Friends with your enemies

[NotThePars]

People within Westminster are just angry that she's broken the rules of the club. Politics isn't real life to most of these people and as such they don't understand why someone would find people who vote the way the Tories do repulsive. That said, if Pidcock felt as strongly as she did then maybe she shouldn't have implemented Tory austerity cuts back when she was a councillor.

[Granny Danger]

28 minutes ago, Suspect Device said:

I've got friends who are fans of Rangers or Celtic. If I can get on with them, I can probably get on with my mates who have differing political views.

 

I have never bought this line that football equates to politics.  Befriending someone who votes to close schools or cut funding for vulnerable families is not the same as supporting a particular football team.

[anotherchance]

I have never bought this line that football equates to politics.  Befriending someone who votes to close schools or cut funding for vulnerable families is not the same as supporting a particular football team.

I'm sure we've all got some sort of questionable morals if you applied the above example across the board.

If you got chummy with somebody, had a laugh with them etc, it seems pretty sad to cut all ties because they didn't vote the way you wanted them to.

[Jacksgranda]

32 minutes ago, anotherchance said:

 

 

I'm sure we've all got some sort of questionable morals if you applied the above example across the board.

If you got chummy with somebody, had a laugh with them etc, it seems pretty sad to cut all ties because they didn't vote the way you wanted them to.

 

GD having a laugh? You're having a laugh, Shirley?

[Sunrise]

I used to go out with a UKIP-sympathizer (she said she was,but could have been even harder to the right) who thought Adam Johnson and Ched Evans did no wrong so... I'd like to point out I hold none of those views myself.

Growing up in Clarkston meant I was the sole left-winger surrounded by Tories - a schoolfriend of mine (who I've drifted away from mostly due to time) now works for them in London. One of my closest pals is a hardline Evengelical who doesn't think much of gay rights (my brother is a gay teenager) and especially transgender rights... as long as we don't talk politics though we get on well enough.

Scottish politics is unnecessarily juvenile here, something I've been guilty of falling into. I remember when Kim Little celebrated the no vote on her Twitter, I started ignoring her in matches. Thankfully, I've got over that. I still blame the no campaign and New Labour for leading us this way though...

One of our recent ex-players at Barrfields has a penchant for expressing awful views on Twitter about Islam. He's a pal, but I'll openly admit I'm pleased he's gone and not representing us.

[DrewDon]

If I were in Pidcock's position and my job compelled me to see first-hand some of the devastation and destruction wrought on the community I was elected to represent by Tory policies, then I might be a bit more hard-line about this than I am now. MPs aren't elected to become best mates or drinking buddies with colleagues from opposition benches, but I suppose having some amicable relationships and contacts on the 'other side' might help you to impact positive change every once in a while. 

I don't think it is particularly uncommon to gravitate more towards people who broadly share your world view and outlook. Most of my friends would probably describe themselves as left-of-centre, as would I; although that doesn't stop us occasionally having some disagreements on individual, usually relatively small, issues. 

I have a few friends who I know are Tory voters, although I wasn't necessarily aware of this when we initially became close. In all seriousness, I doubt I would have thought too much about it at the time. We speak about various things other than politics, even if it is a common interest. When we do have any disagreements or debates on (party) political issues, we always manage to keep it civil, even if we disagree fairly strongly with what the other is saying.

Could I be friends with elected Tory representatives? To be honest, I'm not so sure; I suspect, for whatever reason, that might be tougher than being friends with someone who is merely votes another way to me. Some people might view that as a tad arbitrary, and it probably is, but there you go. 

I could never be friends with anybody who was openly racist, homophobic or bigoted. Maybe when I was younger and didn't think so much about these issues, but those are entirely reasonable red lines to me nowadays. I think most people have limits, and those are mine. 

[WhiteRoseKillie]

8 hours ago, Granny Danger said:

I was an elected politician for 10 years and my attitude towards Tories never extended beyond civility; there were times even that was difficult.  I can't see how it is possible to develop respect or admiration for folk whose politics you find so abhorrent, and respect and admiration would surely be required for friendship.

There was a Lib Dem guy who was OK and who I'd happily chat with out with the normal political discussions.

