First of all, I'm honestly baffled a topic like this is in Craziness and not in Officer's Club given how volatile it can get, but whatever. I'm biting anyway.

Politically speaking, I tend to lean moderate Republican, but I don't consider myself conservative, though I know some people who would label me as such.

I'm still registered Republican, but I didn't vote for Trump, and I've crossed party lines when necessary in the past. I'm deeply dissatisfied with the rhetoric coming from both camps lately, and I'm not even talking about those holding office right now. I am more than a simple label, and I'm betting so are you.

The real question is not "What does my neighbor think", but "Why"?

Posted by Trelior

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I've seen enough on both sides to know I want nothing to do with any of it.

My family is staunchly conservative, and I don't like Trump. Neither what he has actually done, or what the morons on the left and in the media has painted him as doing.

I used to consider myself fairly liberal until third-wave feminism and the SJWs started taking it over and shrieking how much they hate me for being sexist and racist based on nothing more than my sex and race. Fucking hypocrites.

Don't get me wrong, I understand that there is a modicum of merit to feminism and social justice, but when the vocal retards are ruining it for everyone, I don't want to be any part of it. Especially the identity politicking of it all.

The fact that a lot of people I used to have a lot of respect for are poutting on their blinders to everything they don't agree with (this goes for conservative and liberals alike), I tend to just wanting to distance myself from it all.

Which brings me to the point of the jackoffs that say "If you don't want to be political, it's you 'privilege' and 'status' that allows you to be! You should be concerned for everyone." Fuckers, no I shouldn't. I have my own problems, and I would sooner sort my own life out than shove my dick into places it doesn't belong.

Let the hate roll because I have a primarily anti-left attitude and 90% of the people I interact with have their heads shoved so far up the left's (and their own) ass, they have to clear their throat to ask permission to fart.

I would probably have more anger toward the right if I wasn't so surrounded by people that pushed me in the direction of agreeing with it.

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Actually, I agree with virtually everything you've said.

We live in an age with unprecedented levels of communication capability, yet it seems like people seem to be far more interested in spraying their opinions and emotionally-driven reactions whenever and wherever they can above anything else. That's not how you build connections with people and change minds.

Posted by Trelior

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You should be concerned for everyone." Fuckers, no I shouldn't.

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I understand what you mean here, but this is one of the few points I somewhat disagree with you on. I believe we should be concerned for everyone, but you simply cannot force empathy by shouting and vilifying people you disagree with. I truly do want to care, but I find myself growing more apathetic by the day each time someone tells me what I should feel or retweets a hashtag in what feels like nothing more than the emptiest of gestures.

I am a human. I cannot relate to a hashtag, label, or pronoun. I relate to humans, and there's more to them than any one thing.

Posted by Trelior

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I, personally, know I'm powerless. It's not that I don't care, it's that I know I can do nothing about it and accept my lot in the predicament.

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Calling bullshit on that.

You have the power to change yourself. You have the power to listen to your friends and neighbors. You have the power to conduct yourself in a better manner than those who vilify you. And you have more power to influence and expand the minds of others than you think.

The problem is not our lack of power. The problem is that we are driving each other to not care.