Has Your View of Friends/Co-workers Changed After You Discovered Their Political Affiliation?

Question

just wondering...

i have 2 good freinds that I have know for over a year. One from school and one from work. I relate very well to both of them and consider them good friends. We never talk politics, but I recently looked through some online blogs/profiles they have, and found out they both classify themselves as "Very Conservative"

It won't effect our friendships or anything but I couldn't help but think "Are you kidding me, they can't be serious". I was in shock that 2 people that had this much in common with me were polar opposites in political views.(I'm liberal)

After the initial shock I just forgot about it and never mentioned it.

But I wanted to ask, has anyone had their views towards a friend or collegue after finding out their political affiliation was opposite to yours?

And if so, how did you react?

*This question isn't about me being libral and my friends being conservative. That was just coincidentally the example at hand, and the same would apply if I was conservative and they were liberal. So please don't make this about those ideologies and start yelling about who is better or right. It just a general quesiton about discovering close relationships had opposite views than you politically?

Answer 1

ONE of my friends is conservative. We debate and argue about politics sometimes but it doesn't affect our friendship. When he first told me I couldn't believe it because I was born into a Liberal household, one of our family friends was a Liberal MP, and I had a hard time understanding his viewpoints. If anything, it made me more tolerant of others peoples opinions and I hope the same for him.

Answer 2

I'm always shocked initially when a close friend that I believed to lean a certain way politically turns out to lean the opposite way (or to not care about politics at all, in one case), but I usually get over it. My curiosity gets the best of me always and I have to ask, and it's usually after these discussions that I realize why they lean in that particular direction. Thankfully, none of these people have ever been agitated by the fact that I bring up what is so touchy a topic as politics. But do proceed with caution. Not everyone likes discussing their political views.

Answer 3

Good question. I have a similar experience - friends made who I found out were staunch conservatives. What's funny is that we share many of the same values re raising children, life priorities, etc. yet have a vastly different political outlook.

I ended up talking some politics with one of them and we just acknowledged our differences. Haven't talked politics yet with the other.

Answer 4

It's good to have friends with different leanings sometimes just for balance. The problem comes when two people with vehemently opposing views become too close.

This happened to me recently. I thought I could overlook a guy's 'liberalness' but, no way, no how.

He couldn't keep his mouth shut about his deeply held beliefs and neither could I - it was a total disaster !!! I think we had both been biting our tongues for too long!

Answer 5

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Answer 6

What I find interesting is that you relate very well to "them", and consider your self good friends. Yet if you take two out of three it should be they who think it odd YOU are a liberal. Since you relate so well together. Maybe you should rethink your political tendency.

Answer 7

No, I don't take other people's views personally and my friends don't make personal attacks on me because I might not agree with them on some issue.

Friends are more important than political beliefs. When you're in the hospital your political beliefs can't come visit you and tell you they love you.

Answer 8

It is funny that you asked this because only today I found out a co-worker is an insane liberal. I always sort of liked him, but when he went off on me about politics, I will probably avoid him in the future.

Answer 9

No, at the last corporate job I had the owners are conservative/Republicans and the workers are liberal/Democrats. Its not confusing how this works out since the owners have spent their lives creating opportunities for themselves and the workers complain about their circumstances and DO NOTHING ABOUT IT!

Answer 10

I do understand the sentiment because I am a black man, felon, and Muslim all wrapped up in one big disenfranchised package. When people discover that I am Muslim they usually follow with a long interrogation about my practice belief and standards, and don't get me started about my having a felony and my political positions. Usually I just keep a lot to myself to prevent people form acting out on the stereotypes and current anti-Muslim sentiment that is becoming more and more popular in American culture.