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I have always been a liberal leftist but I actually really enjoy being around old school, fiscally conservative Republicans, when they aren't talking about politics. They tend to be softies on the inside - they value strength and tradition and care deeply for their communities and families; often more directly demonstrating that care than liberals tend to. They also don't accept the victim mentality and tend to shoot straight with their words, and can be hilariously harsh. They are responsible and tend to follow through with their commitments.
The problem is, I can't really stand being around them because they can't help themselves bringing up the dumbest opinions of all time and they typically don't like digging into fact based thinking.
Same now as 20 years ago, when they would say shit like, "pretty cold out today - don't seem like global warming to me! Hahaha" etc etc
TIL 20 years ago is 2000... not the 60s... fml
And this is good because...?
Strength is good, tradition can be anything
Is shit that fascists say. Just a heads up.
And "tradition," at least in this context, is almost always based in bigotry.
Fascists say some things that are normal, like anyone else; they just also say a lot of things that are evil. This one is normal. Strength is used as a tool by fascists but it in and of itself is not inherently bad.
Republican tradition is generally something that hurts our ability to make social progress, yes.
"Strength" when used in political contexts, is almost always related to some form of oppression at the very least.
I am struggling to think of a time when hearing a politician speak about "strength" could be seen as a good thing. Perhaps briefly, directly after 9/11, but before we decided to invade the wrong countries? Even then, it was more about unity than any kind of strength.
Strength, as in the power to exert your will on others, is a dangerous concept. This is the sense in which fascists use it.
Strength, as in the power to stand up for yourself, is good. We should all have the strength to fight against tyranny.
Something about the horseshoe effect I'm sure. I'm the same way, I make the best of friends with conservative assholes. They care about family, water is thicker than blood, blah blah blah. It's just the policies they vote for that I hate, which is also why I love just chatting about them. Gives me an opportunity to "know thy enemy" and have a chance to change their mind
That's all well and good, until they vote for literal fascists who believe trans people shouldn't exist.
At some point you need to draw a line. And even if they don't say that shit out loud, or they pretend to disagree, they still vote for it and most of them will refuse to ever admit they were wrong for that.
You're absolutely right. If you search my account for "good ol boy" or "from Oklahoma" you'll find a comment where I gave a more specific example of this. I didn't give all of these details, but I stealthed basically my entire personality for about a year and half with him while poking and prodding at his beliefs in a "curious" manner until he started getting deeper into those bills on his own and forming his own opinions.
I mentioned in that comment that he became an LGBTQ ally along the way basically by accident. Gentle curiosity about someone's beliefs is a great way to change them