Political term usage -- thoughts?

bobby

I don't know how you all feel but while I veer to the right of center, since this last election, I find myself using terms like Republican, Democrat, conservative and liberal much less. It just feels like the wingnuts have bastardized the terms. 

WavyKfromNJ

Wingnuts is a good way to describe most politicians.

Gretchen

bobby said:

I don't know how you all feel but while I veer to the right of center, since this last election, I find myself using terms like Republican, Democrat, conservative and liberal much less. It just feels like the wingnuts have bastardized the terms. 

Interesting observation. I agree that labels can unfairly or incorrectly pigeonhole people. 

jeepcurlygurl

Everything is politics so it's hard to escape it even in the best of times.
I've been politically active for 40+ years and am a rabid liberal Democrat (and will call myself such until my last days). But I've never seen such idiocy, meanness, ineptness, volatility, negativity, etc etc coming from both sides of the aisle as I do now. It's a difficult time. 

Gretchen

I agree, Jeep. With your politics and your sentiments. The vitriol and partisanship is just awful.  

bobby

I was Republican for 19 years until I washed my hands in 2011. I became independent for about six months and then switched to Libertarian. I have too much bias against Democrat to become one but the Republicans aren't getting me back any time soon either. I agree with both Jeep and Gretchen, the vitriol from both sides of the aisle gets more incendiary every year. 

Wavycat

Sorry I’m late to this discussion but I was always a moderate Democrate and I am becoming more and more who I am which currently seems to be leaning more liberal as the right goes more right.   I mean I used to be moderate but I find I am being made less so as the weeks go by.  I find this a little distasteful in myself and I struggle and fight it every single day.  These are very tough times.  

curlypearl

I consider myself an independent, socially very liberal, fiscally conservative but I dare not express any opinion when my family gathers these days.  Nobody listens to any opinion that doesn't concur completely with their own and the bitterness and vitriol when anyone says something that isn't agreeing totally with someone else is shocking to me.  Everyone calls anyone who disagrees a Nazi, an idiot, a tool of the ...(fill in derogatory term for either side).  So nobody learns anything and I keep my mouth shut.  

bobby

Given the times that we face, I believe we can't afford not to engage but I tend to read the room before I do it. I'm not opposed to engaging with a person that has dissenting views as long as they are the "agree to disagree" types. However, if they are attack dogs, I steer away. 

Wavycat

I agree.  There’s people that I work with that I don’t agree with but there are some that I can have a discussion with and it doesn’t turn into a shouting match.  Just a nice debate.  I am curious by nature and like to engage and see why people feel the way they do.  There are other people that I work with, and honestly some people here that I do not feel that I could have an open discussion with.  I’ve seen discussions here and at work turn ugly and that’s not what I’m looking for in a discussion.  I’m really just trying to understand.  
I, also, never felt that I had to censor myself.  But now I check to see who is around first.  It’s a very open office.  Even in the cafeteria I am mindful of who is around.   Maybe it’s bevause the person I work next to is not a low-talker.  

FluffySheep

Wavycat said:

Sorry I’m late to this discussion but I was always a moderate Democrate and I am becoming more and more who I am which currently seems to be leaning more liberal as the right goes more right.   I mean I used to be moderate but I find I am being made less so as the weeks go by.  I find this a little distasteful in myself and I struggle and fight it every single day.  These are very tough times.  

I really appreciate this sentiment. When you see someone with views that you find very distasteful, it's easy to go from having a more balanced view of an issue, to looking at things in a more extreme and one-sided way out of a knee-jerk reaction to separate yourself completely from those people and their views. But it's a scary thing when people define themselves more by what they're against than what they're for. I'm a conservative myself, and I used to consider other people on the right "on my side," but more and more, I'll find that even if I agree with someone on a lot of particular points, they're ultimately on the side of hate, division and polarization, and when you look at it that way, the far left and the far right are on the same side.

I think the internet has contributed a ton to the polarization we're seeing today, because it's allowed people to form their own little bubbles where they never have to interact with anyone who disagrees with them, so they end up with these "inbred" worldviews if you will. I once found a Tumblr blog that said in the bio "Trans women are women and if you disagree then you have absolutely no right to interact with me." And that's it right there: if you seal yourself off from anyone who disagrees with you, it's easy to see them as some sort of satanic cult, rather than as people just like you, who just happen to have their differences.

Wavycat

Hi Fluffysheep.  
I struggle with this almost daily.  I like discussions if there’s give and take.  Debates.  It seems for now I can’t find discussions because a lot of times it resorts to someone screaming and jabbing a finger at me or I just shut down and mentally leave the discussion.  My dept. at work is 50+ people and I feel there is only one person with some opposing views that I could really talk WITH.  Anybody else either shouts (as if shouting will make me change my views) or is very dismissive and the conversation deteriates into name-calling.  
So in conclusion I appreciate your sentiments on this too.  😁