Writer's Block: Do (political) opposites attract?

[lokifan_import]

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Very interesting question. ‘Respect’ and ‘trust’ are fairly strong words; I can do both of those things irrespective of my political beliefs. I can’t admire people with certain views, at least not the way I do people without them.

I’m strongly against capital punishment, but it doesn’t colour my opinion of people if they disagree (although in Britain that’s unusual). I think they’re wrong, but I see it as people seeing the world differently, and that’s better than fine.

On abortion things are slightly different. It’s like homophobia, in that I take a certain viewpoint as a threat. I have more than one good friend who’s had an abortion; I may have one myself one day, although I hope not to. Anti-abortion views that condemn women who have abortions, like homophobia, are a threat to me and people I care about – particularly from those in more conservative countries than this one. It’s not going to stop me being friends with you. It’s not going to make me incapable of respecting or trusting you. But it definitely makes me feel a little wary on some deep level.

That said: one of my oldest friends is homophobic. He’s got much better since going to university, but it’s how he is. I’d still trust him with my life, and I still enjoy his company. No worries. But then we had time, when we were younger, to learn each other; I know him well enough to know exactly why he feels the way he does. Naturally, that makes it something I can accept without too much difficulty. It’s harder in anyone I meet now, especially since university and fandom have made me used to hanging out with awesome straight people and lots of queer ladies. I have higher standards for prejudice-lacking than I did at the Christian school I was at for A Levels.

Looking at the other answers to this, they predictably talk about respecting everyone’s right to their own opinion. I agree but don’t find it especially relevant to the question. I certainly think everyone’s right to their opinion should be respected; I don’t think all opinions are worthy of respect. Some opinions are stupid, prejudiced, bad, or all three. The people who hold them may not be, and obviously sometimes people are simply misguided.

But still: everyone has the right to their own opinion. They also have the right to hold you accountable for that opinion, and to think of you differently because of it.

Comments

[woldy]

I think polls show that more than half of people in the UK would support capital punishment, but I suspect those people largely aren't middle class.

[lokifan]

*nodnod* I had heard that, actually - but yes, plus I'm pretty sure the polls were from a while ago. At my first secondary school I can remember everybody being anti-Saddam's execution, and it was far from middle-class - on the other hand, naturally it was full of The Youf.

[woldy]

I wouldn't be at all surprised if there were generational differences. It also depends on the case, I think, so people are often supportive of the death penalty for nasty murders, but maybe recognize that killing foreign political leaders is a bit too much victor's history :-/.

[lokifan]

*nodnod* There tends to be a lot of 'kill the paedos!' about. And actually, my guess is a lot of middle-class people support the death penalty - Daily Mail-reader-types.

I wonder if support of the death penalty often translates into really wanting it back, though - as opposed to sort of thinking we should be tougher on crime. Particularly since it's not a live political debate here, really - Parliament will never bring it back.

[woldy]

I've wondered about that too. Often I think there's a vicious 'well they deserve it' mentality but people sometimes also realise that the justice system isn't perfect & that you don't want to execute innocent people, which could easily have happened in cases like the Birmingham Six.

[lokifan]

Yeah, exactly. Besides, it's been so long since we had capital punishment that I think it's seen as a bit of a dinosaur even by people who support it. I mean, maybe it's anachronistic in a positive way to them - the world's never short of people who believe in a bygone golden age - but it's been over forty years, even aside from the fact that I think no Parliament would bring it back. Partly because there's not enough of a movement for it, partly because it's contrary to our international image/desired image, and partly just because I think no MP would risk knowing someone might die unfairly because of their vote.

[nuclearsugars.livejournal.com]

My one "take no excuses" issue for me is gay marriage. After dealing with the fall-out from Prop 8 in CA in 2008 and how hard I worked to fight against it, I cannot physically deal with people who do not believe I deserve equal rights. I have defriended people on facebook who had pro-prop 8 stances on their profiles and such.

[lokifan]

That's completely understandable. I'm not sure if I could deal with a friend who thought gay marriage here should be revoked - I've wondered if I'd be able to handle the homophobic friend I mentioned, who used to basically treat it as "you might turn out okay", if I got into a serious relationship with a woman. (Thankfully, he's much better now.)

[flake-sake.livejournal.com]

Mostly I don't have too big problems with accepting that people have opinions that differ from mine, that starts to differ when they are going into extremes.

And sometimes it's just weird. I recently found myself having a discussion about prostitution that really got me riled up.

[lokifan]

Same.

It's funny what can expectedly push your buttons, isn't it?

[kubrick-potter.livejournal.com]

Im not middle class at all. I actually come from a Northern working class family, my family (including my dad) have all been miners. With that, I am definitely against capital punishment and (obviously) the least homophobic person ever. lol. The most 'homophobic' people I know are middle-class who, like you said, are Daily Mail readers.

I completely agree with what you say though, I still respect people for their opinions. When I don't agree with them I never have sudden disrespect for them. I have friends who are homophobic and so on.

[lokifan]

Ah, Northern miners! My parents are classic middle-class liberals: book-club members, Lib-Dem voters (once Labour members), living close to London and drinking lots of wine. We don't have huge amounts of money - they're an academic and a PA respectively - but we're indelibly middle-class.

*nodnod* It's interesting, because I often get the impression from Americans that liberality is associated over there with middle-class elitism. But 'middle-class elitism' is definitely not something I associate with being liberal over here.

I still respect people for their opinions. When I don't agree with them I never have sudden disrespect for them

Yep, totally.