Friend help.

[Deleted]

What do you do when you have strong feelings against a certain something and one of your friends actually supports that certain something ?

A controversial politician was arrested recently in my country for fraud, yet he was quite charismatic and performed some charity (imo all for political gain). A lot of people support him and say that he should be freed. No one even claims he's innocent, they just say that just because he helped some people and donated to charity, the law should overlook his transgressions.

I believe that this politician is a scumbag who does things for publicity and political gain, and he's guilty of many acts of fraud which did circulate the media but couldn't be proven, until something finally stuck.

So this friend of mine shared on his FB page the ad that the guy's supporters made on FB, basically a "Free Jimbo" type of group.

I find myself very upset and sorta betrayed. Yes, I'm aware everyone has the right to their opinion but that doesn't stop me from thinking quite a bit less of my friend.

[lordmatthias]

Honestly I hate to say it, but you friend has done nothing wrong. He has in no way slighted you personally other than disagree with you. If it makes you feel better post something against this politician on your facebook.

I have friends with drastically different opinions/political affiliations than myself, I am able to maintain these friendships because I am able to respect their opinion, and occasionally I actually find they have some valid points and may even change my own opinion. Really it comes down to being able to respect each other's differences, you don't have to agree with them but if you want them to still be friends you need to be able to accept differences, or just drop them as friends .

[Catta]

Is it Berlusconi?

[LocNess]

People have their own opinions about everything, who cares unless it is something like they support terrorism or something really disgusting. In my group of friends, I have some that are anti abortion and others that are for, and the same with gay marriage or other political stuff. Just ignore it because it really doesn't matter.

[Gandrake]

You decide whether or not this is important enough to reassess the value of your friendship.

[Deleted]

Honestly I hate to say it, but you friend has done nothing wrong. He has in no way slighted you personally other than disagree with you. If it makes you feel better post something against this politician on your facebook.

I have friends with drastically different opinions/political affiliations than myself, I am able to maintain these friendships because I am able to respect their opinion, and occasionally I actually find they have some valid points and may even change my own opinion. Really it comes down to being able to respect each other's differences, you don't have to agree with them but if you want them to still be friends you need to be able to accept differences, or just drop them as friends .

But how can you respect someone's opinion that 1+1=3 ?!

This isn't a matter of being a vegetarian over not being one, or over same sex relationships. This is about having an opinion that I don't see how it could be right. The man is an obvious dirtbag, how can one disagree with that and not have his wit questioned ? Or least this is how I feel about it.

Perhaps it's all about how strong each person feels about something, which is very subjective.

Once again, I may be wrong but I can't help but add a minus to the list.

Is it Berlusconi?

No

[slime]

A lot of people sell-out it's no big deal. Your friend just seemed to go really cheap.

[Deleted]

It would be a hell of a lot easier to have an opinion on this if we knew who this politician is.

[Maelle]

Someone got in touch with me with a friend request the other week over facebook, it was a very old friend I had not spoken to in years. I accepted the request, and we had a nice chat, didn't think much of it until I started getting his updates / notifications that were often really toxic "hate" posts on facebook group pages to do with racial minorities, especially muslims. I was disgusted and told him as much before unfriending him. It was a bit of a shame really, but I can't tolerate racists.

In your case if it's a good friend, and he's just showing bad political judgement (in your opinion) just try to ignore it, the above is an example of one of the very few things that crosses the "this friendship is over" line for me.

[Deleted]

It would be a hell of a lot easier to have an opinion on this if we knew who this politician is.

Doesn't really matter. Doubt you'd know of him.

George Becali

[Gheld]

Doesn't really matter. Doubt you'd know of him.

George Becali

Ahmigawd you are against freeing George Becali!?

Just kidding.

My advice is bite your tongue sir. You won't go very far in life if you can't just bite your tongue and pretend to be friendly towards people who have moral views you find completely objectionable.

It's called "tolerance."

[Deleted]

My advice is bite your tongue sir. You won't go very far in life if you can't just bite your tongue and pretend to be friendly towards people who have moral views you find completely objectionable.
It's called "tolerance."

That's not really the point. This isn't about some strangers whose views must be respected, this is about friends whose views irk me. If it was some stranger, it would be really easy to..."respect" his opinion.

[Gheld]

That's not really the point. This isn't about some strangers whose views must be respected, this is about friends whose views irk me. If it was some stranger, it would be really easy to..."respect" his opinion.

If your friends start talking about it in person just say "I respectfully disagree, and I don't think either of us will budge on this one, would you like to talk about something else.?"

And if you see something that offends you on Facebook, don't go on facebook, or just unfollow people. I have people on my facebook who constantly post "pot culture" related crap, about 20 times an hour, and while I'm for legalization I think pot culture is abhorrent. So I unfollowed them. But really, you aren't going to sway your friends opinions, and if you go around burning bridges every time you morally disagree with somebody you'll end up very lonely very fast.

[lordmatthias]

But how can you respect someone's opinion that 1+1=3 ?!

This isn't a matter of being a vegetarian over not being one, or over same sex relationships. This is about having an opinion that I don't see how it could be right. The man is an obvious dirtbag, how can one disagree with that and not have his wit questioned ? Or least this is how I feel about it.

Perhaps it's all about how strong each person feels about something, which is very subjective.

Once again, I may be wrong but I can't help but add a minus to the list.



No

It honestly is really subjective, it all really depends on how vehemently you feel about the disagreement. Also your analogy isn't exactly the best as even though you may feel your opinion is iron clad fact, others may not feel the same way. You see this a lot with how people feel about their religion, one might feel their religion is iron clad fact, whereas their atheist friend believes it is an opinion.

I have some friends who are pretty hardcore US conservatives and they call our current President a Nazi Communist (Yes I understand the irony) and they have a picture of him on their fridge that makes him look like the joker from the Dark Knight. It kind of sounds like you feel the way they do about your particular politician (albeit not to the same extreme). Although I generally don't agree with them (and I really don't like the way they think of the President), I still respect their opinions, and on occasion I have seen some value in what they say (politically). I do greatly value their opinion in other areas that don't relate to politics, and in general I enjoy hanging out with them.

Maybe try having a discussion with this friend about it, ask him why he feels the way he does, and at the same time explain the way you feel about it. If either or your arguments have validity, perhaps one of you will change your mind.

Otherwise I would probably say Gheld has the right idea.