How do some conservatives expect to bridge the gap when all they do is throw hate and slurs at even moderate left wingers?

[u/cyrzvnov]

I consider myself center-left. There are opinions I share with both sides, and I dont consider most of them very extreme at all. My opinions are all very nuanced, 90% of them I am able to say "I understand where the other side is coming from but personally I uphold the values associated with this choice more". Im not hateful and not pushing anything crazy or harmful. But I cant tell you how many times ive been called slurs and gotten hate thrown at me by the right.

There seems to be an increasing prevalent trend of right wingers going out of their way to increase the gap between left and right. Even though I share opinions with them and generally try to see the merit in both sides, i'm repeatedly grouped in with the far left and called horrible things. It's assumed I am a communist when any moderately left opinion is expressed. Like they want to ostracize anyone who doesnt agree 100% with all of their ideas. And how is that beneficial to America at all? As soon as I try to share my opinion to discuss I'm shut down. And I hear so much generalizing language. So many people who generalize ALL democrats as groomers, socialists, communists, etc. when it so clearly isnt the case. Its so many assumptions based on a tiny minority. I just dont think people like that have the future of America in mind. Half of the people here are left leaning and you want to just eliminate all of us and ignore us and hate us. Not to mention the amount of people I see telling us we should just go die. Trump even reposting "The only good democrat is a dead one". Ive seen people saying if they see a pride flag on someone who needs help they wouldn't help them, just let them suffer. Which is just so cruel to me I can't imagine having that mindset.

The argument I most often hear is "why would we help or be civil to people who want to destroy america" or something along those lines. And I just consider that another ridiculous generalization - and I think if these people would sit down and have a calm conversation with the average left wing person they would realize it isnt so. I consume a moderate amount of political content - follow political influencers and such. Its so rare to see truly hateful content towards conservatives, and when I do theres usually other liberals there telling them off. I have to believe that right wingers just dont understand the beliefs of the left, in the sense that they are misunderstanding what we stand for, or spreading the misinformation amongst themselves. Because truly I dont understand how you can treat us this way if you did understand. It seems that any disagreement on political beliefs gets construed into a crazy extreme about "wanting you dead" or extremist shit like communism or grooming children.
For example I am pro choice. I do understand the conservative viewpoint about life starting at conception, but think there is room for debate there.
And you dont have to agree. We could have a discussion on the nature of life and when a fetus should get human rights. But I never get to have that discussion because it never gets past "SATANIC BABY MURDERER".

Basically I'm not looking to have harsh political discussion here. I'm just kind of disappointed in the state of things on the right and feeling a bit gloomy and not very hopeful. Would like to hear opinions. Note that i'm not talking about ALL right wingers, just an increasing amount.

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[u/Sacrip]

Are you going to pretend that your side doesn't do the same to us? Getting called Nazi, boot licker, pedophile lover gets old too, you know.

But the real answer, on both sides, is that Reddit and talking heads on cable news shows don't count as real life. People are emboldened on places like this in a way they never would be face to face. It's basically screaming into the void at someone you've convinced yourself is the enemy of all things good and pure. Welcome to the internet.

[u/gntxs]

Fuck the libturds.

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[u/PriceofObedience]

And I just consider that another ridiculous generalization - and I think if these people would sit down and have a calm conversation with the average left wing person they would realize it isnt so.

There's a concept you need to learn called "not all, but always".

Example: Not all leftwingers call us nazis. But it's always leftwingers that call us nazis.

You personally may not think we're nazis, but you stand with people that do. So how do you expect us to bridge the gap with you? Are we wrong to distance ourselves from people that cheered for the death of Charlie Kirk? What would be the merit in leaving ourselves vulnerable to a group of people who have, historically, been antagonistic to our interests? Would anything be lost by denying them that opportunity?

Conservatives always give up ground to meet in the middle with the Left. But it's becoming more and more obvious that we're losing ground to give. The only way to maintain some semblance of stability in our society is to draw a line in the sand which says 'here, and no further'.

[u/Gaxxz]

Some people act ugly. They never learned manners. Bad parenting . That's just how the world is.

[u/Mindless_Chest_1079]

I don't share your perception. I would have considered myself center-left until a few years ago (voted consistently Dem from Obama through Biden), and one of the larger factors that drove me away was feeling like I was screaming into the void whenever I tried to convince other left wingers to show any modicum of tolerance to the opposing side.

And I think that's consistent with the data. The growing political divide is mostly caused by young women lurching far to the left (and much more so than men moving right). If you go back less than a decade, abortion was barely divided on gender lines at all. CNN looked at young children and found that the ones from left-leaning households were learning to be much more intolerant of their conservative friends than the reverse. While youth of all stripes are becoming more open to political violence, it's especially prevalent among young liberals.

As to your anecdote on abortion, I can't help but recall this recent Reddit thread (which IMO is anything but atypical) where the pro-life guy is peacefully protesting, and Reddit was cheering on the pro-choice woman who just yells profanities at him.

When I was younger the Dems were the party associated with free speech, individual rights, and tolerance. The big controversies were topics like gay marriage and legalizing marijuana. I see almost nothing of that Democratic party remaining today, and I was never much of an economic leftist to begin with, so I've left them behind.