scottish politics and friendships

[frankie80]

anyone else (regardless of how they voted), finding the scottish political situation is affecting their friendships as in losing friends and preventing from making new friends?

eg I was looking online for a local dog walking group. nosey'd at the FB profile of the group organiser to see pictures of the puppy she has (love cute puppies) only to find it full of really horrible nasty racist political stuff.

So that's a dog walking group I won't be joining. Sad, as I wanted to get out more and this seemed idea.

Similarly, I've ended friendships because of political beliefs, not really because of their vote but either because of their reasons for voting and their attitudes to those who vote otherwise.

I've had family members defriend me on Facebook because I wasn't voting their party.

It just makes me so sad that I have to be careful now about who I socialise for fear of politics being brought up. Its a lonelier life since this time last year!

TBH the worst vitriol I have seen on MN.

In RL I very rarely mention politics but I have a vague awareness that people around me (whose opinions I value) share broadly the same values, and thus political values as me.

I dont seem to have FB friends who share random political.stuff, if I did I would hide them.

Wrote a big long post but it appears to have been eaten

You'll only get one year off -2018- (and even that might end up having a referendum if Scotland votes to stay in the EU and England votes to leave ) before the whole cycle begins again .

I only have a few No/not SNP voting friends (not by design, before anyone suggests that)/family but I haven't fallen out with any of them. If they're up for it, we have robust debates, if they're not (and I have one real life MN friend in this category), we avoid the topic and are still friends.

I do have a Twibbon on Facebook - and I have posted links to articles I find interesting and my Twitter feed posts feed across (eg pointing out that Scotland would have the same number of MPs - 59 out of 650 - after 7 May that it had before) but I've never said anything nasty to anyone - either on Facebook or Twitter. I may have referred to Creepy Jim when celebrating his ousting politicians are fair game

I think your escape from the dog walking group is a lucky one. Bigots are bigots.

The group of ladies I have coffee with after Pilates I think have diverging viewpoints from mine. I keep my mouth shut: it's not worth falling out over.

Only time I've seen nastiness has been on MN. I gave up contributing to Indyref threads and didn't even bother in the run up to the GE as Yes/SNP supporters were variously described as uneducated, xenophobic, scroungers, insular (and more), which wasn't a description I recognised of myself or my friends.

It's probably the anonymity of the Internet that allows people to be less guarded than in real life. I don't think that is a valid excuse. There is no justification for nastiness whatever people's viewpoints unless they really ARE racist or homophobic

Proper friends respect other people's opinions and judge when it's appropriate to debate and when it's not.

I only wore a SNP badge in the last 2 days before the election - and got some interesting (positive) comments from people I wouldn't have expected - including the Scottish former editor of a publication which doesn't usually get a good press (forgive the pun ) on Mumsnet.

I dont have dogs, but might like to go for a walk with you.

I can't even vote, so no worries on that count. i might blether on about American politics a bit. But if we stop for cake, I will shut up.

aw momagain1 that's kind of you, if you're anywhere near me. American politics would be fine, much of my family are American, love the states :)

I think it must depend on your friends, during the indyref I'd say in my group of friends we were split evenly, half yes and half no. At no point ever was there one raised voice or anything when we discussed it. None of us have fallen out there was not one iota of nastiness. The only nastiness I saw was on MN when it got quite heated and at times I felt should have been reigned in by MN as if you had replaced the word Scottish or Scot with black or gay there would have been uproar and quite rightly so. I stopped reading the Indy threads at the time and I've given the general election ones a swerve as well as I assumed they would be the same.

Facebook is far worse than anything seen on MN in my opinion. (For every topic!)

The real life issue comes in if you are dealing with those who must be seen to be right. I would argue a point on here pre-referendum, whereas in RL I knew I would only antagonise with the contradiction. On a public forum I didn't like to see stuff I thought was wrong go unchallenged.

("Do you want to be right or do you want to be happy?" In real life choose happy!)

I agree bakewell, MN was very well behaved compared to some of the stuff on facebook. For me it was certain members of my family and friends of friends who were the worst. I was able to have a good debate with friends, but then one of their yes voting mates would jump in and have a go at me.

Some I have met since and it was a bit awkward.

I have a friend where things are slightly awkward as she posted something while drunk and emotional that I think she now regrets. Things have never been the same since despite meeting the next day to clear the air. I hope we will get past it eventually.

Worst was my cousin who was calling me selfish and a traitor. Bit rich when I get food shopping sent to her house once a month. DH was livid and said she wasn't getting anything else from us, but I was the bigger person and carried on sending her shopping. Unfortunately after the election she posted loads of anti English stuff (DH is English), so he's furious again.

So yes OP, certain social situations have become more awkward.

I don't tell anybody which political party I support, although it's often assumed lately that everybody voted SNP. If this assumption is made of me, I point out that I didn't vote for them and am usually asked "Why not?"

I have defriended somebody on FB as all they did was post SNP stuff after the election.