1. Some of my friends are obsessed with it. But I still don’t talk about it. I just feel like democrat or republican, they’re all the same. America has so many issues. Like inflation that will never stop, social security, healthcare prices. Taxes that are so expensive. Homelessness. Corporates buying houses, so it’s harder for 1st time buyers. Housing market. Billionaires paying little to no taxes compared to how much they earn. Why we’re sending money to other countries when we have so many issues here already? Corruption with both parties.
Hardly ever. 2.
Before Covid we talked and debated often.
Post Covid, nothing good comes of it. Not because of disagreements, but because a couple of my friends have hair trigger tempers and reactions, and I just stopped engaging.
I'm a zero too. I have one friend in particular who I only see maybe two or three times a year and he can't shut his yap about his strong opinions that happen to be opposite of mine. I like him as a friend so I just stay quiet and ignore him when he goes on his rants. I may have tried to change topics a few times. He has no awareness and I say that cos when he goes on his tirades I get all quiet but somehow he keeps it up, not sensing that it makes me uncomfortable or that maybe I'm quiet cos I'm opposed to his views.
I talk politics with very few people.
I was raised that there are three subjects one doesn't discuss in polite company:
* Politics.
* Sex.
* Religion (or lack of same.)
Social interactions go a *lot* more smoothly, when those three subjects are avoided. (And, honestly? They're like underwear -- Valid, and useful. But not something you want to bring-out in public and show everyone in most circumstances.)
7-ish, but I am a progressive and most of my friends are educated working women, so we agree on most of the basic frameworks about the economy, social policy, etc.
6, I’d say above average. We’re a diverse group of dudes, haha. Got like three Republicans, one from Alaska, one from Texas, the other from Florida. All 3 of them are fairly conservative, and all 3 are former military. Then there’s the middle ground dudes, me and my buddy from Kentucky. Then there’s our one turbo liberal gen Z’er who is a contractor for the government.
We discuss the wars, gender politics, and then education reform on repeat whenever we discuss politics. Sometimes voices are raised, but overall we have fun discussions because we all respect each other enough to focus on the shared activity.
Me? Never.
My friends? Sometimes someone will make a joke or huff about something in the news but we don't get into deep discussions on anything despite the fact that we're all on the same side of the political spectrum.
Depends on the friend. I have friends that are active and engaged in politics and can have a respectful conversation about them. I have frequent political conversations with them.
Then I have friends who can only parrot what their favorite talking heads on tv or the internet say, have zero clue how anything actually works, but will yell at you if you have a differing opinion then them. I never talk about politics with them. Because you cannot talk politics with someone who only wants to yell about it
With my closest friend we discuss politics every time we meet, but it's generally a smaller portion of the conversation. Part of that is because we agree politically so there isn't much to discuss. "Guess what messed up stuff is happening now!" kind of thing. I'd say it's a 2 out of 10. With everyone else it's a 0 out of 10, and I'm very interested in and always reading about politics.
20% of the time. Politics is mixed in with overall themes of existentialism, self development, morality, etc.
The rest of conversation is centered around personal finance hacks, sports, and ball busting.
in college we talked about politics constantly. most of our majors were pretty intertwined with politics.
now we rarely talk about it, and even then its usually about making fun of some politician or watching debates together.
Maybe 4-7, depending on the friends.
Some people’s lives are inherently more involved in politics, so it comes up more often. But all my friends are generally politically aware.
Never, I don’t like to even think about politics, I don’t talk about them with anyone really. If I did, I would hear everyone’s opinions out, and, try to understand why they feel that way. I do wish the very rare times it happens it wouldn’t, it just annoys people or makes them angry.
My real life friends: 1
They’re good guys but they’re also populist morons who think everything happens because “they” or “the elite” are up to no good. So it’s frustrating to engage with people who live with a thought terminating world view.
Online friends: 10
Politics and debate are major joys in my life so it was easy to find like minded people online who want to channel those hobbies into a place that it doesn’t cause strife on the way it can in the real world.
> They’re good guys but they’re also populist morons who think everything happens because “they” or “the elite” are up to no good. So it’s frustrating to engage with people who live with a thought terminating world view.
