful views that he couldn't wait to tell you about. I didn't get it - it's not like he was able to vote for him - but I guess MAGA isn't meant to be understood.
We've always been a little american. For the people who broadcast TV is still relevant for, we get overwhelmingly more US channels than Canadian content. We're also a petrodollar and have a crazy large cattle industry. Something like 66% of Canadians live within 100km of the border, and if you expand that to 200km it becomes 80% - just a day trip away.
Canadians have always had this image of being a cuddly, polite, apologetic people, but it doesn't really hold up to scrutiny. Especially if you're indigenous.
Yeah MACA/MAGA is unfortunately a very real thing here. On the island it was mostly just a lot of Fuck Trudeau flags.
Practically 100%.
I live in the only red district in Hawaii. I have a few anarchist friends and left leaning folks I cruise with, but by and large , if anyone here is political, they are maga.
That being said, I do go work on progressive campaigns in progressive areas. But here it's red red red.
I'm in Missouri, but in a major city here, so there's a big mix.
The inner-city is strongly liberal, as in we support our own taxation because we like the services liberal and even have a free commuter train line. The suburbs are deep, deep red, and they think they should dictate policy to us because they commute into the city often.
My state is overwhelmingly conservative and I stick out like a sore thumb that wants universal healthcare.
I filter out the vast, vast majority of people and basically have a dozen people I know and hang out with who are also not conservative.
Most of the people I interact with have different viewpoints, and I consider it a positive. The danger is never examining your beliefs and just accept them, even when new facts come up or the environment changes.
I can certainly appreciate the sentiment behind this comment but I would have to challenge its applicability in a deep red part of the US. The danger here is expressing incompatible beliefs to people who vocally and energetically talk about rounding up and "shooting all of the democrats" they can find. As much as I would like to accept the fact that they have the right to this opinion, I am also self-aware enough that I chose to keep my own politics (independent but left-leaning) to myself.
Would they really kill me? Probably not. Would I be immediately treated with hostility? Almost certainly.
I think there is a stark difference between "different" and "opposing" viewpoints and I imagine it would be nice living in a place where being open-minded was a common virtue. Unfortunately for me that isn't really viable at the moment.
I have not experienced what you have in the deep red part of the US. There can be actors on both sides who don't act in good faith. I was looking at it more from an exchange of viewpoints instead of a dominant / submissive dynamic. When having an exchange of ideas with someone with an opposing viewpoint, it always valuable to understand why they have those beliefs. Then, once you establish that you can ask what facts would have to be known for their viewpoint to shift.
Thank you for clarifying and I don't disagree at all with the points you raise. Unfortunately in application, the higher ideals seem to be lost on these red-hat troglodytes who are in the majority in my local area. I used to believe similarly that minds could be changed with rational and candid discussion, but my own experience has been that MAGA types just double down when presented with anything that doesn't align with what they have come to believe; until they are negatively affected by one of the horrible things they support of course.
I haven't given up entirely but active avoidance appears to be the simplest near-term solution. The problem is the currently dominant political party has done a very effective job of demonizing anything and anyone with an opposing viewpoint to their proponents. That alone makes open discourse almost impossible.
My friend group consists of a mix of people on the "far-right" wing and the "far-left" wing. Some of them are political active, some are active politicians. None of them are racists. My experience is that they all want the same for our society, they just disagree on how to get there. All discussions are civil and we don't think less of them on the opposite wing.
Disclaimer: I'm not in the US. Obviously.
I bet at least one of your "far right" friends is a racist.
I would probably actually put money on it.
I'm curious what makes them "far right," but not enough for you to think less of them. Do you have any ideals whatsoever, or do you just think they're all created equal?
I cannot think of a single "far right" concept that would not make me think less of a person for believing.
I'm pretty sure they aren't.
For the longest time in Denmark the most racist party was a left wing party. Their followers are often those who have the least resources, so they don't vote on the suits on the far-right wing. I don't get why it seems to be the opposite in the US.
The most far-right party we currently have don't spend too much time on emigrational issues, but they still have this stance:
Over the past 40 years, Denmark has undergone the largest population change ever. Immigration has had major consequences for Denmark, not only in terms of terrorist risk, social tensions, economic challenges, crime and religious requirements, but also culturally. Liberal Alliance believes that the influence of cultures that are contrary to the values and fundamental freedoms on which Danish society is based should be countered. Free and liberal societies do not arise by themselves. They must be defended in order to be preserved.
