Are Americans as politically IRL?

[user261]

you see the same 10 people in every thread here on mmo-c. quite the toilet of opinions

[Auxora]

It's surprisingly common IRL, but less so in workplaces. There people don't want to stir up problems that might complicate work relationships. Even then people will slip into it from time to time. I've never seen as many people unfriend other people on FB as much as in the last year over politics, even close long-time friends in many cases. The Trump effect has been real.

[zenkai]

A common trend on MMOC is the political rift between 'liberals' and 'conservative'. Naturally every nation has polorizing political opinions but for some reason online and in the media these opinions seem almost hostile and tribe like, is this common IRL too? I notice it more so with the rise of Trump

I only see it online, it's not like you're out shopping at Walmart and someone stands up and shouts "F*** TRump!"

[Rotted]

My american flat mate is, he claims he voted Johnson is it? bloke got 3% over all or something?

Whats annoying though, is he turns around and says trump was a better choice than Hillary so hes happy, and he brings up trump this trump that, shares and comments trumps this trumps that, in direct conversation with you. We then politely remind him actually we don't think hes ideal at all, to which we get replied

WELL ITS NOT YOUR FUCKING COUNTRY I WISH PEOPLE WOULD STOP TALKING POLITICS TO ME OMG

[Zarc]

Well, it does seem to me that the American political climate is worse than in many other countries due to these factors:

1) The two-party system. Makes the political climate very black and white I think, you may as well attack your opponent as try to say why people should vote for you. In multi-party systems there's more shades of grey because you can't really attack every opponent so you have to make your case.
2) One of the two major parties is totally crazy, anti-science, anti-fact, anti-reason and extremely right-wing economically. This was the case even before Trump. Especially during the tenure of Barack Obama. Polarization is bound to thrive if you end up having a debate about facts rather than opinions.

I have no problem discussing politics with sympathizers of 7 out of 8 political parties represented in the Swedish parliament, currently representing some 87.1% of the electorate (probobly will decrease in the next election though since the 8th party will most likely advance >.<). This includes people who have widely different opinions but generally are not into post-truths politics. Opinions ranging from those of democratic socialists, social democrats, environmentalists, classic liberals, green liberals, social liberals, conservative liberals, liberal conservatives and christian democrats.

A bit of an anecdote and rambling: I only know one person who loves Trump. A colleague at work who I strongly suspect is a highly functioning psychopath, and who I have overheard being called a fascist by other employees. :P He is extremely aggressive in pushing his opinions and always having the last word. Also, of course, you never actually end up discussing politics with him (which is fun) but instead you end up debating facts (which is dull). I don't discuss politics with him anymore, but I did so initially mostly out of curiousity because he has quite exotic political views for the Swedish mainstream and I like figuring out where people fit in ideologically. At first I thought he was a mainstream libertarian (classic liberal), mostly because he labels himself as "libertarian". I soon found that to not be true though. Being libertarian is exotic enough in Sweden, but I soon figured he was an anarcho-capitalist. Which is a form of libertarianism, but an extremist form, not the "socially liberal, fiscally conservative" Gary Johnson mainstream variety which is just another word for classic liberalism. Then my curiousity came to an end as I explored his views some more and found out he wasn't even mainstream anarcho-capitalism but a fringe of that ideology which is called paleolibertarianism. So, in other words, he is the fringe of a fringe of a fringe. (Though since I concluded my analysis and stopped engaging in politics with him he has voiced support for some economic policies of Donald Trump that contradicts anarcho-capitalism so maybe he is just another authoritarian looking for a leader to blindly follow who just used anarcho-capitalist thinking to rationalize in his mind a society of social darwinism where the rich and powerful can be free to prey on the weak and the poor.) My shcool years seem a bit foreign nowadays because as a social liberal I was always arguing from a perspective on the right against the left as my old childhood friends are all democratic socialists or social democrats, so I used to view myself as being on the right. Yet in America I would be on the left, and recent developments in Western politics has made me feel more to the left while not having changed my actual political views. It's as if the position of my political views has been shuvved to the left due to Old Right views not seen for about 100 years having returned and extended the politival spectrum to the right. When Barack Obama visited Stockholm and visited our center-right former Prime Minister he correctly assessed that he would be considered center or center-right here. Since then the center-right coalition of that Prime Minister have become the opposition of a government to the left of them. :P

[I Push Buttons]

If friends and family say some political shit I will argue with them... But acquaintances, coworkers, or random people, I just nod and carry on with what I was doing; I don't really care and I am not looking to make waves.