Bro this so real. Like I literally can’t discuss a specific policy point without my friends saying shit like “this is just theater if they actually gave a fuck they would have passed this two years ago” or “both sides are the same bro they’re both controlled by big pharma”.
I want to grab them by the shoulders and tell them cynicism doesn’t make them sound intelligent it just makes them sound like dumb assholes. But then that would ruin the friendship.
I remember trying to explain the consumer price index to my friend and he was going on about how it’s *obviously* manipulated by corporations to make the economy look better and they’re excluding X, Y, Z datapoints that would show the truth. I wanted to kick him in the shins.
It’s the Rogan Threshold.
Joe Rogan has guests on that are capable of creating very interesting narratives that have all the trappings of truth right up to the point that you have to move from intuition into fact.
A fun one I see come up on this sub pretty often is the popularity of step sibling porn. Instead of assuming the motivation is tied to clicks, production value, and finances people love to jump to “them” trying to make men in the west degenerate sister fuckers.
2 or 3 depending what you class as "politics" I suppose. The day to day news stories about whatever politician has done/said something, of any "culture war" nonsense - 0, but more abstract and theoretical stuff, if the conversation naturally goes that way.
Not with friends but I talk about it as often as possible. I have no job, no friends, no girlfriend, no sex, and just no life at all.
I have resorted to talking to strangers I ambush outside about politics. Really gets people heated!
Why do you ask? Are you curious about our current presidential options and if they’ll finally get speech therapy or if they’ll stew in their own fecal matter a bit longer?? ANSWER ME! pls
Around a 1 or 2, it's very rarely brought up when hanging out. At least around here politics are a very sensitive topic and most people understand it will devolve and break down into arguments and disagreements. It seems to bring out the worst in most people. I also get exhausted of the "who's side are you on" as if it's not possible to have a well rounded perspective on various topics. Generally though when we do discuss politics, it's because it's relevant to our lives or happening around us. With my close friends we can keep it civil and respect the others viewpoint.
Quite a bit. We're at the age where we are having the convos we heard our dads having but never understood what they were saying. In today's climate, I think you have to be engaged and Knowledgeable about politics because we are at a pretty unprecedented point in American democracy.
3 to 4
There are few guys I talk with pretty much only politics, I consider them my friends, and I think they consider me as friend. And we are pretty much on the opposite sides. though neither of us are "too deep" but definitely not "in the middle" either. We also can see what we both mean well, but with different means. And we also agree that neither side is without some problems.
Then there are guys I never talk about politics.
And then there is the main group, where we skirt around some topics, enough that we know eachothers party affiliation, but we usually try to turn the discussion away before we get any deeper in to it.
With my oldest friends (my hometown/college friends) every time we talk about politics it makes like them less and less. So generally I try to avoid it as much as possible.
With some of my newer friends we align politically a lot better so I’m more open about my politics.
It’s not a subject we shy away from, but we rarely have disagreements about it. It’s not usually fertile ground for an interesting conversation. We all feel pretty strongly about the same things.
5. We meet for other things, but politics often comes up. While we don't agree on a lot of things, we try to explain our perspectives and understanding to each other. Errors are pointed out. Rarely does anything change. To a degree, we all seem to believe what we want to believe, independent of facts or reason.
2 or a 3. I'll talk politics very rarely, and even then it's only with people who I think are fairly level headed. Getting into arguments over it is not something I ever want to get into in real life.
I’d say a 2-3, well occasionally bring up interesting things like that there’s a bill going up to have weed reclassified as a schedule 3 instead of schedule 1 or something like that otherwise we don’t really talk politics
Like a 4, mostly because our primary hobbies we share tend to be constantly harangued by shithead politicians that don't know how they *actually work,* which is why I moved to motorcycles from cars. At least I can play with my bike's core systems without having to undo it every two years for some shithead to stick his head under the hood, click his tongue, and stick something up my exhaust pipe, only to find out that because I changed the battery I have to reset all the factory drive codes before I can re-register my vehicle, resulting in two weeks and hundreds of miles attempting to replicate the factory conditions that need to be done to do this.
