Are Americans as politically IRL?

[Deleted]

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

[GennGreymane]

Yes and no

Some people are absolute cancer

some people literally dont care unless they wanna post on FB

[Deleted]

I also noticed I put politically not political

[Machismo]

It's a complex algorithm based on blood alcohol level, proximity of those in the conversation, and how often they have intercourse. I would give you the formula, but it's proprietary.

[Deleted]

People are generally easier to get along with irl for a variety of reasons, including ingrained tools that work face to face, political positions being less immediately obvious, and having more incentive to cooperate. Religion and politics are also generally considered to be taboo topics in a lot of situations, precisely because people get worked up about them. Having said that, you still sometimes meet the sort of people who exist here.

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

[Zyster]

Honestly no. At least the many people I hang around from both sides don't have time to deal or care about the pettiness that MMOC portrays. I wouldn't even say it is RL, my online friends don't care either. To be blunt, and not intentionally trying to be mean, but a lot of the crap that happens here doesn't happen irl because people won't put up with it. A lot of the people here also can't stomach a civil discussion face to face, even worse, if they can't google every confirmation bias website they can find in the middle of a convo.

[Daedius]

They seem rather patriotic so... maybe ?

[antelope591]

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

[Youn]

During everyday conversations some topics are considered taboo in large groups that want to have fun. Those are Politics and Religion. As it normally leads to somewhat heated arguments. For instance in my group of friends we have ex-military (almost always republicans) and college students (almost always democrats). They should not bother trying to talk politics together.

I also live in the Southeastern United States, an area that is very religious. You simply shouldn't get in religious conversations if your an atheist/agnostic in this region.

[Independent voter]

Most people aren't political. There are 330,000,000 of us and 1% is still a lot of people.

[Theodarzna]

To an extent IRL, politics sorts friendship groups out. Rarely do Liberals keep a Conservative leaning friends, and vice versa. Or if they do its because politics isn't a topic of discussion.

[GennGreymane]

I have a friend who was a total bernie bro.... like exactly what you expect

He also literally knows nothing. If he is corrected he just gets mad and just says nah hes right somehow, or "well, lets just say we agree to disagree." He was a Trump supporter before being a Bernie supporter, said he loves Gary Johnson, but Voted for Jill Stien.

He was also a big poster on that bernie Sanders dank meme page.

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To an extent IRL, politics sorts friendship groups out. Rarely do Liberals keep a Conservative leaning friends, and vice versa. Or if they do its because politics isn't a topic of discussion.

You would need to be in the company of others on a regular basis to fully grasp how social interactions can work despite politics. I understand if this may have been hard for you for many years, but it is never too late.

[Zyster]

To an extent IRL, politics sorts friendship groups out. Rarely do Liberals keep a Conservative leaning friends, and vice versa. Or if they do its because politics isn't a topic of discussion.

Many of my best friends are Liberals, and many would define me as Conservative. I would have to say that this train of thought has almost become an expectation that people are viewing coexisting as almost impossible and it's quite disgusting.

[Towstie]

To an extent IRL, politics sorts friendship groups out. Rarely do Liberals keep a Conservative leaning friends, and vice versa. Or if they do its because politics isn't a topic of discussion.

My friends and I all have VERY different beliefs in regards to politics, religion and life in general. It's good conversation for both sober and drunk times.

[isuridedes]

You may be right but that doesn't mean I am wrong, you just aren't seeing things from my perspective.

This outlook, designed to teach acceptance and tolerance, has helped normalize extreme ideological views. People now demand to have their voices heard and their opinions validated, despite their viewpoints lacking objectivity or being based on flawed logic. Actual debate or discourse cannot happen, because neither side is willing to admit that such flaws in their argument exist... and so we cannot move toward a consensus or compromise.

In reality, while there are certainly areas where there is not a clear 'right' or 'wrong' way to do things, many things in life can be measured objectively. A favorite example to support the aforementioned quote are two people standing on either side of a number. It could be '6' or '9', so the argument goes, depending on your perspective. This is silly of course, because in context the number is either a 6 or a 9 and through context we would have an objective single answer and one of the two people in the meme would be wrong.

[Deleted]

To an extent IRL, politics sorts friendship groups out. Rarely do Liberals keep a Conservative leaning friends, and vice versa. Or if they do its because politics isn't a topic of discussion.

See this seems strange to me because the two major political parties here are Labour and Conservative and my circle of friends always had a mix, hell I learn slightly to Labour whereas my other half is more Conservative and it never became an issue

[oplawlz]

To an extent IRL, politics sorts friendship groups out. Rarely do Liberals keep a Conservative leaning friends, and vice versa. Or if they do its because politics isn't a topic of discussion.

This is blatantly untrue, and if you in fact have a social circle that shallow you should reexamine your life immediately.

[Dug]

Nah not really. The only people I see that are obsessed with it are like super old people that military types. I enjoy discussing politics if it's relevant but I'm not just going to bring it up out of the blue. People are more outspoken about it on the internet because of anonymity and distances between people you're arguing with (ie. people with their full name on display on Facebook yet arguing aggressively because the person they're arguing with is probably states away)

[oplawlz]

See this seems strange to me because the two major political parties here are Labour and Conservative and my circle of friends always had a mix, hell I learn slightly to Labour whereas my other half is more Conservative and it never became an issue

It's strange because it isn't true. Only very, very ignorant people base their friendships on political views here as in the rest of the world.

[Gaexion Ramza Beoulve]

One of the tenements of self rule, is that it is scathing, brutal, and very very difficult.

Even in a fake democracy, a fake battle of ideals, the fight is still real.

The purpose of the fight is to take the evil out of the people.

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Yes and no

Some people are absolute cancer

some people literally dont care unless they wanna post on FB

I.love.the new profile pic.