Asylum
Therefore, the Liberal Alliance wants to put an end to spontaneous asylum, which is given to asylum seekers standing at the Danish border. Asylum should be given to those people who are most in need. That is why we want to abolish spontaneous asylum, as it is primarily given to people who are relatively resourceful and therefore need less asylum compared to other groups such as f.ex. quota refugees. If you have managed to get all the way to the Danish border and are not a refugee, you have less need for asylum than people who are outright refugees and seek protection from war, conflict and destruction.
Nationality
Obtaining citizenship in Denmark is a gift. It is not a right. The Liberal Alliance wants to tighten the requirements for citizenship, because we believe that there are a number of requirements and expectations attached to the privilege of becoming a citizen in a liberal democracy. We want to have greater certainty that nye citizens have understood what it takes to be a democratic citizen than is the case today.
We want citizens who apply for citizenship to be subjected to a profiling that analyzes their behavior ift. some defined requirements and expectations. If a citizen f.ex. ad has repeatedly hailed terrorist acts, threatening other citizens ifm. apostasy from a religion, acted hostile or threatening towards homosexuals or has acted as informants towards authorities in countries Denmark does not cooperate with, this will count down in the assessment of whether there is reason to believe that they will comply with applicable law and respect the spirit of the basic law.
The profiling is submitted to the Committee on citizenship, which makes a decision on whether the citizen should be set to receive citizenship by law. Read more about our immigration policy here.
Integration
The best way to integrate foreigners in Denmark is to ensure that they enter the labour market. Bl.a. know that it pays better to be at work, rather than on transfer income.
By coming out to a workplace, people get a better knowledge of Danish culture and Danish norms. It also provides an individual responsibility for one's own existence when one gets out of passive support and starts earning one's own money. This is the path to good integration.
In addition, the Liberal Alliance will fight parallel societies by taking a stand against social control on, among other things.a. our educational institutions. We will do this specifically by banning the so-called prayer rooms, which are largely used to retain Muslim students in religious dogmas.
I agree. And I think a lot of the people voting on that party will try to make it sound like it's not, or simply look the other way and ignore that stance from the party.
Here is one of our left wing parties:
Contempt for Danish values
We have received far too many foreigners who have neither the ability, desire or willingness to be integrated in Denmark, and who came here alone because the Danes have built one of the world's most generous societies. The result is large, isolated parallel societies, where immigrants from Islamic countries for almost two generations have been able to live unhindered according to the rules, the way of life, the habits and power structures that they brought to Denmark: clan rule, gender division, violent and patriarchal ways of life, women's oppression and the Koran as a guideline in life.
While many of them live among themselves in a backward and violent code of honor, they despise the Danes, who otherwise have to pay the price for their social fraud, crime, lazy attitude towards education and work, the destruction of public housing and the parasite on public coffers in general.
Not integration – but assimilation
For more than half a century, an irresponsible political majority has allowed immigration from Muslim countries, which has cost the Danes hundreds of billions of dollars that we could otherwise have spent on patching the holes in our own welfare society.
We should not be satisfied with a superficial ”integration”; we want assimilation: sincere recognition of and empathy for Danish values. Only assimilation can prevent Denmark from falling apart over time.
The rise of Islam must be stopped
The Danish People's party rejects all demands for special treatment of Muslims. Everywhere in Denmark we will oppose gender-segregated swimming pools, prayer rooms and ostentatious mosques, minarets and prayer calls in public spaces. We will not allow Muslim children and their parents to intimidate teachers from using drawings of their prophet in teaching, and we will not take into account, let alone celebrate, Muslim holidays. We will not allow Islamic preachers to radicalize other Muslims, in prison or at large, and we will protect the Muslim women who will break out of their religious and Norm-bound prison.
More repatriations
The integration of Muslim foreigners in Denmark has failed. From the first immigrants arrived, we are today faced with two and three generations, born and raised in Denmark, who expose Denmark to the same as nye challenges: some young Muslims have undergone a neo-Islamic revival, which shows that education, steady work and a good Danish are not a guarantee of a harmonious view of the generous country that welcomed their parents.
If Denmark is to be preserved, we must resort to the repatriation of those who want to replace our form of government and our values, and who put the koran and sharia in place of the Basic Law and the Bible.
It should take precedence that the Danes can continue their lives as Danes in a Denmark they know, which future generations can also regard as their own country.
