Another long term "friendship" ended

[Robyn66]

It's a story we have all told before. People who have been friends for 20+ years who used to lean conservative and have been in full "wing nut" mode since 08. This was the last straw for me. I am copying the last Facebook exchange with this person.

Me: Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, Glenn Beck, those are the ones I think of off the top of my head, see what the violent speech has gotten? This unbalanced guy didn't go to a book store, or a parade, he went to a political event. This is where you have brought us. If you want to say its on both sides-name a liberal who advocates violence.

Them: Jon Stewart, Joy Behar, Barack Obama "punishing our enemies"... Robyn- it goes both ways hon... I comment this out of respect, not out to challenge you.

Me: When exactly did any of them have bulls-eyes over members of congress? When exactly did any of them recommend "second amendment remedies? None of those people ever said "lock and load" or anything like it. The politicians wont have the guts to own the monsters they created.

Them: Robyn- it is apparent this post wasn't really meant to solicit a response. It was meant to incite those of like mind to rally with you. I will not get into a mudslinging dialog with you online like this. I have opinions that differ from you. That's all. If one day you want to get together in person so we can discuss our ideas, I welcome it. It has been far too long since we've seen each other anyway.
***************************************************************************************************
I am done

By the way, don't infer he is being reasonable in his tone. I get RW bullshit e-mails regularly and there is NO hope of "reasonable" discussion because Obama is the anti christ you know. And earlier in the day he posted

" I am no longer tollerating people saying Freedom of religion means freedom FROM religion-GO JESUS!"


Right wing hate speech= Lock and load, second amendment remedies etc
Left wing hate speech= Calling out Right Wing hate speech :banghead:

[yellerpup]

1. My sympathies.

It's happened to every person I know and it's frustrating as hell when you can't break through the wall of denial to reach someone you care about.

[stillrockin]

2. I feel your pain.

:hug:

[KingOfLostSouls]

3. yup

how dare we ask to not be threatened in the town square?


how dare we ask to be able to go about our lives and vote for people without them being threatened and harassed?


how dare we?

[janet118]

4. It's like you've been reading mail . . . n/t

[The Backlash Cometh]

5. I'm sorry for your experience.

The only right-wing relationships which have lasted and have meaning in my daily life today were made with people long before the madness began in the nineties. And I value all two of them.

[snagglepuss]

6. Fascinating slice of life. Their maintaining it goes both ways is crazy.

I can understand why you feel it's time to end a friendship.

[gratuitous]

7. Unfortunate, but predictable

When she said she would not get into a "mudslinging contest," itwas basically saying that she did not have anything factual to compare with your examples.

[Poboy]

15. Exactly. She had nothing factual to come back with, so by calling it 'mudslinging', she tacitly

denies or refuses to accept the criticism , and by implying/accusing/calling the OP a liar to top it off.

[StopTheNeoCons]

8. This person and all like her were NEVER your friend

they have ALWAYS been your enemy, they would just as soon kill you and eat you as look at you

they are the cannibals in the book "The Road"

[MattBaggins]

21. Seriously?

[cherokeeprogressive]

25. I'd like to be the first to nominate you for the Nobel Prize in Hyperbole. n/t

[aquart]

41. Yes, by all means dehumanize your fellow Americans.

That makes you different in your approach from them HOW? Dehumanizing is what we teach soldiers to do so they can kill. Stop readying yourself to justify murder. A friendship is ended because a frightened human being has seized on platitudes and the comfort of a mob as an antidote to death and fear. How does making yourself over the same way help anything?

[TwilightGardener]

9. I'm afraid to find out just how many people I've been acquainted with over the years

are now full-fledged wingnuts. I don't want to know, because then I have to write them off for good.

[seabeyond]

10. it always starts with both do it. prove it.... the person says, not gonna. differing opinion

that is all.

this is a typical, always response. stewart, media, dem speakers allow it to continue. they enable this behavior.

not gonna change until people say line it up. show us

[enlightenment]

11. There's an old saying about

not talking religion or politics at the dinner table - not because they are bad topics, but because they can cause such an excess of emotion on both sides of a debate that even loved ones can end up hating each other.

I'm sorry you can't see your way to maintaining your friendship of so many years, but it doesn't sound like you have too much in common with that person anymore.

