by JustMeNonJDub 36 Replies latest jw friends
Friends - zero. Acquaintances = one.
I have laughed off or ignored all of this guy's ridiculous political posts for years, but the day after the election, he posted something about how only Republicans work and they support 50% of the country and I found it so offensive that I quietly unfriended him. I work too hard to have to read that bullshit, especially after I've dragged my tired ass out of bed to go support my family.
Alec Baldwin also told me to go to hell.
I BizzyBee got to all the Hollywood people - they all think I kill puppies.
Most of the anti democrat and anti Obama whining on my facebook news feed came from my former high school classmates and a witness family's daughter who lived down the street from us when I was raising my kids. My jr hippy artist high school friends tend to be libretarian and the others tend to be GOP or tea partiers. If any of them unfriended me, I don't know about it. One girl from school grew up to be a very conservative 4th grade teacher. I noted a couple of years ago that she unfriended me due to differing political views.
When I was younger, I believe I had the absolute monopoly on "truth." Now all I can say is that my experiences and culture produced my world view. Others can have their own view. Perhaps it was good this split happened, superficially based on the election, than you find out much later that the "friend" was no friend. It does hurt.
I am tired of arguing with people. Now I give money and time to promote my interests. The commercials and social media can convert people for me. I told the Obama campaign up front that I believed I had no right to influence people, merely to provide information if they wanted it. They gave me some weird looks. The parallels to religious intolerance are so strong.
What is a fleeting political campaign compared to the value of a friendship? There are so many topics to discuss besides politics. Today I don't even bring up politics or religion unless I have a good idea that it can discussed with mutual civility and understanding.
Your friend may have invested too much in the election. With the Senate and House controlled by different parties, the difference is not going to be drastic. I listen too much of what I consider nonsense but it is not my place to correct people in my version of truth. For some reason, not yet clear, Romney truly believed he would win. The media alerted me that Obama had a very narrow lead in the battleground states. When Sandy arrived, I was frantic that there would be a bad response and jinx the lead. I would not give up hope for a month or so.
You don't lose friends over an election. You might lose some people, but not friends.
You have a certain station in life, a business in a certain industry, or a job. You have a family situation, and certain values. When you vote, you try to match up the candidate or proposition to your interests. Sometimes it is a tight fit, most of the time it is somewhat nebulous. You do what you have to do, and your friends understand that, even if they come down on a different side of it.
The wingers don't get that very well. It's personal, and it is mostly about knocking down the other side at whatever cost.
BOTR: "For some reason, not yet clear, Romney truly believed he would win."
I thought that was strange, too. Here's a link that explains it pretty well.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/08/mitt-romney-lost-election_n_2095013.html?ir=Politics
"CBS reports that the campaign was unprepared for this in part because it had ignored polling that showed the races favoring Obama. Instead, it turned to its own internal "unskewed" polls, which it believed more accurately reflected the situation on the ground. They didn't."
They were living in a delusional FOX news kinda world.