My whole life has been a weird back and forth of this. I grew up in a hyper conservative household and lived in a hyper conservative town, but I wanted to go to art school. So I moved to Seattle.
Fast forward I was a conservative in Seattle of all places, and racist af to boot. Being 18 coming off the heels of my family meant I had no original thoughts and just repeated everything my mom taught me.
I quickly learned better, both through college education but also meeting the people I'd been brought up racist against. Being in a multicultural hub like Seattle means having to see the charicatures my mom had painted for me live, breathe, and talk to me, and it's hard for anyone with 2 braincells to run together to keep thinking those things when you interact with the people daily.
I stayed in the area after college and became increasingly more leftist. Then at a point I ended up moving to a small conservative town again due to financial issues.
Here I faced the flip side of what I'd experienced in Seattle. I'm white so everyone would try to pull me into conversation about immgrants or people on welfare or LGBT people and I was the sole voice against those views. I tried to reason with them, provide an alternative perspective, and over the years I've had mixed results. But the thing I'll say that was different was the amount of violence and threat I've felt being the outsider in these communities.
I said some straight up racist shit when I was younger in Seattle. I lost friends and reputation over it but I never felt afraid. In the small town though, I lost jobs, was threatened, flipped off, verbally abused... I never had anyone physically attack me but it came close a few times. And the only thing I said in those areas was things like "they aren't bad people because they are Mexican, they're bad people because they did X to you, Debra."
The racism and homophobia was the biggest hurdle honestly. People in that sphere dont think the things they are thinking are wrong. Often they only know what they have somehow been slighted, and they misatteibute their frustrations to race or politics. "I can't afford groceries because so many (insert race) people are on food stamps." No, you can't afford groceries because your work isn't paying you anything but beans and Walmart is the only grocery store in town. There are so many people on food stamps because they are socio-economically disadvantaged. Perhaps if you can't afford groceries you might also qualify for food stamps."
But that's hard to quantify, it's easier to blame the have-nots as being morally lacking than it is to be mad at systems that are hard to quantify.
I'm in Tennessee and probably the only socialist for hundreds of miles. Completely surrounded by maga "christians". Needless to say, I don't have a lot of close friends or family. Almost everyone I know thinks tRump should be king for life. god's chosen, and all that nonsense.
I'm in a red region of a blue state. There's a good amount of Trumpism around. Most people I talk to made it through school without learning history or civics. They don't understand the economic issues and mostly vote red because they believe that the Democrats want to take their guns away, turn their sons into daughters, or give their money to brown people both at home and abroad.
I’m a weird mix of both. I’m a blue dot in a sea of deep red… But I also work in the arts, so my coworkers all tend to be extremely blue. So in my work circles, I’m surrounded by blue. But in my personal life, I’m surrounded by red. I get both extremes, to the point that I’m seen as the rainbow sheep of the family, but I’m the most cishet person in my department. And ironically enough, I also heavily suspect that I’m the farthest left in my department, (I’m firmly in the anarcho-communist hole) despite the fact that I’m the only cishet person in the office.
It can be good for getting the current talking points from conservatives. I like to stay on top of that kind of thing, so I can see how they’re forming the views they are. Even if I fully disagree with the reasoning, or recognize that they’re working with incorrect/incomplete/biased sources, it can be helpful to know how both sides are approaching certain topics. It makes debates easier, because I have a fairly good grasp of how conservatives think. I’ll see a major event hit the news, and my coworkers will have a vastly different take on things compared to my family.
I'm in a very red part of a purple-trending-blue state. The people immediately around me are mostly conservative. I'm much closer to an anarchist in my personal beliefs than anything else.
The people at the church I attend--Unitarian Universalist, because there aren't any Satanists near me--are mostly old hippies. The people I work directly with are mostly marginalized people. So the people I have the most contact with are definitely on the left side of the political spectrum. OTOH, I'm spoken with someone in another dept. at my work place that's a genuine Nazi apologist, and claims that they only murdered Jews because the Allies waged war against them.
report the nazi to HR please
What's HR going to do? He's a POS, but as long as he's not directing his bullshit at protected classes, what cause of action do they really have?
HR isn't there to protect workers, it's there to protect the company. Until he becomes a liability--until he does something that another worker can sue the company over--they're not gonna do shit.
Bloody completely. I’m in Utah, and not the progressive pocket of SLC, but ultra conservative Utah County. It is completely maddening.
