"Conservatives I respect:
The ones that stay quiet about their true feelings about how they believe that various groups of people they don’t like don’t deserve human rights" 🤡
Nah. I’ve tried to stay friends with conservatives before. They eventually reveal their most inhumane thoughts sooner or later.
I don’t want to be friends with someone who wants my trans friends “purged”, believes that women are inferior, thinks that people protesting for their rights is “terrorism”, etc.
No fucking thank you.
yeah this is where i’m at. they both voted for me to not have rights so fuck 'em, they’re the same to me.
conservatives i respect:
- Louis Rossmann
Is he a conservative??? I never would’ve guessed that lol
He said it in one video, but can’t remember when. But if you never could’ve guessed it, then it shouldn’t change your opinion on him.
I think there are political views that, even if privately held, should change your opinion of someone. “Conservative” is nebulous, so knowing exactly that much and nothing else about someone’s views doesn’t tell you much in this instance, but I don’t know if that logic holds generally.
Condemning and alienating people who are on the wrong side of an arbitrary ideological line, or are labelled as something undesirable, and offering no reconciliation is only good for two things: further pushing them into their existing convictions, and presenting yourself and like-minded people as the enemy. Being a human is far too complex to evaluate a person’s worth based on such simplistic views.
I don’t think Rossmann gives a rat’s ass about what you think of him nor that harsh words would sway him, but if you are ready to condemn and oppose him for identifying as a conservative, you are also saying, in effect, that the consumer rights activism he and his employer have done is not enough for you.
JerryRigEverything builds offroad wheelchairs. He also owns a Cybertruck as part of his business. Admiral James Watkins was a devout catholic and conservative officer in the US Navy. He also advocated for military personnel with AIDS under his command and strongly opposed politicians that labelled the disease as an act of God. Reducing a person’s worth to just one harmful thing necessitates ignoring the good they’ve done.
Changing your opinion about someone does not necessitate condemning and alienating them. As I stated, “conservative” is not a clear term, so it doesn’t make sense to form an opinion based on that, which I think is the arbitrary line you’re talking about. Specific views, such as the view that people with AIDS deserve treatment and dignity, are valid to form an opinion on.
I also don’t think rossman gives a rats ass what I think of him, but that’s true of every public figure and I still form opinions of them (as do you, given that you respect him). I am not ready to condemn and oppose him, and I don’t know whether you’re just fleshing out your statement or whether you got that from my comment, but I specified that there’s nothing to change your opinion on in this instance.
I don’t really think we disagree, based on your reply. I was intending to add nuance to your statement, by noting that it doesn’t apply universally, not to contradict it for this case.
The guy who uses mental health diagnoses as personal attacks? No, I don’t respect him
For #1, you’re missing the bullet point:
- “Acts nice to my face, but doesn’t consider me a human being (and votes accordingly)”
Shit meme. Everyone everywhere needs to adopt a policy of zero capitulation to reactionaries and their framings.
To any conservatives for the rest of time: fuck top category conservatives just as much. Yeah you’re just as bad as the bottom category, but you’re just enough of a fucking snake to hide your worst impulses and blend in with polite society.
“Kind” Germans vs bad Germans during the Holocaust:
There were some 800.000 Germans arrested for “resistance activities” during WW2, and tens of thousands were executed for it.
Now, I’m not saying those were all good people, but there were at least some good Germans. But terrifyingly few.
They weren’t “moderate” conservatives, they were mostly leftists
Conservatives i can respect:
• Joe Biden
Joseph Robinette “Civil Asset Forfeiture” Biden, Jr? nah fuck that guy he can rot
I have no sympathy for Genocide Joe
The problem is that I don’t respect “conservatives” if they continue to substantially support abusive politicians, organizations, and groups. I don’t care if you’re respectful and not personally bigoted; there’s no excuse for supporting disrespectful and bigoted actions. Unless you admit your sins and agree to not support Nazis anymore, then your sympathy will never be enough.
Just because American conservatives are Nazis now doesn’t mean that all conservatives everywhere are as well. I feel like that word, and fascism, get diluted way too much these days and all it does is increase political polarisation. For example, it scares me the number of Gen Z Aussies that that believe our centre-right conservative party are Nazis and that we’re “one step away” from becoming the US. I mean I don’t like those conservatives, I think they’re fluffheads, but they respect the rule of law and wouldn’t try to overturn an election!
These worries about increasing political polarization seem reasonable on the surface, but political polarization is only a symptom of underlying problems. If you want to worry about polarization itself, the demand must be equally applied to both extremes.
If no shared values and boundaries are agreed to, there’s nothing to stop one party from pushing the window of acceptable ideas to favor their own clan. As one side takes a step forward towards reconciliation, the other can shift the entire conversation in their favor by simply taking a step back. Complaining about the two sides drifting farther apart as a problem in itself only hurts the side less willing to further radicalize themselves.
I don’t know Australian politics, but I do know that most liberal democracies are only a step away from fascism. Some like the UK are already doomed. This is because unchecked capitalism breeds increasing wealth inequality, shrinking wages and opportunities, and causing an increase in people wanting to fundamentally change society in some way. Fascists offer easy answers in the death of liberalism, as many liberal politicians are unable to deliver or even promise substantial change.
The only way to preserve liberal democracy (the rule of law, civil liberties, a social contract) is to protect the working class from capitalism. Even if you think we need capitalism and can never live without it, capitalism causes societal instability by redistributing wealth from workers to the wealthy. Unless the state and workers can limit or reverse this trend, it will destroy the system by making people believe it can never serve them. Liberal democracy is incompatible with unchecked capitalism for this reason.
i think the point they’re trying to make is that people who make politics their entire personality suck, and at least for me that’s true regardless of what side of the political spectrul they’re on. but even if they’re chill outside of that and you can have a good conversation with a conservative, the fact they agree with people that want me dead is still gonna leave a sour taste in my mouth
idk, i think people who make “we should treat people better” their entire personality are quite cool and sexy and etc etc etc
hell, those more reasonable conservatives might be worth a 5 minute talk. i’ve seen people who vote conservative for purely economic reasons and never really thought about the whole killing minorities thing, and when i explained it to them they reconsidered
though to be clear, that’s where i’m from. you cannot make the same argument for trump voters
Hi, I’m respectable conservative. I am deeply sorry that you are having to deal with the worse version of us.
Hi I’m also a respectable conservative, I want to melt the poor for biomass but in a respectable way /s
Honestly, I’d abandon the label of conservative at this point and just broadly define yourself as a liberal. It’s what separates the “traditional conservatives” that didn’t stand with Trump from the now fascists who did; they value the system of liberal democracy that this country was founded on. They wanted conservative policy, but through democratic means, whereas fascists favor winning by any means necessary.
Granted, I also don’t respect liberals very much, as they refuse to sacrifice capitalism to maintain their own system, but being a liberal is what separates non-fascist “conservatives” from fascists. As conservatism is hierarchical, it’s very easy for it to leave liberalism behind.
hi respectable conservative, i’m fest
anyway everyone has a different meaning for “conservative” so can you explain your views in politics?
hi, i’m a trans woman. fuck your respectability, you are giving cover to those who drove me from my home and continue to pose an existential threat to me and all those like me. your ideology is poison and putting a “nice” face on it and pretending that should make it all hunky dory is some seriously craven shit.
You don’t even know this person, we’re not even sure if they’re indeed like the others. All of this polarizing won’t help your country, if people keep treating others as scum just for supporting a different side.
bless your heart, you really haven’t learned yet have you?
the conservative movement in my country wants me fucking dead. to support it is to support my demise. they are trying to kill us. they are scum.
