I don’t mind people’s political opinions, even if I heavily disagree, as long as they aren’t being combative about it.

Someone posted this article about a study of US conservatives, but the thread must have derailed because it was deleted by the time I got to read the actual study and was ready to comment. Much of my family and my wife’s are conservatives, while we aren’t. It’s so strange in trying to understand where that disconnect is between how people treat their in-group vs those they don’t know. What they are willing to do to help people who are questionable of their own group can be amazing, but yet they have a hard time giving that forgiveness or benefit of the doubt to someone they don’t know baffles me. Like they have adopted black family members, severely mentally and physically disabled family members, lesbian family members, and super intellectual science people, and while they are either very cool to most of them or at least find them a little strange but not offensively so, they can’t find any of that sympathy or compassion for others in those same scenarios.

I was reading the study and I had the same initial feelings of understanding where these people are coming from and why they are upset, but then they just go off the deep end on finding some crazy reason why it’s the Left’s fault, or because people don’t believe in God enough or whatever. Like, I was on your side, and then you just lose it. But if I’d try to explain things, that switch turns off and they won’t hear it.

I feel the same way here with a lot of people. There are a number of things I could get behind with the anarchists and the communists both, but they just seem to lose me at the execution of these ideas. I feel their end goal is kinda the same of having consensus and cooperation of the majority of people running things, but every time I try to listen to them, the communists are fine with uses threats of force to make people try to function together, which I’m not cool with, and as much as I see the anarchists fight among themselves, they can’t build a consensus when everyone is already presorted into a group of claimed anarchists, so what are you going to do when you need to incorporate a ton of non-anarchists into society should a place suddenly become an anarchist state. I just don’t see how it would ever scale, at least not without also becoming authoritarian.

So I don’t really know what I am or could pick a “team” I’m really happy with. If I were forced, I’d probably say Social Democrat, as it at least seems practical in the US. It’s still a capitalist position, which doesn’t thrill me, but it’s the system we live in and can be reformed should we so desire, and it wouldn’t require a violent revolution to achieve. I’d rather have something more bottom up than top down, but we seem a long way away from that. If wealth inequality and the expanded unchecked power of the federal government could be even out, it wouldn’t be so bad. We just let money dictate way too much instead of the voices of the people and workers creating that wealth.

I’d gladly listen to what some of these people have to say though, especially if they keep it calm and more educational than like they’re picking a fight. Cowbee is always my example. I don’t really agree with much of what they say, but they generally stay calm, are more than willing to talk, they have legit FAQs about their beliefs prepared with a huge load of sources provided… I really feel they are taking much the same approach I do teaching people about owls and animal rehab things, but with their ML beliefs. I enjoyed reading the other day when they responded to an AskLemmy about why support Russia when it isn’t really communist or something like that, and it basically sounded like the reason many US left people basically side with Democrats: it’s far from what we want, but it’s easier to reform this thing that has a bit of what we support than to start from scratch. Do I agree? Questionable, but it at least makes some sense and would be a decent place to start talking should I be interested. And it was stated calmly and with some discussion about differences between the USSR, modern Russia, and some of China/Korea. The way they conduct themselves always has me on their side, at least in a “I may not agree with what you say, but I support your right to say it” type of way. I don’t know if I’ve really seen that from the anarchists here. I used to listen to a lot of the anarchist people on the It Could Happen Here podcasts, but there was just too much depressing stuff with corruption and hurting immigrants I stopped checking in and have been listening to Discworld audiobooks instead. I’ve been much, much happier with the Disc’s politics.

But if you want to check out the conservative study, you may enjoy it. I thought it was very well written and thought provoking. Here’s a link. Some people make better points than others, and others turn to blaming demons, so it’s a wild ride even if you hate everyone in the interviews.