[E_Pluribus_Unitarian]

12. I think this guy framed it well...

-- Michael Bader, via the Psychology Today website:

"...But we will see the inevitable call for calm on both sides. We will hear opinion makers say we should all tone down the rhetoric, that politics has become too heated, too personal, too aggressive. It's sort of like being beaten up by your brother and being told by your mother, "All right, you two....quiet down in there right now!" When it's a collective problem, no side is really to blame, even though only one side is really guilty. Every generalization hides the truth. Every nod toward balance conceals the reality. Every attempt at equanimity or generalization is a covert attempt to pretend that the problem today is a general one. It isn't. It's a problem in the right-wing political community and in the heated rhetoric of its representatives and talking heads. Whatever remains of the mainstream press needs to stop trying to be "fair" and, instead, start telling the truth..."

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/what-is-he-thinking/201101/only-one-side-needs-be-more-civil

[glitch]

30. Excellent post, thanks for the link. nt

[DCKit]

13. The family was ready to give up on our youngest sister some time ago.

However, the times I've spent with her over the past year, in person, have been quite pleasant.

There seems to be quite a difference in their demeanor when actually interacting with another person one-on-one. She listens, and apparently, wasn't so brainwashed there was no going back - she quit watching/listening to Glenn Beck and has asked her husband to start listening to taped college lectures on the job, instead of OxyRush.

I don't know that they'll ever vote (D), but they have begun look at the candidates as individuals, not representatives of the parties and, I'm hoping, will vote for the (D) over the batshit-insane (R) when they have to make that choice.

Not everyone is going to have such an outcome, but we can't afford to give up on them either. There are just too damn many of them.

[krabigirl]

14. Good for you. While friendship is important, it is not good to have toxic people in your life.

The quote about not "tollerating" (lol) people was funny. I find it amusing that the spelling on rants like these is usually atrocious.

[Warren DeMontague]

16. Jesus is breaking left, heading past the 50 yard line....

GO JESUS!

[rurallib]

19. that part just broke me up! Can't have no religion

gotta have religion. gotta be jesus religion.

[Robyn66]

20. rofl

:rofl:

[HughBeaumont]

17. The worst part about it is that President Obama's not even remotely liberal.

In fact, he's pretty much giving the idiot right wing much of what they ask for.

I'm not exactly seeing why conservatives are bitching. What do they want in office, a fanatic, crypto-religious fascist dictator? More than a few of them said they didn't like Bewsh II because he (shudder) wasn't conservative enough. I'd really HATE to see their ideal president. He'd likely have a uniform and an arm-band.

[TBF]

23. thank you. Every time they call him a socialist I cringe and think "if only" nt

[JusticeWinsEverytime]

18. I purged the 7 Sarah Palin Followers out of my 412 Facebook friends

and this morning, I breathe a sigh of relief that there are not even digital bits connecting me to the kind of people who support religious violent extremism.

Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck are America's Taliban.
we should purge them from our media and our lives as quickly as we would a hitler.

they are dangerous to themselves, their families and our futures.

get them off your TV screen, get their followers off your facebook.

PRONTO! Good for you.... end friendships.. it's worth it! there is probably a liberal democrat who will make a much more compassionate and caring friend!

[Pooka Fey]

22. I'm going through the same thing. nt

[Iris]

24. the added "hon" is over the top imho. Here's a good link for future use (posted by someone here at

DU today) - http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/terror-arizona-just-another-isolated

[Robyn66]

37. Yes I love that. its like "all do respect"

so he can say anything he wants and i have no right to be offended! LOL!

[Mike 03]

26. Thank you. I identify with your post, and it is so painful to go through this.

Thanks.

[Last_Stand]

27. I only have one remaining conservative Christian friend...

Fortunately he's never said anything heinous enough for me to end the friendship.

We can't talk about religion or politics, but we have a blast killing zombies together.

[Robyn66]

38. I wish they would have left it at that

But they wont leave it alone even though I have asked them to many many times. Its too bad because they were a huge support when I went through cancer a few years ago. But they recently joined this real whackadoo ultra christian church and have never been the same.

[Last_Stand]

40. It's a shame a good friendship has to end like that...

but if there's no mutual respect left, it's for the best in the long run.