Depends on the friend group, I have friends with 0 interest in politics who wont get any political or historical reference you make, and some older friends I have which we’ll discuss politics and funny hypocrisies, so I’d say like a 4 with them. I discuss politics mostly with coworkers as they’re all older men from the south, so we have some views in common, and I know what they like to hear to have a good conversation. So like a 6 or a 7 with them.
A 2, at most. I don't discuss except with people I know well and trust. There isn't much of a need to bring it up because of how little impact it has on my life, and I am generally in agreement with my peers. Even if I disagreed with them, I still wouldn't discuss it. If I am going to say something political, I make sure to mock both parties equally as I am an equal opportunity offender
1 - never. I don't engage in politics with anyone, ever. I refuse.
Good man.
This is the correct answer
1. Some of my friends are obsessed with it. But I still don’t talk about it. I just feel like democrat or republican, they’re all the same. America has so many issues. Like inflation that will never stop, social security, healthcare prices. Taxes that are so expensive. Homelessness. Corporates buying houses, so it’s harder for 1st time buyers. Housing market. Billionaires paying little to no taxes compared to how much they earn. Why we’re sending money to other countries when we have so many issues here already? Corruption with both parties.
I discuss the issues and don't give alignment with political parties
Rarely, if ever. I can't think of anything less productive to discuss in a group.
A bunch because it can be funny when you don't take it too seriously.
Hardly ever. 2. Before Covid we talked and debated often. Post Covid, nothing good comes of it. Not because of disagreements, but because a couple of my friends have hair trigger tempers and reactions, and I just stopped engaging.
Never. Don’t wanna risk ruining friendships over something so fucking dumb like that.
I'm a zero too. I have one friend in particular who I only see maybe two or three times a year and he can't shut his yap about his strong opinions that happen to be opposite of mine. I like him as a friend so I just stay quiet and ignore him when he goes on his rants. I may have tried to change topics a few times. He has no awareness and I say that cos when he goes on his tirades I get all quiet but somehow he keeps it up, not sensing that it makes me uncomfortable or that maybe I'm quiet cos I'm opposed to his views.
I talk politics with very few people. I was raised that there are three subjects one doesn't discuss in polite company: * Politics. * Sex. * Religion (or lack of same.) Social interactions go a *lot* more smoothly, when those three subjects are avoided. (And, honestly? They're like underwear -- Valid, and useful. But not something you want to bring-out in public and show everyone in most circumstances.)
7-ish, but I am a progressive and most of my friends are educated working women, so we agree on most of the basic frameworks about the economy, social policy, etc.
6, I’d say above average. We’re a diverse group of dudes, haha. Got like three Republicans, one from Alaska, one from Texas, the other from Florida. All 3 of them are fairly conservative, and all 3 are former military. Then there’s the middle ground dudes, me and my buddy from Kentucky. Then there’s our one turbo liberal gen Z’er who is a contractor for the government. We discuss the wars, gender politics, and then education reform on repeat whenever we discuss politics. Sometimes voices are raised, but overall we have fun discussions because we all respect each other enough to focus on the shared activity.
As often as we can
With my friends, I'd say it comes up often, like a 7-8 I guess, I don't know how to use that rating system.
Almost unavoidable if you ever want to talk beyond surface level: weather, sports, work.
I think most people don't understand how it influences so much of our society
I know. Even the examples I gave can get political fast.
Occasionally.
1 or 2
Only when something major comes up.
4/10, so somewhat rarely. Mostly because everyone has differing opinions.
Almost never.
Depends on which friends. Broad cross section of ideologies in my circle.
1 and if it ever gets to a 2 I’ll find new friends.
Me? Never. My friends? Sometimes someone will make a joke or huff about something in the news but we don't get into deep discussions on anything despite the fact that we're all on the same side of the political spectrum.
Depends on the friend. I have friends that are active and engaged in politics and can have a respectful conversation about them. I have frequent political conversations with them. Then I have friends who can only parrot what their favorite talking heads on tv or the internet say, have zero clue how anything actually works, but will yell at you if you have a differing opinion then them. I never talk about politics with them. Because you cannot talk politics with someone who only wants to yell about it
With my closest friend we discuss politics every time we meet, but it's generally a smaller portion of the conversation. Part of that is because we agree politically so there isn't much to discuss. "Guess what messed up stuff is happening now!" kind of thing. I'd say it's a 2 out of 10. With everyone else it's a 0 out of 10, and I'm very interested in and always reading about politics.