Though there is a decently sized neighborhood in my city that is like the Berkeley of this area. I want to go to there, but it’s expensive.
We just moved cross country out of a loud Trump 2016 and 2020 area to a firmly blue state.
I will admit I see a lot fewer Trump flags/hats/shirts than I did a couple of years ago. I don’t care though, I’m not going to be surrounded by closeted MAGAts. Just because they are too embarrassed to fly the flag now doesn’t mean they won’t in the future.
I grew up in the Midwestern US where it felt like a 50/50 split. I’ve lived in California for the past ~12 years and while I enjoy not being confronted with far-right ideas it is tiring hearing everyone kind of mindlessly nod along to liberal ones. I actually sometimes miss debating opposing viewpoints.
I live in a supper conservative, traditionalist and patriotic country... I've worked in different corperations from small to big and most people have been racists conservative at worst and reactionary centrists at best.
At work I'm often considered a mood kill as I often can't take it and have trough in a sarcastic remark that breaks their minds a little bit so they move on from their distastefull discussion.
In my free time I mostly hang out with people that are leftist as well and I also enjoy going to leftist political marches and activities.
Socialist living a rural town, 30 minutes from a large city. I found some awesome like-minded people when I joined the local small community theater, but for the most part, everyone around me is super duper red. Birthplace of the KKK is like, a 10 min drive from me, so kinda figures.
After the Black Lives Matters riots in the city, I've been doing my own solo protests every Juneteenth, holding a big "Black Lives Matter" and "Happy Juneteenth!" sign by the main road through town. The first year I did it, had 3 separate people drive by shouting "white power!" and had the cops called on me, they told the cops I had a gun, presumably hoping that I'd be shot. I wasn't carrying, I was not shot.
I've been doing it every year, and the "white power!" yells have ceased, now just people flicking me off or yelling "All Lives Matter!" which is progress, I guess! But the vast majority of the interactions are thumbs up and friendly honks from like minded people, in a 75-25 ratio.
Maybe it's making a difference, maybe not, but I DO love yelling at racists. So far they've all been too cowardly to take me up on my offer to whoop their ass, but I'm hoping that will change 😊
its also the fore-front of white supremecist movements.
On my island generally people are very close-knit (at the village level) and unfortunately give too much credit to right-aligned politicians, especially when it comes to immigration. The place is a migration crossroads, and there's always vultures ready to rile people up for political gain. Otherwise very community-minded, kind people who are abundantly helpful and welcoming. Make it make sense
My personal, close social circle is pretty much only leftists, both egg and hatched
Im in a technically far-right town, but most of the people i know about are either left-wing, either right or far-right, but in that case never militants : they're just too stupid, too lazy or too mistaken to get over their reactionaries prejudices, and most of the time they end up agreeing with progressive views when there's a political discussion. But those are quite rare tbf, people dont talk that much about partisan politics.
I'm in a blue pinprick in a red state and all my family and all the surrounding towns are deep red even after Trump 2.0. I'm not sure they actually support the policies and positions but it's what they THINK their position is and it's what their "identity position" is (my dad was a Republican and his dad was a Republican and I'm a Republican). It's tough. I would love to move but it's easier to move TO something than from it.
We have had more than a few family battles to say the least.
We've got a handful of parties. I don't know how anyone votes, except one guy who is an elected official in the municipality. Think my best friend votes for the party that I've got the least in common with. The surrounding area is dominated by the party I don't vote for.
As an anarcho-communist majoring in a STEM field in 
:
I am beset by liberal capitalists 💀💀💀💀💀
Well I already graduated, twice 😅. I'm doing my PhD now and I'm still beset by liberals, but at least they're not conservatives. I even tried to go into the workforce but...well, uptight capitalist conservatives run the show in engineering firms, and they found me insufferable (not even for political reasons, I didn't even get that far, apparently I'm too technical even for technical people 🙃) (but I also am insufferable lol). So I'm aiming for academia.
Well I'm on Lemmy.
I don't really talk politics. Not here and not in real life. I don't even know who most people around me vote for. Not even my parents. I don't live in a two party system so it's not a binary us vs. them like it's in the US.
I form my opinions on a individual basis and they're not always aligned with my "political leaning"
because of covid and right wing grifter it turned 1 family member into a partial maga, and i suspect many of other relatives have more conservative views than "progressive ones"
My town is very much a blue maga kind of town. Middle class suburbanites who are totally not racist but...