Sorry to hear this.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

28. Classmate of DH insulted him and cut him off.

High School Classmate lives in Idaho and is a retired M.D. Hunts and so does his wife. Big animals. Critters you need a special permit for, I understand.

He sent DH an email a while back saying "I thought you were too smart to be a liberal."

Once they were in the old high school city, and about 12 of us were sitting around eating dinner at another classmate couple's house. The wife asked the hostess, "We don't like the fundamentalists in the Republican Party." I am pretty sure they are atheists or at least non churchgoing.

The hostess, who is a Democrat, replied, "Well then, why are you Republicans?"

At that point, everyone else got up and headed for the kitchen to do dishes, because none of us wanted to hear arguments, and we knew the hostess would do an excellent job of arguing.

:rofl:

[Robyn66]

39. LOL!

Too funny! They just joined this wackadoo church a couple of years ago and went to KEnya last fall to (and I am dead serious) put skylights in the corrigated steel huts of the people and preach to the people. I am assuming they were bringing foood and medicine too but he went ON AND ON about how they were "bringing the light" and the looks on their faces. Probably because this white dude just barged in their house and cut a hole in his roof!!!

[mopinko]

29. i feel your pain. i haven't talked to my family since '04

my favorite sister turned into a ditto head. my nephew is a big assed hero in the army, and anyone who doesn't worship war heroes is not welcome in the family any more. these people were all raised dems, and several still are. but the broken logic and bitter discourse have just poisoned everything.

[begin_within]

31. I still have one left of that type of friendship...

I had 2 friends I consider strong right-wingers, at least by the fact that they are vocal about it. One was a friend I have known since 1984, and during the time of the health care reform debate, she was sending out the nasty emails to everyone about the "death squads" and all that. She added specific comments onto the one she sent to me warning that my Mom (who is 92 and disabled) would obviously be a victim of the supposed "death squad." I sent her a short message back, saying, "That's a lie, don't send me that shit, in fact, don't contact me any more for any reason." She sent one last apologetic message, which I did not reply to, and we have had no contact since then, except she did mail us a Christmas card but I did not respond or reply.

The other friend I have known since 1990 when we became friends based on a common hobby. After the 1992 election I began to realize he's a pretty hard core right-winger. He is an NRA member and owns over 100 guns. In the last few years I have limited my friendship with him to only that hobby. If he starts talking about anything else, especially news or current events, I don't respond at all, because I know the conversation will inevitably move towards politics and he will start spewing the identical hate rhetoric that he hears on the hate radio, FOX news, etc. So it is now a minimal friendship even though I have known him for 20 years! I also see him posting nasty comments on Yahoo news stories and when I spot them I always click on the "thumbs down" button to give him a negative vote.

[TxVietVet]

32. Robyn, a great message.

especially the part "The politicians wont have the guts to own the monsters they created."

The Kock Brothers are sole owners now of the conservanazi republiklans and their "brownshirts", the teabaggin' kkkluckers.

You can't reason with reichwing nuts. They never, ever see your side.

I was continously getting the conservanazi hate email from "friends" and "family". I either blocked them or labeled them spam. When I no longer answered their bu$hit, they quit sending me that crap. One "friend" couldn't understand that I didn't want to listen to his bu$hit. I finally told him to save the propaganda for himself and that if I wanted to know what the conservanazi talking points of the day were, then I'd tune into druggie limpballs, take a couple of hits of Oxycontin and get the gospel from the head conservanazi rather than one of his toadies. :rofl:

[DainBramaged]

33. Jon Stewart, Joy Behar and the President. some hateful crowd there hey?

Assholes. They are aliens I will never change my opinion.

[aquart]

42. Someone who is afraid of comedians is very frightened indeed.

But stigmatizing that person as "alien" makes it impossible to ever find common ground, doesn't it?

I'm sorry you're so afraid.

[fascisthunter]

34. Their Inability to Compromise Anything makes Them Extreme

the left has compromised enough...

[ScreamingMeemie]

35. I unfriended a cousin on facebook a few months ago, because I couldn't take it anymore.

I love him IRL, and I know he'd do anything for us. I just don't want to see his politics on FB.

[Lucian]

36. You should've just called them an idiot.

If you're going to terminate a friendship, you might as well go down in a blaze of glory and tell them how stupid they are.

[Balbus]

43. I think you're both idiots if a friendship ends because of politics.