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?
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.
at least you dont live with them. it would be problematic if you have to live with them and hear them rant everyda.
Am in Scotland. Frequently overhear people talking about how Trump has a plan to save us. Never tried to engage with any of these people, but they dont sound like theyre joking.
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.
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.
KY crew unite! Charles Booker in November would be a pleasant surprise
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’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.
Im an anarchist who works blue collar in the rural Bible Belt. It’s torture. Either I get in arguments with everyone around me or i spend all my time biting my tongue. Ive gotta get out of here.
Going to DSA meetings is a breath of fresh air but I never have the time.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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”