But I see my friends and family enough that I actually try to change their views and debate with them about shit regularly.

[Rooflesstoofless]

Republican Party
- Conservative
- Made up of Farmers, Rural community members, Ex-military, and Large Business Workers.
- A lot of the time Religious
- Want very little government interference in their affairs.

This is something that has always blown my mind. I've met so many republicans that are distrustful of federal overreach and want as little government involvement in their lives as possible...but still want the police state where cops are excused from shooting suspects in the back and are free to bust down the doors of every weed smoker and throw them in jail.

It strikes me as such a blatant contradiction of their beliefs.

[Allybeboba]

It's only an internet thing...in real life the only people you see raving about political topics are retiree age 99% of the time

And the ones going on about age seem to be young.

[Youn]

Not really when you consider that from a view point of an ex-military individual.

You want order and control but not told what is good for you. So, as an example.. A republican is fine with a law written that says the police have the ability to arrest someone for drinking in public. But they are not fine with a law that says sugared drinks are bad for your health and should be illegal to drink in the first place.

This is because they believe a person has a right to destroy their own body and shouldn't be told to not do it. But, the drinking in public one disrupts public order and therefore should be illegal.

The destruction of your own body isn't a concern.

A Democrat would look at that and say. Yes, drinking in public is an issue that should be regulated. But also, drinking sugar drinks causes health problems and in order to fix that we will make those illegal also. You should also have yearly check-ups because it makes sure you aren't breaking the law and drinking the sugared soda anyways.

[Allybeboba]

I normally see more Europeans arguing over this shit than Americans. Even if it's over American politics.

Kek...
Europeans tend to lean to the left that is why.

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you see the same 10 people in every thread here on mmo-c. quite the toilet of opinions

Yes, people with 10,000-35,000 posts.

[belleflop]

No, most people are not as political in person as they are online. That being said those that ARE more political in person than online generally are more radicalized and less informed. Which is why when you see disagreements in the public sphere it turns into a us vs them (yelling, duck speak) which to where no actual constructive dialogue happens.

[Turismon]

Blame Social Media.... it's always been like this, people just let it out on Social media. It's everywhere now and people feel more inclined to open up about what they say without thinking about others and then they retaliate in a similar manner. Things get taken out of context, people get whiny. It's pretty much all there is too it. Even my family has now had fueds over political posts for no good reason other than one making fun of the others candidate and beliefs.

[Glorious Leader]

To be blunt no. They should be far more active but overall they couldnt even been arsed to vote every 4 years never.

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This is something that has always blown my mind. I've met so many republicans that are distrustful of federal overreach and want as little government involvement in their lives as possible...but still want the police state where cops are excused from shooting suspects in the back and are free to bust down the doors of every weed smoker and throw them in jail.

It strikes me as such a blatant contradiction of their beliefs.

Yea cause they dont actually believe any of it. Republicans have been steadily increasing government interference in every aspect of life for a long time. They claim to be champions of.the.free market for example.but are always ready willing and able to adjust market out comes. Its.the conservative nanny state.

[Vynny]

From my personal experience, politics in America are very divisive which is most likely a result of the 2 party system, but most people who can't keep things civil (or those who are always around people who can't keep political discussions civil) have taken up treating politics as a taboo subject that just should be avoided in conversation.

But no, it's really bad imo. Thanksgiving has been canceled in my family before because the Reps and Dems got into an argument and one threw the other out of the house.

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But why so much so with Americans online? I don't seem to see the left v right as volatile from British members

I think it's because of the 2 party system. In British politics it's not really left vs. right but a free for all of every political party that take up varying positions on the political compass, so even though the Labour and Tory parties are probably just as divisive as the Republican and Democratic parties are, the existence of other options takes some steam out of that feud.

[starlord]

my recent visit home had my father constantly berating me about liberals and how i get special treatment as a minority female.
to the point when my great uncle joined us for lunch at a restaurant he quietly left cause he was embarassed.

[PACOX]

When I go out and people start getting drunk you can here people trash talking Trump, that's about it. There was little bit of political talk over the holidays but it was very light and tongue in cheek remarks.

A lot of people are just like "fuck it all" at this point. Political apathy.