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Poll: 62% of Americans Say They Have Political Views They’re Afraid to Share

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121–130 of 294 posts

Re: Poll: 62% of Americans Say They Have Political Views They’re Afraid to Share

#121
post #21

I honestly think that social networks where you connect the whole world were a bad idea. Basing it on ads and thus engagement made it toxic. Political left and right both formed extreme wings that attack moderate opinions for not being extreme enough. The right is often threatening violence while the left is trying to get you fired from your job. We need to get rid of engagement algorithms and actively try to counter…

Reminds me of that Monty Python sketch where moderates were the enemy's of everyone.

Re: Poll: 62% of Americans Say They Have Political Views They’re Afraid to Share

#122
post #18

Why wouldn’t you be? The way that people react these days is so all over the place that it’s a no win situation unless you’re talking about financial/economic policy.

Attitudes and politics change with new generations. It's hard to change the way people already think. So this is a reflection of people not agreeing with the external pressure to conform to new thinking. That's not to say that you cannot convince people of new attitudes, so long as you appeal to their already held belief systems (LGBT rights, for example, animal cruelty, etc), but you cannot ram your beliefs down som…

Another factor, I would argue, is that the cultural and political changes have occurred very quickly, and that's always going to cause conflict.

Re: Poll: 62% of Americans Say They Have Political Views They’re Afraid to Share

#123
post #2

And this is why it's so important to maintain basic civility to everyone, regardless of political views.

It's a nice ideal, but once the views become too extreme, it's not practical. Not many people will maintain basic civility towards a person telling them they don't deserve basic rights for example.

A couple of points to consider:

Firm opposition does not imply that civility has to be dropped. In some cases it may even be counter productive since it ends up entrenching attitudes and positions.

We also need to be aware of how our own attitudes contribute to our own perceptions. It is not much of a leap to believe that we will be fired for our political views if we think that others should be fired for their political views, even if those beliefs and thoughts do not reflect reality.

I am not going to claim that civility must be maintained at any cost, there are certainly historical instances when it could not be. On the other hand, being proactive and civil will likely reap more positive change than the alternative.

Re: Poll: 62% of Americans Say They Have Political Views They’re Afraid to Share

#124

That's an interesting stat, though its political in nature. I suspect that the disconnect is far wider in scope. Most people are totally perplexed by the disparity between their own reality and what is portrayed in the news. For 3 years we had evidence-free but unrelenting Russia/Trump hate. This seemed insane, but it turns out that was just the warm up act to coronavirus! The reality of what people see around them i…

Sorry for the downvotes, but your opinion is pretty much spot on. People dont like hearing truth about the situation.

Re: Poll: 62% of Americans Say They Have Political Views They’re Afraid to Share

#125
post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not going to "cancel" you, but it's a little telling that your example of a moderate view immediately went there.

I don't care about you trying to cancel me lol that's why this is a sock account, but it's even more telling that you think basic descriptive (not prescriptive) observations about reality are not moderate.

Yeah, but why not stuff like immigration, stances on environmental regulation, income tax rates on high earners, gun rights...

You've gotta agree that those fall under the moderate umbrella a bit more right? I've lived/worked in some very conservative environments and I don't think anyone would've walked along with the race IQ path.

Re: Poll: 62% of Americans Say They Have Political Views They’re Afraid to Share

#127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dont think that's quite fair, basic civility would mean not immediately trying to frame something you disagree with as denying basic rights, and trying to have a more practical discussion about the issues.

I'm not referring to framing something ambiguous. I mean for example people openly discussing final solution to Jew problem. Are you suggesting basic civility and discussion about the issue with them?

Yes including that issue. One person extreme view is just another person normal view, its subjective.

Re: Poll: 62% of Americans Say They Have Political Views They’re Afraid to Share

#128
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not destruction of the middle ground, but rather hiding of the middle ground. Moderates do not feel safe to express moderate views for fear of being ostracized and cancelled.

Do you have any links to examples of moderate views that will get one cancelled? I would be really interested in this topic.

[deleted]

Re: Poll: 62% of Americans Say They Have Political Views They’re Afraid to Share

#129
post #95
post #2

And this is why it's so important to maintain basic civility to everyone, regardless of political views.

"Do we have to show tolerance to the intolerant?" is not the newest question in the book, and historians will probably tell you that in fact free societies stay free if they draw a clear line what is unaccepted behaviour. Liberty is always a balance act, because if you give bad actors freedom in the name of tolerance they will use it to reduce the freedom of weaker actors within society. If you live in a "survival of…

Yes, you are correct the left is full of fascists that are power hungry sour losers.

Re: Poll: 62% of Americans Say They Have Political Views They’re Afraid to Share

#130
post #118
post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And just after I read this on HN I see this shared by a fellow brit asking WTF https://www.thedailybeast.com/biden-camp-cancels-austin-texa... and indeed... it's hard to comprehend of this level of voter and campaign intimidation like this anywhere. When I've read things like this in the past it's been in failed states.

I saw that video. It's not actually clear cut to me who was at fault. The truck was in the right lane, the bus and SUV right behind in the left lane. Bus merged right (into truck's lane immediately in front) SUV could not occupy the space already occupied by the truck as SUV tried following bus. Truck did not yield, SUV tried to wedge in and straddled both lanes. There was subsequent contact but I'm not sure who init…

The truck is at fault by being there at all. This is not acceptable behavior. They created the situation with the intent to provoke. It’s classic bullying.
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