General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Can you be friends with someone who holds political views opposed to yours? [View all]LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)About a third of my friends are conservatives, and about one quarter of my close friends are. Though 20 years ago we would argue simply for the sake of arguing, these days we simply don't talk about politics-- not to avoid offense, but to allow more time to talk about those things we have in common.
Being that I'm not close to being wise enough to emphatically state that it's an absolute good or an absolute bad, or that an acceptance or denial of a friendship predicated on political views alone is narrow- or broad-minded, I can only realize that they are indeed, my friends and have demonstrated that to me time and time again. And being that none of them are racist, sexist or homophobic ("that's a plank of my party platform I'm uncomfortable with" or "despite those planks, I think the major issues are..." as they might say), I'm pretty comfortable with who they are as they are with me.
But I wouldn't consider anyone small-minded for actively avoiding racists, sexists, or homophobes-- which seems to be a major fault line between the parties in the here and now, as opposed to when my friends and I became politically aware.