I was curious how common it is to be, say, a leftist in a very conservative area.
My county, family, and school are all very conservative. It makes it a bit intimidating to engage in any political discussion. I also rarely get to hear leftist opinion anywhere in person, which means i need to devote a lot of time to considering and thinking about arguments that are probably already solved.
Are you, or have you been, in a similar situation?
I’m left of many in my family, several of whom are in the christian nationalist side of things (as best I can tell), one of whom basically worships trump, and others who are mostly right of (US) center. However, they’re all on the other side of the world from me.
Rural Japan is interesting. Japan’s politics don’t fit neatly in the same platforms that would be familiar to those in the US. Even “conservatives” are overwhelmingly in favor of social programs that would be anathema in the US. People in the countryside here range from ultra-conservative to live-and-let-live.
I doubt any would be for legalization of cannabis (where even speaking too positively of it online can get someone in trouble), nor for removing the koseki system (TL;DR every Japanese citizen has a koseki. Families can have exactly one name except in cases of foreign marriage where citizen can keep their name. non-citizens cannot have a koseki. Marriage must be between someone with a vagina and a penis (whether those are from birth of surgical doesn’t matter) to have the same koseki and the same rights).
I doubt most people would care much about same-sex relationships nor trans people in general as there’s a long history of things like that in Japan.
Exposure to foreigners in general tends to help dispel myths and racism generally and most people in my immediate area realize I’m a decent guy who cares about his family and his village. I’m sure some people hate me because of my skin color, but nothing I can do about that, but I think that would be people in the village rather than my immediate neighbors.
Rural Japan in some areas and demographics votes more for parties to the left. The JCP (Japan Communist Party whose name no longer really fits IMO), has been pushing hard in my area. We’ll have to see how things shake out.
Most of the people I interact with have different viewpoints, and I consider it a positive. The danger is never examining your beliefs and just accept them, even when new facts come up or the environment changes.
I can certainly appreciate the sentiment behind this comment but I would have to challenge its applicability in a deep red part of the US. The danger here is expressing incompatible beliefs to people who vocally and energetically talk about rounding up and “shooting all of the democrats” they can find. As much as I would like to accept the fact that they have the right to this opinion, I am also self-aware enough that I chose to keep my own politics (independent but left-leaning) to myself.
Would they really kill me? Probably not. Would I be immediately treated with hostility? Almost certainly.
I think there is a stark difference between “different” and “opposing” viewpoints and I imagine it would be nice living in a place where being open-minded was a common virtue. Unfortunately for me that isn’t really viable at the moment.
I have not experienced what you have in the deep red part of the US. There can be actors on both sides who don’t act in good faith. I was looking at it more from an exchange of viewpoints instead of a dominant / submissive dynamic. When having an exchange of ideas with someone with an opposing viewpoint, it always valuable to understand why they have those beliefs. Then, once you establish that you can ask what facts would have to be known for their viewpoint to shift.
Thank you for clarifying and I don’t disagree at all with the points you raise. Unfortunately in application, the higher ideals seem to be lost on these red-hat troglodytes who are in the majority in my local area. I used to believe similarly that minds could be changed with rational and candid discussion, but my own experience has been that MAGA types just double down when presented with anything that doesn’t align with what they have come to believe; until they are negatively affected by one of the horrible things they support of course.
I haven’t given up entirely but active avoidance appears to be the simplest near-term solution. The problem is the currently dominant political party has done a very effective job of demonizing anything and anyone with an opposing viewpoint to their proponents. That alone makes open discourse almost impossible.
My town is very much a blue maga kind of town. Middle class suburbanites who are totally not racist but…
Something particularly bad is there’s a community center that I walk by when I’m going to some stores that just has zionist shit plastered all around the building. It’s really disgusting.
My friends from college are generally more aligned with me. Although some of them are a bit less informed on stuff so come across a bit libby sometimes.
My entire family is maga, which is awful, but it’s literally just them. Otherwise I’m in an urban city, in an educated and liberal profession, and dating an awesome guy with a very sweet family. Being surrounded by normal and healthy people really makes my interactions with my family feel that much worse. :) Sometimes I’ll bother to tell them they’re wrong, but it doesn’t matter. They’re not acting out of reason. They’re acting out of hatred and avarice.
at least you dont live with them. it would be problematic if you have to live with them and hear them rant everyda.
