"Do you have any Republican friends?"

[mjr]

That's what this video asks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKYfarmt-N4

And it brings up an interesting question. What is "open minded"? Because a few of them answer the question with "no", and when asked for an explanation say that they're "open minded", so that's why they don't have Republican friends.

One lady even answers, "No, thank God".

Another lady answers "I wouldn't be friends with someone who's Republican". (Nice and "open minded" of you.)

One woman even answers, "You have to be open minded."

"Why don't you know any Trump supporters?"

"I don't know...I think people here are more open-minded." Then she has this gem: "I honestly don't know that much about politics."

Another woman, when asked, said "I don't tolerate it". The guy with her answered, "I don't want to." Yeah, real open minded diversity there.

Another answered, "We stay away from those people" (because apparently you can tell a Republican by looking at them).

First, how would you know if you had Republican friends unless they told you? You can get a general idea of someone's political leanings based on what they say, but you don't know for sure. I'm conservative and I have a friend who I'm pretty sure might be a socialist, or at least a "Bernie" style Liberal. I'm not ending our friendship over it. I know another guy who's probably libertarian with some conservative leanings. My wife and most of my inlaws are all liberal.

A good friend of mine might be Republican. I don't know. I've never asked him. We really don't have political discussions. We just hang out when we can, since he lives over an hour away from me.

I live in Red State Texas, in a county that's solidly red, but that doesn't mean that I can't/won't make friends that don't think like I do. So I'm around Conservative Republicans all the time. And despite what people might tell you, they're kind, down to earth people.

So, do YOU have any Republican friends?

[Greenday]

Do me a favor. Go to NJ.com where I can go for local news. Read the comments and see what conservative "tolerance" looks like. NJ overall is a very blue state. But down here in South Jersey, it's redneck central.

Do I have Republican friends? Yes, plenty. Do I tolerate all their opinions? Nope. Fascist views cannot and should not ever be tolerated.

[mjr]

Do I have Republican friends? Yes, plenty. Do I tolerate all their opinions? Nope. Fascist views cannot and should not ever be tolerated.

And do you believe that only Republicans hold fascist views?

[s_stabeler]

To be fair, i suspect that the result of that survey is a good example of "there are lies, damn lies, and statistics"- it's portrayed- and you took it as "democrats would end a friendship over someone supporting the Republican Party" when I suspect that had the survey been more detailed- so that you could identify at what point they'd end the friendship- you'd find that it's more a case of "I would end a friendship if they kept acting like a bigot (hence why they are taking about people being more open-minded)"- if it was cases like yours, I doubt they'd care.

[mjr]

To be fair, i suspect that the result of that survey is a good example of "there are lies, damn lies, and statistics"- it's portrayed- and you took it as "democrats would end a friendship over someone supporting the Republican Party" when I suspect that had the survey been more detailed- so that you could identify at what point they'd end the friendship- you'd find that it's more a case of "I would end a friendship if they kept acting like a bigot (hence why they are taking about people being more open-minded)"- if it was cases like yours, I doubt they'd care.

That's fair, s_stabeler, but IIRC some women actually stopped having sex with their significant others if they found out their SO voted for Trump.

[Greenday]

That's fair, s_stabeler, but IIRC some women actually stopped having sex with their significant others if they found out their SO voted for Trump.

That's fair. Trump's a misogynistic pig so if a woman is unhappy their spouse supported him, that sounds like a reasonable thing to do.

Also, it's not like they owe their spouse sex in the first place.

As for do I believe liberals hold fascist views, I find them usually to have anarchist views which is just as distasteful to me.

[jackfaire]

No. I don't have any republican friends.

I don't have any black friends.

I don't have any white friends

I don't have any democrat friends.

It's a stupid question. Worded in a way to make you say no.

When you put the label before the word friends you want the person being asked the question not to think about their friends. You want them thinking about that label. You want them thinking about the current stereotypes. Most people are going to think over those things, "Racist, bigoted, deplorable" and go "god no I wouldn't" "I couldn't"

But if you asked "do you have any friends who voted republican" "would you have any friends that voted republican" and actually made it clear what you were asking you would get people that said yes. When asked why they would say things like "because they are open minded people that care about people. Their political affiliation doesn't define who they are and they don't always follow the current party leaders"

Surveys like that though don't want well thought reasoned answers to the question. They want a bunch of people who think of the worst aspects of the Label they were given and to give answers that make them seem dumb.

They were essentially asked "do you have friends that are bigoted and racist" and their answer was no.

[mjr]

They were essentially asked "do you have friends that are bigoted and racist" and their answer was no.

Because they think all Republicans are bigoted and racist.

[MadMike]

I take videos like this with a grain of salt. They only show what they think will prove whatever point they're trying to make. I find it hard to believe that there weren't a few people who answered, "Yes, we don't agree on politics, but we're still friends."

[mjr]

I take videos like this with a grain of salt. They only show what they think will prove whatever point they're trying to make. I find it hard to believe that there weren't a few people who answered, "Yes, we don't agree on politics, but we're still friends."

Honestly, Mike, it wouldn't surprise me. And that's probably true.

But I do think it's interesting that the ones in the video that claim to be "open minded" basically said they refused to be friends with someone they didn't agree with politically. That doesn't sound "open minded" to me.

[Canarr]

That's fair. Trump's a misogynistic pig so if a woman is unhappy their spouse supported him, that sounds like a reasonable thing to do.