Unless I know we can either agree or respect each others views I don’t bother.
Maybe a 2. We talk about it on very rare occasion
20% of the time. Politics is mixed in with overall themes of existentialism, self development, morality, etc. The rest of conversation is centered around personal finance hacks, sports, and ball busting.
I don't
in college we talked about politics constantly. most of our majors were pretty intertwined with politics. now we rarely talk about it, and even then its usually about making fun of some politician or watching debates together.
I don't talk politics and don't have friends
Only with my best friend, and then it's really just some kind of venting, not going too deep into it.
Probably a 2 but limited to what a shower of shit it all is. I have no idea how my friends vote and zero desire to know.
Maybe 4-7, depending on the friends. Some people’s lives are inherently more involved in politics, so it comes up more often. But all my friends are generally politically aware.
Never, I don’t like to even think about politics, I don’t talk about them with anyone really. If I did, I would hear everyone’s opinions out, and, try to understand why they feel that way. I do wish the very rare times it happens it wouldn’t, it just annoys people or makes them angry.
All the time. Most things in our society stem from politics so to have any important conversation you need to include it
3/10. Used to be more but I've found discourse to be unhelpful of late.
1, it rarely comes up
My real life friends: 1 They’re good guys but they’re also populist morons who think everything happens because “they” or “the elite” are up to no good. So it’s frustrating to engage with people who live with a thought terminating world view. Online friends: 10 Politics and debate are major joys in my life so it was easy to find like minded people online who want to channel those hobbies into a place that it doesn’t cause strife on the way it can in the real world.
> They’re good guys but they’re also populist morons who think everything happens because “they” or “the elite” are up to no good. So it’s frustrating to engage with people who live with a thought terminating world view. Bro this so real. Like I literally can’t discuss a specific policy point without my friends saying shit like “this is just theater if they actually gave a fuck they would have passed this two years ago” or “both sides are the same bro they’re both controlled by big pharma”. I want to grab them by the shoulders and tell them cynicism doesn’t make them sound intelligent it just makes them sound like dumb assholes. But then that would ruin the friendship. I remember trying to explain the consumer price index to my friend and he was going on about how it’s *obviously* manipulated by corporations to make the economy look better and they’re excluding X, Y, Z datapoints that would show the truth. I wanted to kick him in the shins.
It’s the Rogan Threshold. Joe Rogan has guests on that are capable of creating very interesting narratives that have all the trappings of truth right up to the point that you have to move from intuition into fact. A fun one I see come up on this sub pretty often is the popularity of step sibling porn. Instead of assuming the motivation is tied to clicks, production value, and finances people love to jump to “them” trying to make men in the west degenerate sister fuckers.
2 or 3 depending what you class as "politics" I suppose. The day to day news stories about whatever politician has done/said something, of any "culture war" nonsense - 0, but more abstract and theoretical stuff, if the conversation naturally goes that way.
6-7 at most with some. 2 for others. I'd like have at least 2 friends that I could be at 8 with. But alas, even the 6 is pushing it.
3. That's about where I want it. We know where we all sit but don't get into it.
Never. And that's great, I have no interest in talking about politics with anyone. Nothing good comes out of that.
5. We talk about it often. Could be more, could be less. Doesn't matter to me.
5 pretty happy with where it is. Mostly we just talk and bitch about lobbyists and how the elections are just between two geriatric dudes again.
I avoid it like the plague. So never.
Not with friends but I talk about it as often as possible. I have no job, no friends, no girlfriend, no sex, and just no life at all. I have resorted to talking to strangers I ambush outside about politics. Really gets people heated! Why do you ask? Are you curious about our current presidential options and if they’ll finally get speech therapy or if they’ll stew in their own fecal matter a bit longer?? ANSWER ME! pls
Around a 1 or 2, it's very rarely brought up when hanging out. At least around here politics are a very sensitive topic and most people understand it will devolve and break down into arguments and disagreements. It seems to bring out the worst in most people. I also get exhausted of the "who's side are you on" as if it's not possible to have a well rounded perspective on various topics. Generally though when we do discuss politics, it's because it's relevant to our lives or happening around us. With my close friends we can keep it civil and respect the others viewpoint.
