Unfriending right wing friends

[nondrinker1985]

One of my school mum friends of around 10 years has started sharing loads of Restore Britain/Rupert Lowe posts.

I’m actually really shocked as she’s an Irish immigrant herself.

I’ve unfriended her which is a shame as day to day she’s ok. Also another mum who has been liking and commenting on the Restore Britain posts, they’ll probably tell me they’re not racist but I can’t be arsed calling them out.

Think it's safe to say they wouldn't want you as a friend.

If you're so certain of the validity of your politics, why do you need to make cheap gibes about people who have other opinions?

(Rhetorical question; no need to reply.)

I think you've totally missed mine.

You can't get more insulting that having a racist attitude...

Why is it a good thing that you're closing your mind to other people's opinions so you don't know what they're saying. Knowledge is power.

Rupert Lowe isn't a Conservative, and is well to the Right of most Reform politicians, let alone most Conservatives.

same here

This is a tricky one. I am pretty far to the left compared to the general population and I am not white with a Muslim bame. Yet, I do not find that there is actually much correlation between where people sit on the political spectrum and how decent they are in daily life, if you exclude people on the deliberately and consciously racist side (I mean white supremacist rather than Reform / Tories) or revolutionaries.

People who will vote Reform, or voted Trump in the US, form such a large proportion of the population that they can't possibly all be bad people. Misinformed (according to me) perhaps but then they think the same of me.

Yet when you really need a hand with something or are in a difficult situation or need emotional support or just want to have fun and relax, good people seem to come from all parts of the spectrum. As do selfish arseholes and morally dubious people.

So I decide/cut friendships based on day to day behaviours not politics. Out and out proud racists etc excluded of course.

You make some valid points. I'll just draw your attention to a couple of things though.....women's rights are currently being eroded - we have women fighting for the right to safe spaces whilst men who say they are women are demanding access to female only spaces. Women are having to go through tribunals with the threat of losing their job for saying they don't want to undress in front of men.

Labour are trying to remove the right to a jury trial claiming it will reduce the backlog.

It's been reported that in one particular well known case, there was some govt interference ensuring that the person was imprisoned

Suggesting ECHR 'protection' is being ignored when it suits. Your thoughts?

A very sensible post, totally agree with you.

First sensible post I’ve read on this thread.

Yes, I agree with you, I think it’s an excellent post.

Well my Irish friends still think it’s acceptable to talk about p**i shops, so maybe it’s an Irish thing.

If you unfriend everyone the culture insists is 'racist', 'bigoted' and 'far right', you won't have many friends left for long, as basically anyone with leanings to the right of Karl Marx is all of the above.

We used to be able to talk about politics without hurling personal insults at each other and being so up ourselves that we judge the morals of complete strangers based on what box they ticked in an election. Ticking a box doesn't instil virtue or otherwise or make you a good or bad person I"m afraid. Compassionate people might stop to wonder what is happening in people's lives to make them vote how they vote that invokes such disapproval and judgement and easy throw away insults like "racist" . A word that has now pretty much lost its power because self-rightous fools use it indiscriminately to people they don't know.

Its similar to religion. Some of the most strict Christian people I know are the most intolerant unChristian people in their lives in how they behave to others.

Dunno. Oddly enough, I am facing PRECISELY the same issue right at the moment, and have, at least so far, decided not to unfriend them. But if they were constantly posting racist stuff (they aren't), then I might.

Mr. Dobbs' post resonates with me, because in my youth I did think there was a strong correlation between politics and personal attitudes. But the person who was consistently most vicious to me and others in the workplace was someone with very simil\r centre-left views to mine, while two really lovely and helpful people turned out to have bizarre and rather shocking (IMO) political views: one an unreconstructed Stalinist; the other a Bolsonaro fan. So things are never simple.

Funnily enough, the difference between a legal and illegal immigrant is...the current law

And whatever party is in power gets to make the law. Reform could make loads of us "illegal" at a stroke.

So that's not the hilarious quip you think it is.

Has anyone actually called for children fleeing war zones to be drowned or said that EVERY brown skinned person is a rapist and paedophile?

Or have they just expressed concern at unchecked people (usually adult males) coming over on dinghies and from cultures that have potentially harmful attitudes towards women? Which one should be able to do without ‘fascist, bigot, racist’ being screamed at them.

The hyperbole needs to be reigned in.

And as a ‘leftie’ I’d l’d go out of my way to avoid you.

Why do you think you’re so special?

I remember someone i really liked shares a laurence fox rant then another, i had to de friend them i was shocked though, they didn"t come over as racist at all. A local sole trader i followed the guy the OP is talking about so i unfollowed him.

I suppose these days you would avoid lefties if you know what a woman is and want womens spaces, dont agree with child mutilation to change their sex, believe in democracy and elections, believe in young people in work, dont think paedo supporters should be US ambassadors, believe in a fair trial and juries, believe that the police should police without fear or favour, are against anti-semetism, support farmers, dont think politicians should be getting free stuff....

Someone said to me noone on the left these days believes in the left, they just pretend to because they want to believe they are good people.

That belief that they are good people then requires them believing that anyone not on the left is racist or stupid.

That might be the reason why the left these days calls anyone they disagree with a bigot or stupid, and doesn't want to engage with them.

Whatever the reason, the left in the 2020s is nothing like what it used to be! (Not saying the right is particularly attractive mind, it's not, which is why it's best to keep politics out of friendships).

Bet your right wing

Never talk about politics or religion with close friends and family.

You'll be very lonely if you do, whatever your direction or affiliation.

Block what you don't want to read, don't go on social media, decide if your friendship every day is enjoyable irl.

I would definitely unfriend anyone sharing right-wing propaganda, but luckily I don't have such friends.

My problem is that I sometimes disagree with dubious left-wing propaganda and simplistic virtue-signalling that some of my friends share. Like many intelligent people these days, I tend to regard myself as unaligned with either orthodox left or right on various issues.

I usually just ignore the politics and enjoy the other aspects of these friendships. I've tried debating but find that many hard-core lefties can be just as irrational as the righties, and just as difficult to shift from uncritical tribal loyalties.

😂😂😂😂😂

How would you have known if I kept silent about my politics?