When was the last time you had a friendly conversation about politics with someone whose political views are the opposite of yours?
I simply tend to ignore political based chats whether they be from family members or friends.
When I am aware of a person with political views the opposite of mine I will not discuss politics with them .Politics is like religion, people will not discuss the subject with an open mind so why waste the time .I have friends who have the opposite political views of mine but I don’t care .I only discuss politics with people that have similar views as mine
That’s usually the best approach.
Two years ago, at least on more than a superficial level.. We hung around, attended a couple events of mutual interest ..but he just couldn’t let go the fact I wasn’t ‘of the body,’ so to speak (old star trek reference).
He and his wife were attempting to ‘set me up’ with a women they knew ..from church. Eventually, we just let eachother go … my suspicions of his presidential choice more than played out ..and as deeply religious as he was, couldn’t stand the idea of me being aware of his sin. I think
I’ve never had an unfriendly conversation about politics with anyone. There is no reason to let it get to that point.
...so you haven’t manned the democrat’s booth in redneck america..? Man, I’ve watched their spit fly ..describing why women shouldn’t have abortions! Another crazy was a self-described Libertarian … kept confronting and harassing us. When bystanders begin asking if they should call the cops.. You’ve not lived
@Polyphemus I prefer to think it the result of being polite and listening before commenting. And, the result of making comments that don’t insult the person listening.
Election day at work.
A religous engineer who thinks all unions are the mob, and DNC will take away your guns. His one comment that pretty much ended my trying to explain my views was that "You know that abortion is wrong". Like I could convince him that his church was lying to him.
In person, weekly, usually. Since almost everyone on this site has political views mostly opposite to mine, if you count discussions on this site as conversations, then even more often.
You wouldn't be alone on that much regarding the political convos on this site...
Depends on how you define "friendly."
Last week I had a polite chat (in the steam room at the YMCA) with a Theist/tRump supporter. I, with a kind voice pointed out a long list of how tRump supporters are not processing evidence correctly because they base their lives on the dishonest premise that faith (belief without evidence) is an accurate methodology to determine truth (Things that can be demonstrated with demonstrable facts. I continued to expound how a life based on faith pollutes the faithful persons ability to accurately access realty.
His response was "I can't imagine living without faith"
I noted I figured out faith was dishonest when I was about six and could not imagine living with faith.
He then asserted how "Hot our economy is" sense tRump took office.
I pointed out the economic vector is and has been linear for the last four years. tRump has only increased our deficit an additional 1.7 trillion by promoting tax breaks for the top 1% . . etc .etc. .
If he were bright enough to understand what I was telling him, you could not define this as a "friendly" discussion but because he displays great faith/reality does not matter, it was a "friendly" yet pointless discussion.
A few weeks ago.
@Polyphemus He was the bass player in our band at the time. He is a Conservative/Christian. The three of us are super Liberal/Nonbelievers. It was a discussion about Trump. We had discussions occasionally about politics, but never religion. Good bass players are rare. Hell, bass players are rare!
@Polyphemus Not in this band. Egos left at the door. Total pros. I was in another band for a couple of years with guys who were hobby players and it was constant arguments and bullshit. I like working with guys like me that have done this for a living for all or most of their adult life. Big attitude difference most of the time.