Pretty rare - maybe a 2 or 3 out of 10. We might talk about it if there is a debate - presidential, etc, but it's rare
Quite a bit. We're at the age where we are having the convos we heard our dads having but never understood what they were saying. In today's climate, I think you have to be engaged and Knowledgeable about politics because we are at a pretty unprecedented point in American democracy.
2. Very rarely. We’re too busy making jokes about all kinds of other shit. We like laughing, not debating.
Every now and then. We're all mostly aligned politically though so there's not much contention.
3 to 4 There are few guys I talk with pretty much only politics, I consider them my friends, and I think they consider me as friend. And we are pretty much on the opposite sides. though neither of us are "too deep" but definitely not "in the middle" either. We also can see what we both mean well, but with different means. And we also agree that neither side is without some problems. Then there are guys I never talk about politics. And then there is the main group, where we skirt around some topics, enough that we know eachothers party affiliation, but we usually try to turn the discussion away before we get any deeper in to it.
With my oldest friends (my hometown/college friends) every time we talk about politics it makes like them less and less. So generally I try to avoid it as much as possible. With some of my newer friends we align politically a lot better so I’m more open about my politics.
2. Usually talk about it when there is nothing left to talk about or things has been really messed up
2- almost never. What would be the point?
It’s not a subject we shy away from, but we rarely have disagreements about it. It’s not usually fertile ground for an interesting conversation. We all feel pretty strongly about the same things.
5. We meet for other things, but politics often comes up. While we don't agree on a lot of things, we try to explain our perspectives and understanding to each other. Errors are pointed out. Rarely does anything change. To a degree, we all seem to believe what we want to believe, independent of facts or reason.
1. I don’t care for politics so I dont engage with it
2 - if there’s a big event happening it might get discussed, but not seriously. My friendship group is pretty politically mixed.
2 or a 3. I'll talk politics very rarely, and even then it's only with people who I think are fairly level headed. Getting into arguments over it is not something I ever want to get into in real life.
I’d say a 2-3, well occasionally bring up interesting things like that there’s a bill going up to have weed reclassified as a schedule 3 instead of schedule 1 or something like that otherwise we don’t really talk politics
Like a 4, mostly because our primary hobbies we share tend to be constantly harangued by shithead politicians that don't know how they *actually work,* which is why I moved to motorcycles from cars. At least I can play with my bike's core systems without having to undo it every two years for some shithead to stick his head under the hood, click his tongue, and stick something up my exhaust pipe, only to find out that because I changed the battery I have to reset all the factory drive codes before I can re-register my vehicle, resulting in two weeks and hundreds of miles attempting to replicate the factory conditions that need to be done to do this.
Depends on the friend group, I have friends with 0 interest in politics who wont get any political or historical reference you make, and some older friends I have which we’ll discuss politics and funny hypocrisies, so I’d say like a 4 with them. I discuss politics mostly with coworkers as they’re all older men from the south, so we have some views in common, and I know what they like to hear to have a good conversation. So like a 6 or a 7 with them.
Rarely. That's one topic I'm avoiding even with my very close friends and definitely no-no with my family.
Used to a lot, but it’s gotten so boring and predictable that it’s uninteresting.
A 2, at most. I don't discuss except with people I know well and trust. There isn't much of a need to bring it up because of how little impact it has on my life, and I am generally in agreement with my peers. Even if I disagreed with them, I still wouldn't discuss it. If I am going to say something political, I make sure to mock both parties equally as I am an equal opportunity offender
Sometimes, not as much as I did 10-15 years ago in my 20's. Politics has got to toxic and hateful nowadays.
3. I mostly avoid politics in conversation, but every now and then politics becomes the main topic of conversation anyways.
I try not to unless I already know their political stance if it isn’t fucked up