I've spent much of the last 6 months defriending Right Wingers
I just realized I sort of accidentally ended up threadjacking someone else's thread (http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1251&pid=276973) and I didn't mean to do that. But here's my rage post for the day. Maybe some of you agree, maybe some of you do not.
I know I am going to hear from people who say it's not a good policy to insulate yourself with like-minded thinkers but this really isn't about this at all. This is about defriending total fucking whack-a-loons.
And it's not a situation where you can reason with these people and bring them around. The vast majority of them are concrete set in their opinions and your opinion only makes them more willing to sink lower to defend themselves against what they view as far left communist points of view.
There's no respectful debate or thoughtful discourse to be had here and no true persuasion can be made no matter how many facts, studies or sources I have to support my logical point of view versus their angry, rage induced, fear riddled conspiracy theories.
So why bother?
Also for people that think friendships should outweigh politics, I have a hard time with that. I view your politics as who you are.
-If you support assault weapons and the NRA, you're endorsing arming maniacs, in my opinion because there's no fucking hunting use for an AR-15 unless you're the world's worst fucking hunter.
-If you're anti-abortion to the point of legislation to criminalize it, you hate women and don't believe they should have control of their bodies.
-If you're against gay marriage, you're a hateful bigot who thinks equality isn't worth having in our country.
-If you rail against illegal immigrants as if they are the reason for every problem and refuse to look at the corporations that have outsourced your jobs away, cut pay and benefits to the bone, paid through the nose to rig elections and crush unions. Well then you're clearly a racist.
-If you bitch about drug tests for welfare recipients and then make a ton of 'lazy welfare people stealing from me' comments while not giving two fucks about corporate welfare. Then again, you are a racist. This time against blacks because 99 times out of 100 that what "welfare queens" is veiled to mean. And it's bullshit.
-If you think Science is a scam, that Global Warming is a hoax, that education is elitism and that teachers are overpaid greedy moochers. You're a total douchebag that deserves to be ridiculed for your dumb fucking ideas and your MORAN signs. Idiots.
-If you think Fox News, Drudge, Limbaugh, Beck or any of those other fucking paid liars is REAL NEWS while you deride Snopes and Fact Check sites as "liberal rags", you're too stupid to have a conversation with.
-If you think our debt is spiraling out of control because of Obama who has almost never had a Democratic Congress to pass him spending bills, has spent less than any President since Eisenhower and oh yeah you didn't say a FUCKING WORD when Rumsfeld LOST $2 TRILLION at the Pentagon (and never recovered it... aka THEY STOLE IT) or Bush took a HUGE surplus and spent us into record deficits... then you don't know what the fuck you are talking about.
-If you think Benghazi is proof that our President wanted people to die when 4 people died there and you're OUTRAGED that he would not be aware of the intelligence of an impending attack when BUSH purposely IGNORED an 8/6/01 PDB that spelled out the fucking 9/11 attacks IN CRAYON and did NOTHING as 4,000 people died. Then sent thousands more to die in a war of CHOICE based on fake intelligence that they doctored up. FUCK OFF RIGHT NOW. Also, how many fucking embassy bombings occurred under Bush? Care to name that stat fuckhead?
-If you think our President is a Muslim who went to a Madrassa and wasn't born in America. Or that he's a socialist/marxist/communist who is going to take your guns and possibly try to rule you by force. Fuck you, you fucking lunatic.
-If you believe tax cuts for the rich make sense and that trickle down economics is fair because THEY EARNED IT and we're all just trying to steal from the rich with our "entitlements" (SS/Medicare) then you are a fucking sheep and don't deserve to have a job. You deserve to be outsourced by your precious corporate masters. Go fuck yourself.
-If you think Health Care for everyone is so fucking unconstitutional and terrible but endless war is a good thing. Please sign up for the war and let's get a friendly fire going. But if you get shot, FUCK YOU, no VA Hospital assclown.
There's more but yeah that's the gist of it. How you can stay friends with people that have zero empathy for others and are greedy fuckers who don't give a shit about anyone else - and YES if they vote that way, that's what they are supporting - is beyond me.
I want good people in my life. Rational, reasonable, thoughtful, intelligent people. Not dumb fucks.
Yes, it's abrasive but after 20 years of their bullshit. Fuck them.
= new reply since forum marked as read
In this age.....And climate I have to agree....Just as I agree,100%,with your rant,in it's entirety......
I defriended people that were mean and stupid. It worked out the same anyway. The amount of overlap was astonishing. 
Most of your post is targeting fringe wackos, something everyone can get behind. Like when a band or comedian comes out on stage and says "Wow, I have never seen a crowd as nice as this one in (insert city)!, just for applause.
However, the main problem is with two of your first bullet-points. You cannot pin someone as clearly into the "Right-wing" category with gay marriage equality and the 2nd amendment as you can with abortion.
I was campaigning hard against the hate that is Prop 8 here in California. If you think all of my verbal sparring was with toothless rednecks, you are mistaken. Many, many democrats, who could hardly be called right-wing, voted in favor of that garbage. Blame it on the out-of-state Mormon funding all you want, I blame it on back wards religious and cultural thinking of people who are otherwise generally good.
"De-friending" someone who lives in a rural area, and does not have the same views on a particular weapons platform as you do, would be petty to say the least. There are plenty of progressive people who live in rural areas who do not want the feds involved in their choice of hunting weapon. If you have only lived in LA or Chicago, I can see where that point of view would come from, but if you have never seen the openness and beauty of Missoula or Juneau, you may not see where they are coming from.
Personally, unless someone is just so whacked-out that they won't even attempt to listen to my side of a debate, I will at least try to get a word in. You would be surprised at how many people may at the time dismiss your points as invalid, but will later process them and start to come around.
You never want to be afraid to debate these folks, and if you avoid them too much, they will think you are scared.
On the other, I have no problem avoiding these people who have willingly contracted a mental disease. I do not want their flu, and I do not want their politics, because it makes me ill
you have made room in your life for new folks who may be more sane and that is good thing so be happy
