How many of you have lost friends over the . . .

[daligirl519]

Trayvon Martin tragedy or any of the recent right-wing craziness? I can count 4. . .

[ZombieHorde]

1. I haven't lost any friends over this. nt

[Cali_Democrat]

2. Staunch Zimmerman defenders are essentially racists IMO

Nobody should be friends with racists. It's best to part ways.

[Fumesucker]

3. You had friends left after the Dubya years?

I lost all *those* kinds of friends quite a few years ago..

[daligirl519]

14. I try not to always have to identify myself

as a black woman. . My social group is mostly white. There are people who seemed to be really cool and are now coming out as who they really are. I really did not see it coming. I like to think of myself as pretty savvy about choosing friends. One of the people who completely surprised me was a friend of about 18 years. He is enraged about the Trayvon Martin thing. . . on Zimmerman's side. He is also a devout Catholic. . . you see what I mean? Weirdness on all sides for me.

[Fumesucker]

15. Heh, I'm prime teabagger demographic, white male on the cusp of elderly..

And I live in the deep south..

I get to hear all the stupidity and hate because everyone who looks like me thinks I'm aligned politically with them, they couldn't be more wrong.

Then I come on DU and get lambasted for being too far to the left here too, I'm to the point now where I don't fit in anywhere at all.

[WiffenPoof]

19. Your Short Little Post...

...is actually quite profound. At least it is to me. I could write volumes on the implications of your post. This is especially true when it comes to your last paragraph.

I too feel like I don't fit in anymore. The shift to the right is not only by the Right but they have drug the Left with them This is never more apparent than when I visit DU. What used to be considered "just a Democrat" now passes as being some left wing nut case. I have been a Dem all my life. Nothing radical...nothing on the fringe. Yet, if you were to go by what is often posted here, you would think I was a Communist. All I can do is just shake my head. It is sad because I no longer feel that I have a "home" where I can express my beliefs without being accused of radicalism. There are countless examples...but you know what? For whatever reason, it just doesn't seem like it is worth the effort anymore.

-P

[got root]

22. agreed

DU used to be a safe place for me, but not so much anymore... I find myself in disagreements like i used to on the more generic boards and newspapers.

damn shame.

[daligirl519]

20. I am from Nashville, TN

Living in northern Indiana. . . I cannot tell you how much worse it is up here than in the South. I get a lot of grief about how much I love the South and want to move back. . . but I feel that I know how to deal with the racists in that part of the country. Up here, it is way more hard to tell.

[Broken_Hero]

4. Zero, nt

[freshwest]

5. About 6. Some people on another board began talking all the smear points. I'd been talking to these

People since the Selection of Bush. These were all anti-GOP people, too. Anti-teabagger, too.

No matter what facts I posted to say different, they just kept on putting out the same stuff. It was vile. I'll never talk to them again now that I know their hearts.

I have a teabagger relative and I won't call, because I know what I'm going to hear and I won't listen now. I won't. This is really cutting down my circle. So be it.

[WiffenPoof]

21. Here is an interesting point...

...to add to your post.

There used to be a time when it seemed worthwhile to argue your points and try and convince those on the "other side." As I get older and the country continues to move to the Right, I find it less satisfying and I begin to ask myself if it is still worth the effort. I find that there are many more times when I simply shrug my shoulders and walk off with a heavy sigh. (*sigh*)

[daligirl519]

23. I hear ya . . .

I think that is how I got through the last 10 years with certain people in my life. I feel like I no longer have the energy to try to salvage relationships with people who seem morally challeneged.

[freshwest]

28. I had been cutting off a number of people in the last ten years, even more in the last five. Problem

For me is my age. I'm not out and about as I once was, don't have a crowd of people around. So now I've reduced down to a handful, but they are quality. But we don't get together much because of distance and family obligations.

So here I am at times here, and gosh knows it's kinda funky here some days too. It was just, like the OP, that this was a sudden break up. I didn't see it coming. As usual, it appears that I didn't know some people as well as I thought I did. All things come to a crucible, when we decide who we are. I've come to that more and more, although I always knew who I was, I must have missed a few things. What others want to be is their own business, and I'm better off without them.

[cherokeeprogressive]

6. Me Me Me Me Me! Oh wait...

I have real friends... not the kind to bail on for an opinion, and I know not one of them would bail on me for mine. I wouldn't trade them for anything... ESPECIALLY "right-wing craziness".

But then that's the benefit of having a social circle that's been pretty much intact going all the way back to elementary school.

[X_Digger]

7. None. I don't hang out with racists (Martin) or gender bigots (recent RW craziness.) n/t

[tularetom]

8. I have lost zero friends over it because I got rid of all those kinds of friends years ago

Now the problem is with relatives. If you have a way I can get rid of a couple of nephews and a son in law, let me know.

[sabrina 1]

9. None, nearly everyone I know thinks it's outrageous that Zimmerman was not

arrested. And they are not all Democrats either. Just people who believe that you can't go around killing people with no consequences. Or, more correctly, that you shouldn't be able to do so.

[Demonaut]

10. just and FB "friend"

got sick of his ignorant posts

[OccupyTheIRS]

13. I always love listening to ignorance, makes me laugh

I can't be surrounded by too many idiots lol

[treestar]

11. No, I simply continue to debate them

Or ignore them as I did before. Their position on this would be known before it hit the news. Maybe mine would too. But Republicans and other wing nuts have no doubts in their minds, as usual.

[OccupyTheIRS]

12. I don't make friends with those types of people.

[guitar man]

16. I was pleasantly surprised

To find that all my right wing friends (hey, I live in Oklahoma so it's hard to avoid) have come out on the right side of the Trayvon case, some very adamantly. They all want Zimmerman hung up by his heels

[emilyg]

17. Nope.

[veganlush]

18. Zimmerman is NOT the problem

it worries me how many people seem to think that Zimmerman is the problem here, and that by dealing with him the problem will be solved. Zimmerman is a just a symptom, idiot wannabees like him have always/will always be there. The problem is that the laws that used to keep people like him (basically cowards) in check, or failing that, hold people like him accountable, are being erased and replaced by ALEC. ALEC is the real enemy. We should be pushing with Color of Change for the boycott of ALEC's corporate sponsors.

[daligirl519]

25. I agree with you. . .

I was just talking about these things on a personal level for me.

[Mariana]

24. My dad and his sister aren't speaking over it.

Don't know how long that will last. My parents are the racists, my aunt is not.

[Old Codger]

26. In Fact

I ended up unfriending my oldest boy when I went to his face book page and saw where he and some others said that Martin got what he deserved... sickening racially biased BS...

[Kaleva]

27. None. The topic hasn't come up in conversation.

[hfojvt]

29. "'Friend' croaked the roboto pathetically."

"The word died away in a kind of dry crackle and flakes of rust fell out of his mouth. 'You'll have to excuse me while I try and remember what the word means. My memory banks are not what they were, you know, and any word which falls into disuse for a few zillion years has to get shifted down into auxiliary memory backup. Ah, here it comes.'

The robot's battered head snapped up a bit as if in thought.

'Hmm,' he said, 'what a curious concept.'

He thought a little longer.

'No,' he said at last, 'don't think I ever came across one of those. Sorry, can't help you there.'"

"So Long and Thanks for all the Fish" pp 607-8

[daligirl519]

30. LOL. . .I'm a fan as well. n/t