Something particularly bad is there's a community center that I walk by when I'm going to some stores that just has zionist shit plastered all around the building. It's really disgusting.
My friends from college are generally more aligned with me. Although some of them are a bit less informed on stuff so come across a bit libby sometimes.
I'm 45 now. I grew up in a generally conservative community as well. Now I work in TV news and there are strong stereotypes about journalists. But people mostly think that about national journalists who generally live in major metropolitan areas. I work in local news, and I've lived in Georgia, Alaska, North Carolina, and Florida. I've heard co-workers bad mouth all of the presidents, and posit that at least 3 of them (from 2 political parties) intended to enact martial law to stay president.
Having similarly political minded people around you can be soothing to a degree. Like you said, you'll be thinking about things that others have figured out for themselves a long time ago. But some of those things are personal decisions anyway. Even given an answer you'll have to think about how you feel about trade-offs.
What's good is when you find someone of similar temperament and kindness. Even when you disagree, there doesn't have to be anger and resentment because you'll both feel that effort was made to do things the right way, even when you come to different answers about the best course.
Good luck with that.
Im in the us and one side is so ludicrous I can't even pretend its legitimate. So I have discourse with various levels of left and center and im old enough to remember some semblence of conservative philosophy when it had some legitamacy but you don't encounter it anymore. I mean the blatant violation of our founding document is just not something to be debated on if its ok to do.
I've never had irl leftist friends in my life. Except for one couple who just assumed I was conservative and never really bothered to engage me about it.
Mostly "apolitical" normies and "common sense" (their words not mine) conservatives. I would have liked to have made more leftist friends but I can't really keep up the social performance that used to require. I have bad vibes and as a group we're more sensitive to that. But maybe as time goes on we will grow out of it.
Wildly surrounded. I'm very used to interact with people with vastly different political opinions.
I have a straight up openly francoist coworker.
But I'm also surrounded by a lot of left leaning people. It's kind of diverse here right now.
Anyway, I think it's better for you to have to think the arguments rather than you repeating arguments you heard somewhere else. It would make you find your own believes, and have a firmer consolidation on why you believe in what you believe.
Utah... FML
I live in America in a deep blue state. The divide is about as classically pronounced as the railroad tracks here when the trailer parks grow numerous. Representation is deeply gerrymandered.
It's also extremely militarized out here, with most people being attached to the military bases in some way.
I spent 10 years working on the county level. For a time in a rural red area and for a time in the bluer area. Blue areas tend to be corporate owned and worship police. Red areas are desperately poor and distrust government.
Out here the first point of wealth is to insulate and isolate from politics. So it has always been much easier to discuss politics with the rural poor folks. Free breakfast and childcare is a service that's appreciated and used.
I don't even know how to reach the deep blue folks living beyond their gates. Maybe the delivery workers can try to leave fliers.
I’m in a blue state, so not very. But I work in an interesting environment where people hold a lot of conspiratorial and junk-science views (recently there was a rumor about an upcoming seven-second loss of gravity.) I navigate it with shutting down any sense that I would ever humor it. I don’t maintain any sort of connection beyond general courtesy otherwise. Worst case was “we have to agree on reality to discuss it” and that was that.
Disclaimer: am Canadian, will be discussing using that lens.
On a daily basis, most people I interact with are about where I am. I probably have different reasons for believing and voting how I do, but if an election were to be called tomorrow, all my friends and most of my co-workers would be voting in roughly the same direction as me.
My family is a mixed bag. On the one hand, my father has never voted for anyone further left than the old Progressive Conservatives, and has even voted for the Christian Heritage Party on occasion. My mother also normally votes conservative, though she has confessed to be that she finds American-style conservatism in general and Pierre Poilievre in particular to be too odious to stomach and so I think she may have been spoiling her ballots recently. I don't know how my one sister votes, but her husband is a also an outspoken conservative, being a card-carrying member of the CPC.
On the other hand, my other sister has never voted for anyone further right than the NDP, and her husband is apathetic - he thinks all politicians are the same and doesn't bother voting.
Holidays are generally fine, as political opinions are generally off-limits, though inevitably at some point my father and brother-in-law (the CPC one) have an extended grouse session about the state of the country and how much they hate the Liberals.
I'm in a socially conservative country, in a smallish town populated by elderly retirees, families and dirt poor marginally educated people. In the days before people were scrolling conspiracy theories about George Soros and litter boxes for cat identifying kids in librul schools on Facebook and Twitter, I wouldn't been a more open person. Now, they'll only get to know my public deaf-mute alter ego and never know that I'm a vigilante lol.
