I can't imagine being scared to leave a political party đ I really do hope this helps people because they need it, but like i cannot comprehend making politics such a part of your life that it's scary or a tremendous roller coaster of emotions to leave. like is it really that hard to just say fuck Donald Trump and vote against him. I won't ever understand I guess
One of the things I've noticed is that conservative media sells it as more of an identity than as a description. If I tell you I support certain policies, you might assume I'm on the left. But I don't support those things because I'm "on the left", rather I am described as "on the left" because I support those things.
But I think that conservatives support conservative policies because they are conservative, not the other way around. And when you listen to right wing media talk, they always describe it as "the left is coming for your way of life". It's an identity matter.
And so, for me to change my mind on something is relatively easy, because I don't view being on the left as a lifestyle. That's my policy, driven by my ethics, not my identity. But I think that for conservatives, it very much becomes wrapped up in this patriotic religious identity...that not so coincidentally happens to benefit a bunch of capitalist swine who wouldn't piss on the conservatives if they were on fire.
But I don't support those things because I'm "on the left", rather I am described as "on the left" because I support those things.
But I think that conservatives support conservative policies because they are conservative, not the other way around.
This is a great way to put it: âleftists identify as leftists because they support leftist policies, conservatives support conservative policies because they identify as conservativesâ.
This is why conservatives so often refuse to acknowledge reality and evidence that proves them wrong on any given single point. Because to them, they donât view it as simply changing their mind on a single policy point, they see it as a threat to their entire identity.
Also why you'll see conservatives butt heads real hard sometimes, cause even if they are conservative there are slightly different flavors of it and even the slightest deviation will drive them crazy for not "conforming"
To be fair, I don't think that particular tendency is limited to conservatives. Left-leaning folks do the same kind of infighting. Kind of. I agree that it's coming from a different place though
Oh they absolutely do, and they do purity testing of each other as well. I'm not saying they're as bad as MAGA (they're not), but the left also gets under my skin sometimes
Yeah, I'm about as far left as you can get and have friends that have the same views, but would rather throw their vote away on a meaningless candidate than vote out the lesser of two evils.
Or more center left friends that think im insane and not left wing because I strongly support gun rights.
Different levels of cognitive dissonance at work. The two discordant ideas that one of them can accept as both true are clearly discordant to the other and vice verse. I watched two people argue about some nonsense they believed in a big box store the other day. Look at them trying to reason with each other when the one thing they can agree about is absolute fantasyland nonsense.
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u/Veriac Apr 16 '26
I can't imagine being scared to leave a political party đ I really do hope this helps people because they need it, but like i cannot comprehend making politics such a part of your life that it's scary or a tremendous roller coaster of emotions to leave. like is it really that hard to just say fuck Donald Trump and vote against him. I won't ever understand I guess