I <3 the Constitution, and was only friends with you so I could cheat off your tests. 
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- Edit 1Before modification by Joel at 14/06/2012 12:49:43 AM
Which reminds me: You still owe my folks for junior year summer school (I should have known the atomic weight of tungsten was not "carrot."
)
Strong friendships can survive strong, even fundamental, differences if one wants to or cannot resist engaging. If the differences are so great they may endanger the friendship, nonengagement may be the best course. The balance is often hard to find, and I claim no expertise.
The day of the Oslo massacre a good friend of mine in KS came on Skype to ask if I was OK, and agreed to pray for the missing and injured classmates of my father-in-laws stepdaughter. The next time I heard from him, about the time we heard the missing girl had been found dead and the injured one was undergoing a second life-saving surgery, was a FB post complaining the real crime was liberals victimizing conservatives over the massacre. Needless to say, we had words, over several weeks, then had none for several months. We ultimately resolved it and remain friends, but were reminded there are some topics on which our feelings are too strong to safely discuss.
The best advice I can give, from negative experience, is not personalizing issues. Once I started talking to dart_board outside wotmania political threads he seemed like a decent guy with whom I even share some basic values—we just strongly disagree on politics, and are not shy about voicing our opinions, sometimes hyperbolically. Knowing that facilitates keeping person and positions distinct.
The flip side is, sometimes people are more invested in issues than in relationships, usually ending the latter sooner or later. We must take people as they are, not as we wish them to be, but sometimes that means accepting, caring about and AVOIDING them. Likewise, a relationship is just that, and if one person disengages there is not much the other can do about it. Here is hoping you and your friend can patch things up and agree to disagree.
You still follow my news feeds from Alex Jones though, right?
)So, by now we've all been on facebook and other social media sites long enough to have spotted all the ... zealots(?). I have found some with psycho political beliefs (hid one, giggle at some others) and now an anti-abortion poster has popped up. What do you do when you come across these people? Does it matter how long you've know the individual? The fervor with which they post about their pet cause? The frequency? Any other thoughts?
I just went off on my best friend from high school. I'm actually quite sad about it (we were seriously close, like sisters), but I can't see that I could have done anything else.
I just went off on my best friend from high school. I'm actually quite sad about it (we were seriously close, like sisters), but I can't see that I could have done anything else.
Strong friendships can survive strong, even fundamental, differences if one wants to or cannot resist engaging. If the differences are so great they may endanger the friendship, nonengagement may be the best course. The balance is often hard to find, and I claim no expertise.
The day of the Oslo massacre a good friend of mine in KS came on Skype to ask if I was OK, and agreed to pray for the missing and injured classmates of my father-in-laws stepdaughter. The next time I heard from him, about the time we heard the missing girl had been found dead and the injured one was undergoing a second life-saving surgery, was a FB post complaining the real crime was liberals victimizing conservatives over the massacre. Needless to say, we had words, over several weeks, then had none for several months. We ultimately resolved it and remain friends, but were reminded there are some topics on which our feelings are too strong to safely discuss.
The best advice I can give, from negative experience, is not personalizing issues. Once I started talking to dart_board outside wotmania political threads he seemed like a decent guy with whom I even share some basic values—we just strongly disagree on politics, and are not shy about voicing our opinions, sometimes hyperbolically. Knowing that facilitates keeping person and positions distinct.
The flip side is, sometimes people are more invested in issues than in relationships, usually ending the latter sooner or later. We must take people as they are, not as we wish them to be, but sometimes that means accepting, caring about and AVOIDING them. Likewise, a relationship is just that, and if one person disengages there is not much the other can do about it. Here is hoping you and your friend can patch things up and agree to disagree.
You still follow my news feeds from Alex Jones though, right?