I Find It Hard to be Friendly with People With Opposing Views....

[gillep]

I am friendly with pretty much everyone I meet, so no I would have no issue being friendly with someone with polar opposite views. I love speaking with people who have different views and experiences than I do, probably why I like reading the community board so much, as I am a naturally curious person. As long as the other person is respectful, I am pretty easy going.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

I have family members with opposing views in politics & collegiate sports. Collegiate sports views are much more serious than politics. I make it a habit to shut down those topics as soon as possible. I save the most egregious infractions for times, when they don't take a subtle hint. That usually works. Those differences won't keep me from loving my family & spending time with them. I just refuse to discuss those topics.

 

[ols386]

I can be friendly with anyone, but if someone is rude to me because we have different opinions, I won’t be hanging around them for very long.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

My grandfathers were very different people. One came to this country as a poor immigrant - so poor, it took 2 years for he & my great grandfather to save enough for a ticket for my great grandmother to join them. He literally had to fight for the opportunity to get work. Settled in the big city, rough part of town, worked in a factory. Very much a cynic - all politicians are crooks, but "party X" was the worst.

The other was 4th gen from a different part of Europe. Successful farmers, his family owned thousands & thousands of acres in several states. Big time optimist and a "party X" loyalist.

Any time they were together, they argued politics for hours. And I don't think either enjoyed anything else quite so much, and they very much looked forward to their visits together. The cynic spoke so very fondly of the optimist with me on more occasions than I can remember. It was obvious he had tremendous respect for my other grandpa, even if there wasn't a lot on which they agreed.

I feel the same about many people. On this board, I feel like eliza61 was that person who was my polar opposite in so many ways, but I REALLY enjoyed our battles. Disagreement can be fun.

I don't enjoy major disagreements with my boss. Unfortunately, I always end up right in the end, and that means money spent by the boss unwisely.

 

[Jennasis]

I do a LOT of nodding and smiling.

 

[dish rag]

I can get along with any one. What I think about them is another thing. And they'll never know either.

 

[Colleen27]

It depends on what the important things are. There are a few issues where I really struggle to be polite and friendly toward those who strongly disagree, particularly when they touch on my personal life or those that I love. Differences in perspective are one thing, and I rather enjoy having friends who disagree with me on many issues. Those friendships push me to think differently and learn about things my like-minded friends would never lead me to. But I draw the line at being friendly toward someone who condemns the LGBT kids that have become part of our "bonus" family around here thanks to friendships/relationships with my teens, or who would judge my friends of other races as less-than because of the color of their skin.

 

[mummabear]

I can be polite as long as the view/opinion isn’t being shoved in my face.
There are certain subjects that I would not be friends with someone who had opposing views.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I figure we're all human, all imperfect, and all hypocritical in many ways.

So no, I don't generally let someone's political views get in the way of my being close with or caring about them. I am able to look past all that down to their basic humanity, for the most part. If we expected perfection from everyone, the world would be a very lonely place.

I also think of it this way. I know if I were injured on the side of the road, many people would stop to help me, and I'd do the same for them. Some who stop will be those people whose political views oppose mine, and some who don't stop will have political views the same as mine. Honestly, would views really matter then?

 

[NHdisneylover]

I can be friendly and respectful in most situtions.

I do not feel any obligation (out of respect or politeness or whathaveyou) to quitely sit by and be "friendly" while someone is being blatantly racist/homophbic/transphobic/sexist/xenohpobic in my presence. If they bring that stuff up to ME, they have been rude (and worse) and should expect to be countered, IMO. I absolutely believe that my silence on such issues would amount to support and I am simply not going to support white supermacists or transphobes or the like out of some misguided idea of friendliness.

Depending on the situation, I feel more often than not there are "kind" ways to shut that down or to engage someone who simply hasn't thought about it and may not realize how out of line they are in conversation that is meaningful and might even change minds. But sometimes the bestthing I can do is make my disdain for their prejudice clear and then ask them to leave (or leave myself, depending on where we are).

 

[powellrj]

My best friend and I saw the political world through different eyes. It was just agreed to agree to disagree and we got along great. We had a million other things to talk about. We could spend the whole morning just talking about parents,kids and grandkids!

 

[scrhsa]

I agree with the stance that I can be friendly with anybody. But I don't think I would want to maintain anything long term with anyone who has a militant view on any subject. Whether it fits along with most of my world view or not. Just hanging with someone with a normal opposite view, no problem. Like others have said, you can have decent conversations while stating your view and have non-aggressive ways to let them know you don't feel the same way. Everyone has free will and a right to feel about something they way they want.

 

[jevs]

It depends on the views, but I’m generally polite before making a quick exit if the opinions are making me uncomfortable.

 

[Christine]

I don't know if I could be "best" friends with someone (or married to someone) that had polar opposite views as I do. To me that just indicates a whole difference in worldview and, at times possibly, morality.

I have no issues being friendly, casually friends, whatever, with people who are polar opposites.

 

[Mokat76]

Life is too short to be unfriendly to all the people who don’t view things through my lens. I’m mostly a “live and let live” person with friends across the spectrum of political and social views. Some things we don’t discuss. Some are subjects of raucous debates. I will not, however, accept outright cruelty or hatefulness. IMHO, intolerance of opinions other than our own is one of the biggest problems in the USA right now. How can we succeed if the first thing we do is slap a perjorative label on the other as an excuse to not listen to and truly hear what they have to say?

 

[mnrose]

IRL, I am close friends with someone whose political views are pretty opposite from mine. We have vigorous, but friendly, discussions about those issues. Over the years, her views have evolved to being closer to mine, rather than mine closer to hers.

I draw the line at people who are overtly racist/bigoted. Those people I can't be friends with. On the issue of the size of government, how to do health care, etc, there are honest differences of opinion which I respect. But, using racist/bigoted language (e.g., the KKK or White Supremist), hell no. That is a bad, immoral person deserving of no respect. There is no honest difference of opinion on those issues.

 

[mom2rtk]

I don't even know the political leanings of one of my closest 25+ year long friends. We just have so much else to talk about.

 

[bdcp]

I'm friendly with everyone and no one's feelings are more important than anyone elses. Politics is a personal choice and to not associate with someone due to their political leanings isn't very "tolerant" now is it? There are a couple of hot button topics that I feel one way about and my sisters feel another way about so we just don't discuss them. I don't have to agree with everyone and can keep that to myself. Most people do not spend all their time expressing their personal world views. You can talk about other things. What I can't stand is people who are elitist about their views and downright condescending because they think they're "smarter" than everyone else. But, I usually only discuss politics with people who are like minded because it's not worth the crap thrown at me by some for a couple of my views.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

I wouldn't say I'm friends with them, but I can be nice and have conversations with them and stuff. As long as neither of us bring up politics.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

My grandfathers were very different people...

Boy, I would have liked to have heard one of you grandfathers' discussions. That sounds fun.