I have to agree with this. Tories divide, for me, into two types:

1. Playground bullies who will abuse, deride and steal from the less fortunate, and

2. Deluded hangers-on who wish to be associated with the bullies, despite never being allowed into the inner circle and, in truth, being viewed by said bullies with, possibly, even more contempt than their usual victims. Victims themselves, in truth, just too fúcking stupid to see it as long as Lizzie's in the Big Chair and we can keep those bloody immigrants where they belong - i.e. not here. 

As for respect - while the word is normally used to denote some kind of admiration, it is not always so. I respected Thatcher for the way she ran a long war against the people of this country - she was consistent, dedicated and used available resources to their full extent. Doesn't mean she was human, or not as evil a politician as this country has known, but it made her hard to fight. The biggest embarrassment now is that the current crop of scum are as incompetent as they are opposed to the interests of the majority of their constituents. And yet the Working Class Tory still is not extinct. 

[Rugster]

All Tories are c***s.

[WhiteRoseKillie]

1 hour ago, DrewDon said:

If I were in Pidcock's position and my job compelled me to see first-hand some of the devastation and destruction wrought on the community I was elected to represent by Tory policies, then I might be a bit more hard-line about this than I am now. MPs aren't elected to become best mates or drinking buddies with colleagues from opposition benches, but I suppose having some amicable relationships and contacts on the 'other side' might help you to impact positive change every once in a while. 

I don't think it is particularly uncommon to gravitate more towards people who broadly share your world view and outlook. Most of my friends would probably describe themselves as left-of-centre, as would I; although that doesn't stop us occasionally having some disagreements on individual, usually relatively small, issues. 

I have a few friends who I know are Tory voters, although I wasn't necessarily aware of this when we initially became close. In all seriousness, I doubt I would have thought too much about it at the time. We speak about various things other than politics, even if it is a common interest. When we do have any disagreements or debates on (party) political issues, we always manage to keep it civil, even if we disagree fairly strongly with what the other is saying.

Could I be friends with elected Tory representatives? To be honest, I'm not so sure; I suspect, for whatever reason, that might be tougher than being friends with someone who is merely votes another way to me. Some people might view that as a tad arbitrary, and it probably is, but there you go. 

I could never be friends with anybody who was openly racist, homophobic or bigoted. Maybe when I was younger and didn't think so much about these issues, but those are entirely reasonable red lines to me nowadays. I think most people have limits, and those are mine. 

You can't be friends with a Tory, as they do not have friends. They have contacts and acquaintances, association with whom may advance or enrich them. 

[WhiteRoseKillie]

3 minutes ago, Rugster said:

All Tories are c***s.

Yeah - what he said. I tend to waffle, but that sums it up nicely. 

[DrewDon]

Just glad I'm in a position to advance or enrich anyone, tbh. 

[BerwickMad]

If I were in Pidcock's position and my job compelled me to see first-hand some of the devastation and destruction wrought on the community I was elected to represent by Tory policies, then I might be a bit more hard-line about this than I am now. MPs aren't elected to become best mates or drinking buddies with colleagues from opposition benches, but I suppose having some amicable relationships and contacts on the 'other side' might help you to impact positive change every once in a while. 
I don't think it is particularly uncommon to gravitate more towards people who broadly share your world view and outlook. Most of my friends would probably describe themselves as left-of-centre, as would I; although that doesn't stop us occasionally having some disagreements on individual, usually relatively small, issues. 
I have a few friends who I know are Tory voters, although I wasn't necessarily aware of this when we initially became close. In all seriousness, I doubt I would have thought too much about it at the time. We speak about various things other than politics, even if it is a common interest. When we do have any disagreements or debates on (party) political issues, we always manage to keep it civil, even if we disagree fairly strongly with what the other is saying.
Could I be friends with elected Tory representatives? To be honest, I'm not so sure; I suspect, for whatever reason, that might be tougher than being friends with someone who is merely votes another way to me. Some people might view that as a tad arbitrary, and it probably is, but there you go. 
I could never be friends with anybody who was openly racist, homophobic or bigoted. Maybe when I was younger and didn't think so much about these issues, but those are entirely reasonable red lines to me nowadays. I think most people have limits, and those are mine. 

It's true that Pidcock will see a lot of suffering which could be seen as a direct result of Tory policy, but I do as a Housing Officer in a Universal Credit pilot area. I've seen a lot of needless suffering, but I still find her comments very immature.

