Boogie Blogging Friday - Tea Bagger Edition

Friday, July 2, 2010
Boogie contemplates the question of the day - when you find out a casual friend is a member of the "Tea Party Patriots," is that sufficient reason to strike them from your friendship roles?

I put the question to Facebook this morning, and suggestions ranged from sending their e:mail to Russian pr0n spammers, just plain striking them, teabagging them (ew), and separating their heads from their necks.

But the question remains - at what point does the batshit crazy political whackiness push a friendship into the "do not want" category? When is "agreeing to disagree" simply not enough anymore, and you're forced to cut the ties that bind you to the politically insane?

Inquiring minds want to know.

15 comments:

Unknown said...

I don't have a friend that does the teabagger thing, but I've got one that's pretty crazy conservative. She's also a really good friend, so I've got the motivation to keep the peace since I don't want to lose her as a friend. But this is basically how I handle things:
1) If she makes any completely baseless claims, I do the research and then gently (and logically) disagree. Like when she jumped on the death panel band wagon, I went through the healthcare bill and pointed out that claim wasn't supported.
2) If she just bitches about hating the president, I bite my tongue.
3) I pick my battles. Healthcare, sure. I haven't tackled the "how dare he spend money on the recession" thing because I just really don't want to get in an economics discussion, even if the austerity bullshit is slowly driving me crazy.

Steve Buchheit said...

While, yes, there's a majority of wackaloons in the Tea Party, and there more than fair share of freeze-dried wackaloons, not everybody is one. At least automatically. They made need indoctrination first, so as a friend you can forestall that action.

Shawn Powers said...

I think the line in the sand, for me at least, is when said friend no longer "allows" you to share an opposing view.

I consider myself to be close with our new dog. That new dog most likely would find the cat box to be a wonderful snack buffet. I can still consider the dog to be a furry friend, BUT if the dog places cat turds in my mouth while I sleep -- we can no longer be buds. :)

Carol Elaine said...

If it were a close friend, I would insist that he/she not discuss politics and leave it at that, explaining that discussing opposing politics would put a strain on the friendship and that I'd rather not do that. But a casual friend? I'd probably cut the friendship. Mainly because I have enough stress in my life without adding to it by trying to remain friends with someone who appears to lack the capacity for critical thinking. Also, from what I've seen, people who self-identify as Tea Party Patriots seem to lack compassion for those who are less fortunate or different than them (even if they seem perfectly loving to their family and friends).

Debating differing ideas? That's fine. Regurgitating Glenn Beck? Not so much.

Keith Wilson said...

A friend will understand views, and the differences between people. An acquaintance will push the views and try to become a friend by bringing you to the other viewpoint. Like Carol said, regurgitating right wing nut job viewpoints isn't going to award this person any brownie points. See where they go with their agenda - and see if they fall into the true friend category. I have conservative friends as well, and we agree to disagree. Bringing politics into any conversation usually ends badly. But at least we respect each other's opinions, even if mine is always right!

astranavigo said...

I was told a couple of weeks ago by a casual acquaintance that she and her husband had 'joined the Patriot Movement'.

I wished them well.

I don't intend to speak with them again.

See, I don't have friends, acquaintances, or anyone else in my orbit who are so deranged as to fall in line with such hogswill.

No death-penalty supporters; no far-right Christians; no extremists of any sort.

Zero tolerance is what I call it.

Tom said...

There was a time when I thought that no amount of political difference was sufficient to terminate a good friendship. I held that a good friendship could survive even the strangest differences of opinion. Unfortunately, a man that I considered a great friend held a different opinion. He terminated our friendship because of political differences.

I still have other friends who are pretty conservative, and may even consider themselves as "Tea Party" people. Some of them still occasionally forward to me e-mails full of the kind of lies and crazyness that characterize the recent right-wing conservative attacks. As Rachael says, I research them and send them back a "here's the real story" e-mail. As long as I can converse with them, I'll put up with a bit of loonyness, but when I stop being able to converse with them, there's nothing left of the friendship.

Shawn's "cat turds in the mouth" would do it too, by the way.

Fathergoose said...

You live in Parker, Colorado, the streets are crawling with Tea Baggers, they're like Zombies walking the streets, well, at least my street. Besides why agree to disagree? Keep asking questions until they dig themselves into a hole they can't get out of. Our neighborhood gatherings are way to boring not to add a little excitement. Of course when ever I do that the inevitable question on the walk home from my lovely wife "Why do you do that?"

Janiece said...

Fathergoose, you really need to let me buy you a beer sometime over at the Falcon.

"Invasion of the Tea-bagging Zombies."

Hee.

Juan Federico said...

if politics is a deciding factor of friendship, you & I could have split up years ago. we discuss government and wisely leave each others political agendas to ourselves.
Love ya Babe!

David said...

I like having friends - they make life so much nicer. And having friends with differing opinions is interesting. There isn't enough of that in America today, which is one of the things wrong with today - so many people are just thunderstruck at the idea that others CAN hold different views, because they never encounter them among their friends, neighbors and reading material.

But the point where the increment is no longer worth the excrement for me is a combination of being hard-sold their viewpoint and being yelled at for mine. So long as they keep their views civil and allow me mine, I figure we might learn from each other, if only the depths of the craziness some folks will stoop to. I'm sure they feel that way about me too.

Plus, in keeping with Juan Federico's point, if politics determined my friends I'd be a lonely, lonely man.

Anonymous said...
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Fathergoose said...

Janiece, the beer offer is very gracious of you. I always like it when someone owes me a beer! Have a great vacation.

Matt said...

Here's the thing. There's a big difference between a thoughtful conservative and a tea party patriot. Your friend has shown a willingness to identify with the most extreme, least open minded faction of the right wing. You also mentioned that this is a casual friend (not someone of extreme importance in your life). Is this really someone you want around? Life is short . . .

Janiece said...

*TONG*