I wish I was in a city where there's a bigger chance of meeting others like you.
It's very mixed where I am, no matter what axis you spin it on. Say what you will about Florida but on our block there's a Muslim family, a hardcore right wing old couple, five 'interracial' families (as they used to be called), an old old lady house, a house full of hipsters, three sets of transplants from up north.
At work mostly seems to be at least anti-trump, my boss is an Elon Musk fanboy though.
I think it's not good to wall yourself off. Unless you are in physical danger from your opposition (wall away in that case) it's much better to set a good example and explain your ideas when asked or inspired to.
I'm a leftist on a leftist region of Italy so you'd think not that much but actually I am quite surrounded.
Of course, friends and immediate family are generally aligned with my views (at least on things that matter the most) so not much of an issue there, but outside of that there's been a surge in fascists as of late, then there's the "leftists" who are really just campists with whom I disagree with on very important topics like Ukraine and unfortunately they are very loud to the point the entire left, from the center-center-left of PD to the far far left are all either shy on the topic or openly pro-fascist ruzzians to cater to these campists (there's only a couple exceptions among parties, among the actual people support for Ukraine is higher even among the left) but the worst people of all are probably the apoliticals that likely make up a majority of my generation around me. I have had more pleasant and productive conversations with some fascists or campist "leftists" than many of the apoliticals who actively refuse to engage in politics even when they directly affect them.
So I am not necessarily surrounded by people I fully disagree with on everything (the fascists are still a minority) but I definitely am somewhat surrounded by people who I strongly disagree with on very important topics still.
If we consider how religion is often part of political views (with conservatives almost always being christian chuds), imagine being someone who's fond of red candles, someone who as a cisman-presenting person enjoys letting their nails grow while painted with black and red polish, someone who sincerely worships the Mesopotamic Goddess of underworld and uses Her seal as a pendant necklace, someone who sees owls as literally sacred and literal manifestations of the Goddess, all this while having to exist in a mostly-christian country called Brasil (worse, having to biologically exist in a house rented by a bolsonarista, with nowhere else to go other than the public gravedigs of the cemetery, a place I've been seriously considering more and more as the days pass).
Imagine being possibly the only one holding this kind of belief in a range of 500km, with everyone around you parroting phrases such as "fica com deus" (a farewell phrase that literally translates to "stay with god") and "deus abençoe" ("god bless you").
Imagine attending therapists and mental health "professionals" who are visibly annoyed by your positive and ecstatic recounting of your spiritual experiences before the presence of Lilith during 3AM, to the extent of a psychiatrist diagnosing you as a "schizotypal" due to a perceived "atypical beliefs" and "magical thinking"; to the extent that even mental health care becomes part of the social bullying you face.
Imagine being unable to find employment because you don't want to let go of the one you've become fond of as yourself (how's compromising one's own values in order to be "allowed" among society, any different from suicide, when both situations involve letting go of the one who you've been?), because the "job market" requires you to be assimilated into yet another physical manifestation of an Agent Smith (don't even dare attending a job interview while having long painted fingernails because "your body looks like a male so your nails must be trimmed and you likely need to start repenting and going to church because you're indemoniated").
Yeah, this is me and this is my existence. And I've grown increasingly tired of existing in this shithole of a world.
Currently? I am center-left in Western Europe. Political views where I live generally lean left but are quite diverse, so it's hard to find people who are directly opposing... I do have a colleague who is a classic liberal (free market, deregulation and all that), but we are quite chill about it & that's pretty much it
I did spend 3-4 years living in majority Hispanic/Vietnamese neighborhoods in Houston though, and I'd be considered much more left-leaning relative to the US population. So I was a left-leaning person, in fairly right-leaning neighborhoods, in a left-leaning city, in a right-leaning state... having any discussions about politics was certainly an experience, I just tried to not talk about it for the most part lol
I live in Madison and everyone seems to have the same liberal political views, I almost never meet someone who opposes liberal/leftist ideals. All my friends are trans and some of my friends/coworkers even like Linux. we rarely encounter hostility, though I’d like to venture out more. It gets tiring when everyone agrees yet we can’t even solve the housing crisis.
I'm left of many in my family, several of whom are in the christian nationalist side of things (as best I can tell), one of whom basically worships trump, and others who are mostly right of (US) center. However, they're all on the other side of the world from me.
