Posted on 05/31/2010 9:46:47 PM PDT by se_ohio_young_conservative
I have lost THREE real life friends now in trying to defend Sarah Palin. On one hand I tend to think the people who call her stupid are not the kind of people I even want as friends anyhow. However, I wonder if im being too harsh and going too far.
I know our country was divided on President Bush. But the division and the hatred for Sarah Palin has been able to top anything. Before Palin, I had a much more positive outlook on people (especially women, mothers, ect) and life in general. Now I find myself seeing people through a totally different lens.
I understand why I am so outraged as a husband and father of two girls. But what is wrong with WOMEN in this country ? they have really let Sarah Palin and her family down by not standing up enough and drawing a line in the sand.
I also like the thoughts of Melas and If You Want It Fixed. From a young age I have never thought it right to idolize any politician. That’s one of the reasons why the Obamessiah worship has been so horrifying to me. I have had numerous friends and significant others over the years who were Democrat/liberal/left wing and still do. I have never lost any of them over politics despite having at times screaming, heated political arguments with them. Amazingly, I have eventually converted ALL of them over the years. Just “converted” my 24th person in the past 30 years. Seriously, we would have screaming matches at times, but eventually they came around, sometimes afer years had gone by, and told me they finally saw the light. I never got into the pettiness of personalities but always pretty much stayed with logic, reason and arguing facts and ideology with them. Now I DO have some far left moonbat co-workers and casual friends. I do not even bother with discussing anything with them. They occasionally try to bait me but I keep it zipped and think that is the best approach because my silence and lack of response seems to make them think a little. At least more than if I knee-jerked reacted to their bait. I DO engage the young Obamabots because most seem to appreciate my age and experience and acknowledge that they haven’t lived long enough to know it all. I optimistically think I have even turned a few of them around or at least made them think a bit. As for extended family members I just try to keep it zipped. Not worth it. I have learned that the more I argue with some people, the more they just make me, rather than the issue, the target. It’s just not effective or productive. Sometimes just silence to them is the better tactic.
the general population are sheep. there are the few that are not and they are special. If one waited to not befriend a sheep it would be a very long, lonely life. BAAAAAAAAA! NOT!
I give my opinion on subjects when they come up, but I don’t push and I rarely bring things up.
I have lost friends, anyway.
Even if you are very polite, apparently, you lose friends. I probably would have lost more had I been pushier.
But I encourage you to voice your opinions, at least as much as the friend in question voices theirs. If you are ashamed of a particular opinion, you should change it.
When I sense someone is getting upset; they interrupt, they raise their voice, they start to get physical in their speech by waving their hands around etc. -
I just say, well, that’s what I think anyway, and I drop it.
Otoh if they WERE liberals then I don't know what else needs to be said, liberalism is indeed a dangerous mental disorder so good riddance to bad rubbish.
Melas, I will second what you wrote, that it is a mistake to get too emotionally wrapped up in a public figure that you don’t actually know. I will add to that my opinion that it is not a mistake, and in fact admirable, to retain one’s enthusiasm and excitement about *ideas* and ideals — the guideposts that help you live your life. But an individual that you don’t even really know? Best taken with a grain of salt.
Then she needs to go in and say...Did you hear what Barak Obama said...then she should go on to cite a sensible statement that most in the room would agree to, then say...”oh wait it was Sarah Palin that said that”!
older u get you don’t suffer fools gladly
Cough! Cough!
GREAT ADVICE!
You shouldn't repeat yourself.
From the quote below, it sounds like the latter:
"I have lost THREE real life friends now in trying to defend Sarah Palin. On one hand I tend to think the people who call her stupid are not the kind of people I even want as friends anyhow. However, I wonder if im being too harsh and going too far." ..... se_ohio_young_conservative
Once you "go too far" and push aside "real life friends" over a politician, you really have to get your priorities in order.
Sarah Palin may not be "stupid" but let's just say that it is obvious that she got a public school high school education in a town where academics was not stressed and two of her four colleges in four years, North Idaho College and Matanuska–Susitna College, offered only Associates Degrees. Her sub-standard education shows and her fund of knowledge is rather shallow.:
Yes, Sarah Palin can dish out the talking points that conservatives want to hear. So can everybody on Free Republic.
Be that as it may, anybody that can't automatically rattle off a coherent explanation of the political dynamics at end of World War II that left Manchuria and the Korean peninsula north of the 38th parallel under Soviet occupation has no historical grasp of the world that we live in as is as unqualified to be President of the United States as Barack Obama currently is.
I believe you have the right approach. I wish more FReepers did. I believe that your approach can increase our numbers, while some of these other approaches are just plain alienating.
Red meat for the true believers is fine, but I’d prefer our message went to that great middle ground, where hearts and minds can still be won...or lost.
I'm not concerned with what she says. I'm concerned about all the things NOT asked of her because the race wasn't close.
For example, has Gov. Palin come forward with an answer yet to whether she (a) put her minor child into grave danger, or (b) lied to police? Either way, it shows a lack of judgment, as even the Palin-friendly colonel pointed out in her Palin-friendly re-evaluation of the documentation.
What's the Palin family's response to the latest fiasco, where the landlord claims she never paid.
What about her spending record, whilst claiming fiscal conservatism?
Has she improved her knowledge and interview skills?
There are many questions...even if we stick our heads in the sand, they will be there, so let's face them now.
I agree. Graduates of minor colleges with names we can make fun of obviously have no place in higher office.
LOL! Eureka is a Tier I institution and ranked by US News and World Report.... see below:
Nice try.
If she can make great strikes over the next few years, perhaps she will not embarrass the conservative movement. Otherwise, she's poison other than rallying internally.
Correct, making friends requires two people, ending a friendship requires just one.
Facebook is very enlightening, and when I found out what a freak my brother-in-law is, i dumped him and his daughters.
No great loss either.
definitely. maybe what you really need to ask is what is your definition of ‘friend.’ i realized many folks in my life actually fit the definition of acquaintance. i have abandoned ‘former friends’ and ‘acquaintances’ who were hopelessly bitter and stuck in denial.
It is picking sides time, IMO.
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