Bloody completely. I’m in Utah, and not the progressive pocket of SLC, but ultra conservative Utah County. It is completely maddening.
Though there is a decently sized neighborhood in my city that is like the Berkeley of this area. I want to go to there, but it’s expensive.
I’m in Tennessee and probably the only socialist for hundreds of miles. Completely surrounded by maga “christians”. Needless to say, I don’t have a lot of close friends or family. Almost everyone I know thinks tRump should be king for life. god’s chosen, and all that nonsense.
We just moved cross country out of a loud Trump 2016 and 2020 area to a firmly blue state.
I will admit I see a lot fewer Trump flags/hats/shirts than I did a couple of years ago. I don’t care though, I’m not going to be surrounded by closeted MAGAts. Just because they are too embarrassed to fly the flag now doesn’t mean they won’t in the future.
I’m a leftist on a leftist region of Italy so you’d think not that much but actually I am quite surrounded.
Of course, friends and immediate family are generally aligned with my views (at least on things that matter the most) so not much of an issue there, but outside of that there’s been a surge in fascists as of late, then there’s the “leftists” who are really just campists with whom I disagree with on very important topics like Ukraine and unfortunately they are very loud to the point the entire left, from the center-center-left of PD to the far far left are all either shy on the topic or openly pro-fascist ruzzians to cater to these campists (there’s only a couple exceptions among parties, among the actual people support for Ukraine is higher even among the left) but the worst people of all are probably the apoliticals that likely make up a majority of my generation around me. I have had more pleasant and productive conversations with some fascists or campist “leftists” than many of the apoliticals who actively refuse to engage in politics even when they directly affect them.
So I am not necessarily surrounded by people I fully disagree with on everything (the fascists are still a minority) but I definitely am somewhat surrounded by people who I strongly disagree with on very important topics still.
Anarchist surrounded by capitalists and the state…
I live in Texas… I consider myself Progressive… yeah it sucks. Only saving grace is I live in a city and most all my friends are liberal, so I can be open with them.
Outside of there though, i used to have to stay quiet, but lately, if someone brings up something political, I very much am more outspoken about telling them my thoughts. I usually get disgusted looks, but don’t care.
Some though, are truly just ignorant. Was talking with one person about Madhani and she asked “isn’t he trying to make everything islam there?” I told her about all the things he’s doing, including a coop grocery store for lower prices and she was genuinely surprised.
Was talking with one person about Madhani and she asked “isn’t he trying to make everything islam there?”
I just can’t with this kind of person. And apparently we’re in a country full of them.
I mean how fucking thoughtless do you need to be to hear that and not question it? It’s so fucking embarrassing, honestly
I live in Kentucky, so I’m in a similar boat. It’s very isolating. It’s frustrating to know that no matter how I vote, Democrat or third party, it really isn’t going to make a difference. My goal at this point is to raise my daughter to be a kind, empathetic, honest person, despite what she might see from other people around her.
KY crew unite! Charles Booker in November would be a pleasant surprise
I’m 45 now. I grew up in a generally conservative community as well. Now I work in TV news and there are strong stereotypes about journalists. But people mostly think that about national journalists who generally live in major metropolitan areas. I work in local news, and I’ve lived in Georgia, Alaska, North Carolina, and Florida. I’ve heard co-workers bad mouth all of the presidents, and posit that at least 3 of them (from 2 political parties) intended to enact martial law to stay president.
Having similarly political minded people around you can be soothing to a degree. Like you said, you’ll be thinking about things that others have figured out for themselves a long time ago. But some of those things are personal decisions anyway. Even given an answer you’ll have to think about how you feel about trade-offs.
What’s good is when you find someone of similar temperament and kindness. Even when you disagree, there doesn’t have to be anger and resentment because you’ll both feel that effort was made to do things the right way, even when you come to different answers about the best course.
Good luck with that.
I live in a very blue area, but most of my coworkers are conservative. I spend a lot of time at work so inevitably political topics come up here and there. I have to handle them with kid gloves when we do talk politics, but they do extend respect to me and can agree to disagree with me. Well, as respectful as they can be considering some of their conservative political beliefs.
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I am an anarchist in rural GA, so… completely surrounded.
I have slowly but efficiently removed every single Republican from my life (except for my grandmother, because I love her to death).
If I find out that you are a Republican, that will be the last voluntary interaction we have.
I have eliminated all from both parties. They both are the problem. They both are guilty of genocide… even little precious AOC
🙄