Rural Japan is interesting. Japan's politics don't fit neatly in the same platforms that would be familiar to those in the US. Even "conservatives" are overwhelmingly in favor of social programs that would be anathema in the US. People in the countryside here range from ultra-conservative to live-and-let-live.
I doubt any would be for legalization of cannabis (where even speaking too positively of it online can get someone in trouble), nor for removing the koseki system (TL;DR every Japanese citizen has a koseki. Families can have exactly one name except in cases of foreign marriage where citizen can keep their name. non-citizens cannot have a koseki. Marriage must be between someone with a vagina and a penis (whether those are from birth of surgical doesn't matter) to have the same koseki and the same rights).
I doubt most people would care much about same-sex relationships nor trans people in general as there's a long history of things like that in Japan.
Exposure to foreigners in general tends to help dispel myths and racism generally and most people in my immediate area realize I'm a decent guy who cares about his family and his village. I'm sure some people hate me because of my skin color, but nothing I can do about that, but I think that would be people in the village rather than my immediate neighbors.
Rural Japan in some areas and demographics votes more for parties to the left. The JCP (Japan Communist Party whose name no longer really fits IMO), has been pushing hard in my area. We'll have to see how things shake out.
Nothing has made me more right wing than left wing propaganda and vica versa
Of course "left/right wing" is a ridiculously over simplified perspective in the first place but if nuance is a political stance, I suppose I'm heavily outnumbered
what left wing propaganda have you encountered?
It's an open secret the fedi is swimming in it, especially the ml instances but there are several categories of varying severity used by people of all political persuasions:
I won't give specific examples because (even when I agree with their end goals) people get defensive but if you look, you'll find them
I think most of what you're encountering and labeling as propaganda is more likely tongue in cheek skewering of the right. If you look at the motivations behind these posts, it's usually to bring attention and awareness to real issues. The right lies about stolen elections and voter fraud because they seek to disenfranchise voters and gain power. The left appeals to emotion sometimes too much, but their end goals are things like universal healthcare, less government spying, and more education.
The right similarly stokes fear and panic by demonizing vulnerable minority and immigrant populations, with the end goal of further entrenching their political power, so they can lower taxes on the rich, and raise them for the poor.
The right and left may both engage in sensationalized headlines and appeals to emotion, but they are not the same, you can tell by their end goals.
Who was in power when epstien "killed himself"? Why is ghislaine maxwell in a cushy minimum security prison? I'll give you a hint, the answer ain't the left.
Same. Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, here I am...
Nowadays the real rebels are centrists. Everyone else is just repeating talking points they've consumed from algorithms that only give them part of the story. My conversations with leftists and MAGAs are basically the same conversations, they're the same kind of people.
one one side, literal nazis, on the other, people that want Universal healthcare.
Wow, how do you tell them apart??
Same tactics of harassment and intimidation are being used by both the far left and far right. Y'all want to be tough guys and have everyone else fear you. Because you don't have any actual ideas, the internet has successfully directed your dissatisfaction into hatred of convenient scapegoats.
The only major difference between the far right and far left is they disagree on scapegoats. And if the JD Vance / Tucker Carlson / Candace Owens faction of the far right get their way, both the far right and far left will agree on the scapegoat.
Sure, you buy from different merch stores and have different slogans, but you're all disconnected from reality, "doing your own research" on the internet, denying science and facts when it conflicts with your political narrative, and you all spend more time attacking liberals than discussing any policies you want. It's the same hateful politics, and it's very likely a lot of "leftists" will be voting Republican if that party goes down the antisemitism path.
fear us? we want to give people healthcare? are you having a stroke or are you just genuinely a fucking moron?
Most people I talk to in real life have similar political views to me. Except for a few kooky relatives
For a while in my 20's, I lived with my mom. It was always something walking through the living room and hearing the quartering or Greg gutfeld or some other moron pissing in her ear about how I'm a domestic terrorist because I'm a leftist.
Also I live in Kansas, so it's not like leaving the house was much better
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My entire family is maga, which is awful, but it's literally just them. Otherwise I'm in an urban city, in an educated and liberal profession, and dating an awesome guy with a very sweet family. Being surrounded by normal and healthy people really makes my interactions with my family feel that much worse. :) Sometimes I'll bother to tell them they're wrong, but it doesn't matter. They're not acting out of reason. They're acting out of hatred and avarice.
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