Is This Happening To You?

[tazkcmo]

In my circle of friends and acquaintances, I'm the designated politically knowledgeable one and the go to person when they have questions or comments. It didn't happen often. Interest only peaked at election time and consisted of "Who should I vote for?". Since the election, I've been asked more questions from them about how to begin to get educated, informed and in a few cases, active. Our conversations are more often than not in a political nature now. The other day my sister who never votes and avoids all political talk of any kind, asked me if I liked Trump.

I assume most of us on DU are the designated political source in our little circles of friends so, have you all seen an increase of awareness among friends?

[unblock]

1. not really.

the people i know who always vote republican were perfectly fine voting for donnie. most of them expressed disappointment with the bigotry, but it's all about taxes with them, so republican it is.

there's definitely an upsurge in outrage on the democratic side.

but i've not heard anything from the relatively few apolitical friends i have.


seems you'd hardly know anything out of the ordinary happened in November.

[guillaumeb]

4. Agreed. There is no general outrage at this point.

DU is definitely not representative of the population as a whole.

[tazkcmo]

10. Thanks for adding.

To be clear though, not really outrage although I am seeing a bit of that after the ban and botched raid. Just more aware, I guess. Anyway, thanks again.

on edit: And I agree, DUers are a cut above in this area!

[tazkcmo]

6. I don't have GOPee friends

Nor do I care to convince them of anything so, yeah, screw them. They'll come around or won't.

I am interested in your experience with Dem friends. We have opposite experiences. My friends are nervous and to quote others on here, "This isn't funny anymore.".


Thank you for responding.

[logosoco]

2. I don't have much of a circle of real life friends

and I am content with that! But I will say my two daughters (ages 22 and 27) and I have animated conversations about politics way more than ever. And that was pretty often! We raised them in a household where anything goes in conversation and to always keep an eye on what is happening in the political arena.
My tRump friends on FB are agreeing with the things I am posting and that's nice but surprising.

[tazkcmo]

7. Cool!

Encouraging to see the next movers and shakers getting involved!

GOPee-ers will have to have their alternate reality "massacred" by reality before they turn and even though will do it secretly.

[teezy]

3. Definitely.

I work on a ship and when the crew is on their break and they have the TV on, it's almost always on the news and they are almost entirely cracking jokes and laughing about this madness.

Even people who I considered to be relatively conservative are shaking their heads and throwing their arms in the air.

Among my friends, my FB has actually been quiet... and that's AFTER I deleted all the Trump goons. But I notice a lot of people who have not traditionally been political, voicing their opinions and sharing political memes. It really flared up with the Muslim ban, though.

[tazkcmo]

8. Me too.

Very encouraging.

[woodsprite]

5. Yup! Coffee hour at church yesterday was interesting. n/t

[tazkcmo]

9. Teaser!

C'mon! Give us the skinny!

[woodsprite]

15. I told my daughter I love it. We were waiting for service to start

and you could hear quite a bit of the congregation surrounding us talking in their own little groups about Trump and his latest antics, the Women's March, when the next such event would be, etc. And right after service, all the conversations started back up again at coffee hour. Several people thanked me for getting them bus tickets to the march, posting the latest info from reputable sources (although I told them I was afraid I might be inundating them with political posts). They said "No", keep 'em coming. You're telling us about stuff we never would have heard about without your updates.

Made me smile to be around so many like-minded people. Hope it stays that way. We're going through a new pastor search since our current one is retiring I think we have a rather progressive, liberal group of representatives on the nominating committee, so I guess we'll see.

[crazycatlady]

11. Yes

In my own personal circle, a longtime friend (since we were teenagers) went to the Women's March with me4 -- registered GOP and from a 4 generation NYPD family . Another friend who doesn't care about politics called Senator Booker's office to voice her opposition to Betsy DeVos (she's a special ed teacher). My cousin is now sending me text messages ranting politically. Another cousin, who turns 17 this month, told me last night that she wishes she was jealous of me for marching (little does she know that next year her birthday present will be a voter registration form).

[tazkcmo]

12. Encouraging.

I hope we've reached a turning point and happy birthday to your cousin!

[crazycatlady]

13. I just wish she was turning 18

She seems ripe for political awakening

[Tree-Hugger]

14. Yes

I am very vocal offline as well as online and a lot of friends have come to me for discussion, debate, advice, or as a safe place.

I have a good number of friends who used to be fairly quiet become so vocal about politics and taking action. It gives me hope. I do have a few conservative friends. Most are dead quiet about Trump. It's interesting. I have one who has doubled down on her Trump love, but I think even she is getting weary. lol

Interestingly, some libertarian-leaning friends have been posting lots of liberal stuff lately.

[panader0]

16. I have many semi-retired construction buddies.

I have always been the most liberal and most politically aware of my friends.
I do my best, but some of them are just willfully ignorant. Some cannot vote
due to arrest records, some don't bother. I always let the non voters know that
they are not allowed to complain about politics. I think I have had a positive
effect on them, but even the ignorant will remain friends.

[lunatica]

17. As hard as it is to remember it's only been a little over two weeks

Almost nobody is paying attention now, usually. The daily marches and demonstrations are beginning to get some interest because they're so widely spread around the globe.

But as soon as they realize they might lose something they need, and it's not just others who will suffer their attention will snap to what's going on.

The real threat of losing their SSN might be the catalyst needed.

But these aren't normal times for Americans. There's a lot of anecdotal stuff going on right now that smacks of unintended consequences.