Also, it's not like they owe their spouse sex in the first place.

No, nobody "owes" their spouse sex. But trying to change your partner's behavior through the threat of withholding sex is neither very enlightened, nor is it probably conducive to a continuing relationship.

So, no. That's not a reasonable thing to do. Ever.

[Daskinor]

Are we really trying having a serious discussion about bias against conservatives/republicans, with evidence from an unsorced YouTube video. A video no better then a segment you would find off a comedy show.

And somehow this is proof of something? How do we know this 'evidence' is not cherry picked in any way. How do we know its not faked.

We simply don't. The video is designed to deliver a narrative, not some kind of useful insight. A narrative even on it's own that has no structure because the question of Why is never asked. Leaving the viewer to fill in the gaps on their own.

We buy into this crap because of confirmation bias. What it says to one subset of people, is simply "This just reinforces what I already believe."

[MadMike]

But I do think it's interesting that the ones in the video that claim to be "open minded" basically said they refused to be friends with someone they didn't agree with politically.

I don't agree with refusing to be friends with someone just because of their political beliefs. I agree, that doesn't sound open-minded. However, even being open-minded has its limits. I can usually see both sides of the argument, but there are a few cases where I simply can not. For example, I thought Obama was an OK president, but I can see why some people thought he was terrible. But I can't see how anyone could possibly think Trump is doing a good job.

As far as being friends with people on the right, I have a few, including one I've known for almost 30 years, since towards the end of my days in retail. He can be a little infuriating sometimes though, because he is not open-minded. He has a blind hatred towards anything left-leaning, and he thinks the right can do no wrong. One time, we were talking about taxes in Pennsylvania, and he put all the blame on the democrats, saying that democrats always raise taxes and republicans always lower them. When I pointed out that our last governor, who was a republican, raised our gas tax and a handful of other fees relating to driving, his response was, "Oh, that was necessary." So basically, if a republican raises taxes, it's "Necessary", but when a democrat does the same thing, he's ripping you off.

Me, I don't care what someone's political affiliation is when they jack up taxes. 99.9% of the time, I think they're ripping us off. I've complained about democrats who did it just as loudly as republicans who did it. And in PA, there's a lot to complain about. We have the highest gas tax in the nation, and some of the worst roads, which the taxes were supposed to fix. We also have one of the highest paid legislatures, but I'm sure that's entirely coincidental.

[jackfaire]

Because they think all Republicans are bigoted and racist.

EXACTLY! Because that's the image they are being presented. It's the classic "fringe group is loudest of that group so that must be the voice of the group so that is the group" Both sides have been doing that to each other for years.

The loudest Republicans right now are bigoted and racist. There aren't a ton of super loud Republicans yelling "screw those people" So the image people get of the label Republican is that it means "You're bigoted and racist" thus if you ask the question in the way of

"Do you have Republican friends" they're not asking about a person's friends they're asking "do you have any bigoted and racist friends"

During a point in the last 20 years if someone had been asked "Do you have any Catholic Priests for friends" a lot of people would jump to "did you just ask me if I have pedophiles for friends"

If you emphasize a title and are in a period of time when the title is being heavily tied to an abhorrent thing then that's going to influence a lot of people's answers very heavily.

That's why the labels and the titles need to be ignored. Why when reading an article on someone raising taxes instead of looking for the R or the D you need to look for the wording of the tax bill they're pushing.

Most of us don't screen our friends by saying "Hey what party do you belong to?" For the most part I neither know nor care which parties my friends are members of. I know where they stand on the issues. I know what they care about.

But if asked "Do you have any Republican Friends" My focus would be on "why did you ask me the question like that why the emphasis on Republican you mean like those assholes that back racists to the hilt? Like those people? Or do you mean friends that are republican"

Because those are legit two very different questions.

"Who you are defines what you do" - Across the Universe

[D_Yeti_Esquire]

'Eh. My wife (who actually showed me this site) from Customer's Suck which is more her jam was actually kicked out by her guardians for having voted for Obama.

I think "douchebag relative that feels you owe them votes" is a really common thing that has less to do with political orientation and more to do with outrage at their lack of control over others. In the case of those boyfriends/husbands - Divorce this person immediately.

To the actual topic, I have plenty of Republican friends. And Democrat friends. The reason is I don't litmus test them because (and maybe this comes from being politically active before I could legally vote), I've seen just about every sort of bs rhetoric imaginable and I've seen people change their minds.

Open Minded itself is a bit of a misnomer. Open mined doesn't mean someone's opinion changes on a dime. It means they are receptive to new information. Even with said new information, it may take years for their mind to change. But that is demonstrably different than someone who speeds away from any information they find offensive.

Re: All Republicans being bigoted/racist. That bit is kind of an interesting socialogical point. That is, I don't think with the Trump vote many were stupid enough to believe that Trump wasn't a racist. That stuff came through both in what he said and his past business dealings. But enough people were willing to overlook it and I think that's where you see a lot of outrage.

So while I don't necessarily consider Republicans racist by default, I do consider them guilty of failing a test. That being, when a candidate that utterly fails to uphold liberal democratic (the concept, not the party) ideals AND you still vote for him/her over an opponent you might find objectionable but still within the bounds of understanding and respecting liberal democracy - the fallout is on you. I'm still hoping he'll just be an exception historically.