I'm Labour, but the 'us and them' mentality she has (and people like Chris Williamson) to class, gender and politics i find a bit pathetic. Mainly because I concentrate on shared interests and look for things I have in common with people. If I meet someone, I don't really care about their class or politics. If they share my politics, good, but it's just one of a number of things I might have in common with them. I was at the Glasgow Pride festival on Saturday and in our group were people I know well, and people I'd just met. People of different ages, sexualities, genders with opinions all enjoying themselves. A Malaysian muslim student with millionaire parents sending him to study here, and then someone from the Borders who thought it was 'class' that Conor McGregor wore polar bear fur were in our group. I don't share that wealth/class with the Malaysian student, or that bizarre opinion the guy from the Borders had, but I'm not going to make a decision on being friends or not over things like that.

Going back to Labour/Tory. I went to uni with loads of Tories and I sit on Berwick Town Council as the only Labour member with 9 of the 16 being Tories. I can't think of anyone I've not been friendly with, or made a decision not to be friends with, because they were Tories. Even though I disagree with them, I'm mature enough to be able to see why they might think as they do. I don't hate them for it. I've never come across one of them who deliberately wants to hurt people or inflict suffering. They just either have different priorities or different opinions on how to work towards the greater good. That said, one of the new Tory councillors won't even acknowledge me, so we'll see how that works out. Ha.

Certainly if someone was opening racist, homophobic or bigoted, I'd struggle to be friends with them however. But as someone said earlier, it probably has as much to do with how preachy someone is about their politics or opinions. I love debates and don't mind disagreeing with people, but I had to delete a Labour member off my Facebook page who started to think he could tell me what I could and couldn't say about issues, all the time. I'd also struggle to be friendly with someone who couldn't tolerate opposing views.

[NotThePars]

Your job would be much easier and likely less depressing though if the Tories and people that share their views weren't in parliament.

[Glenconner]

Some of my best friends are Tories............

[Fullerene]

Sometimes you find Tories who share your views on certain things - such as animal welfare or climate change for example.

It is easy to think all Tories believe in flogging, the death penalty, Brexit and Donald Trump - but some of them don't.

How would any of you deal with that?

[The Chlamydia Kid]

I was an elected politician for 10 years and my attitude towards Tories never extended beyond civility; there were times even that was difficult.  I can't see how it is possible to develop respect or admiration for folk whose politics you find so abhorrent, and respect and admiration would surely be required for friendship.
There was a Lib Dem guy who was OK and who I'd happily chat with out with the normal political discussions.

The difference between someone on the traditional left and right is where they believe the balance should lie between individualism and communitarianism.

Ridiculously intolerant and arrogant to hate people because they think on balance that the individual has more control/influence over his life than society.

[Fullerene]

On ‎23‎/‎08‎/‎2017 at 19:39, TheProgressiveLiberal said:

I have zero lines other than PC. Won't be friends with people who are PC.

In Canada, PC refers to the Progressive Conservative Party - so maybe this is just a spat between people who called themselves "progressive".

Joking aside, I though PC just meant being diplomatic and careful about how you say things so as not to cause unnecessary offence - why would anyone be against that?

[The Chlamydia Kid]

I used to go out with a UKIP-sympathizer (she said she was,but could have been even harder to the right) who thought Adam Johnson and Ched Evans did no wrong so... I'd like to point out I hold none of those views myself.
Growing up in Clarkston meant I was the sole left-winger surrounded by Tories - a schoolfriend of mine (who I've drifted away from mostly due to time) now works for them in London. One of my closest pals is a hardline Evengelical who doesn't think much of gay rights (my brother is a gay teenager) and especially transgender rights... as long as we don't talk politics though we get on well enough.
Scottish politics is unnecessarily juvenile here, something I've been guilty of falling into. I remember when Kim Little celebrated the no vote on her Twitter, I started ignoring her in matches. Thankfully, I've got over that. I still blame the no campaign and New Labour for leading us this way though...
One of our recent ex-players at Barrfields has a penchant for expressing awful views on Twitter about Islam. He's a pal, but I'll openly admit I'm pleased he's gone and not representing us.

Ched Evans was cleared on appeal. Do you know better than the jury?

[NotThePars]

Left wingers: please stop enacting policy that kills people
Right wingers: why won't you be our friend

[topcat(The most tip top)]

I have zero lines other than PC. Won't be friends with people who are PC.

^^^ ACAB post