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Can you be friends with people who have different political beliefs

RedBeard20

Can you tolerate having a friend with a drastically differing political ideology which is polarised to your own?
for example I have fairly far right and far left acquaintances who i get along fine with despite myself being somewhere in the middle etc.
Or do you believe it's not possible in general or in your own case?

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Reply 1

username3315892

I believe so because it makes conversations more interesting and you can debate about it. Just be aware and accepting of their opinions. I have a friend who thinks white supremacy will end whereas I don't haha

Reply 2

LostAccount

no

hyper-political people in general cannot be friends

i have a friend who can't see what mussolini did wrong and another friend who thinks we are oppressed by the rich, both views i disagree with, but because we talk about politics once a year, it's not a problem. neither of them drives a car into people, attend occupy or britain first marches, and neither of them spam my Facebook feed with a bunch of intolerable and wretching crap. you'd think they're so apathetic they don't even vote or know who the UK's president is

the only people i wouldn't be friends with at all are those who want to deport immigrants and those who hate white people, as i am both.

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 3

username3025040

Personally, there are subscribers to certain ideologies that I would be reluctant to befriend, but sometimes it happens anyway lol so whatever

Reply 4

Amullai

Well it depends upon the people and if they are aggressive or passive people. For example too aggressive people with very different political views would have a harder time maintaining a friendship but they still could. They would just need to avoid politics around the other person.

Reply 5

cat_mac

Yep, as long as the people can talk about things other than politics. Some people can’t have a normal conversation without nitpicking and relating it to a cause to start an argument.

I’ve got friends who are a lot older than me from work; they definitely have some very far right opinions. Sometimes conversations get heated, but in five minutes of cool down time and a conversation change it’s all good again. It depends on how mature people are, whether they can accept that people can have different views and that isn’t the end of the world.

Reply 6

rinofthemill

In general it certainly can be possible, I don't think I'd be very good at it myself though. it depends on the differing opinion I guess? like I'm pro lgbt because I am lgbt so if someone was like 'oh I hate gays but that's just my political opinion we can still be friends though' then uh, no, we can't because you just said you hated me 😂

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 7

gr8wizard10

my friends support the labour party, so unfortunately yes

Reply 8

username47781

This whole thing of people not being friends because of certain political beliefs is stupid

Reply 9

J_89

I'm what you would call the "far left" although I hate that term because I see it as the most logical, rational position to hold as both the centre and obviously far right have gone far to the right.

I am what in the 50s-70s (incidentally, the greatest period of growth economically as well as in terms of human wellbeing that the West has ever witnessed) would have been considered a moderate, now is considered the hard left.

Anyway, I actually find I have more genuine friends on the far right than the centre.

The far right folks, for me, tend to be taken in by propaganda and form their views based on ignorance and prejudice. These can be changed.

The centre, especially the centre left, I find it really hard to be deep friends with.

For me, it's like.. they understand the issues but still don't give a *** enough about the impact of neoliberal policies on the most vulnerable, kiss the *** of the banksters because they're "too big to fail". These people could be persuaded to support socialism, but they're too intellectually lazy/happy with the status quo.

I remember the quote from MLK that said: "Racism exists, not primarily because of the KKK, but because of the white moderate".

Hence, although I'm a Corbynite, I tend to get on better with UKIP supporters than Blairites.

Tories I am never going to persuade, so it's more of a thing of tolerating them. I have met some very nice ones, but I come across as very posh and middle class so that's probably why they like me.

But this isn't a hard rule.

Reply 10

NotNotBatman

Yes, definitely. I don't see how it's a problem unless someone has extreme views.

One of my closest friends is quite 'right winged', but I'm more 'left'.

Reply 11

Dannyboy2015

I would say yes, although it may require you to believe in the whole live and let live philosophy to an extent otherwise you'd probably end up constantly arguing. Also you've got to remember that just because there is this one thing that separates you, that doesn't undo or remove all things that make you similar.

Time for some anecdotal evidence as an example. I manage to get along with most of my 'lefty loony' friends at uni and go out and have a good night out despite not voting for the marxist labour party. :biggrin:

*

Also perhaps not as political so much as based on religion, I still am able to maintain a good relationship with my grandmother despite me being gay and herself being a Jehovah's Witness. This is because we'd rather spend time together and enjoy each others company than hate each other because of our differences (even if we don't agree with those differences).

As a side note I'd just mention that sometimes your political differences can get a bit too much with certain people, in scenarios like this I find the best solution to maintaining a friendship is to simply say lets not talk about religion/politics. Seemed to work when I used Skype with a bunch of mates from around Europe to talk to outside of this video game we all played.

Spoiler

Reply 12

username3590460

I can’t, that’s for sure.

Reply 13

LostAccount

Original post by J_89

I'm what you would call the "far left" although I hate that term because I see it as the most logical, rational position to hold as both the centre and obviously far right have gone far to the right.

not quite ... both the left and the right have moved further to the left and further to the right

and everybody sees their position as the most logical and rational position to hold ... is there anyone in this world who openly thinks their politics is ****?

Reply 14

s.a.u

What are we talking? For and against single market and customs union? Or polar opposites and one is a flat earther? It depends, there are degrees.

Reply 15

3121

I love it when I have friends with different political views because I always try to see their side and I take that into account when giving my side and we usually come to a compromise which is a great thing.

So long as they’re open minded and intelligent I can be friends with socialists, liberals or conservatives, just not fascists since they’re not open minded and aren’t intelligent. My feelings about communists are mixed, but I can’t deal with the pure kind.

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 16

J_89

No, I highly doubt there is anyone who sees their politics as **** and I never said that there was.

I said that *I* don't see *my* political positions as extreme, so I hate to identify as "the far left" - it might be far in this paradigm, but i think we're in a fiscally very conservative paradigm.

The left has only moved back to the left from Blair - who was centrist, not left, so in essence, it's gone to the left.

Although not as far left as it was pre-Blair - i.e. Foot, Benn or even back to the old greats like Atlee (free healthcare anyone?!) etc.

So, no, it hasn't gone "far left" - it's just moved away from Blairite centrism. It's not further left than it ever was at all. It's just, like I said, that the paradigm has moved to the right in the last 20-30 (but especially 10) years.

Anyway, don't bait me into a politics debate LostAccount because this thread is about friends and besides... YOU WILL LOSE :biggrin:

Original post by LostAccount

Reply 17

ax7fold

Original post by LostAccount

What did Mussolini do wrong, i know they used his head as a football by at the end but he is still probably the most popular politician of italy in his prime ?