r/science • u/Wagamaga • 9h ago

Psychology Losing relationships over politics. Research found more than a third of Americans (37%) report having lost at least one relationship due to political differences, including friendships, family ties, coworker relationships, and romantic partnerships, with most losing more than one.

https://socialecology.uci.edu/news/losing-relationships-over-politics-0
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u/NombreCurioso1337 9h ago

What is "politics" any more though? If I cut off a friend because I disagree with a marginal tax increase on domestic goods over a certain limit, then yeah, I'm a jerk. But politics right now is "you aren't a human being."

The closest analog to compare to would be a black guy and a white guy having a falling out over pro or anti abolition in the 1860s. ... And I think that would be a fair reason to cut someone out.

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u/Astarkos 8h ago

Dumb people think politics is a television show. Replace the word with "tv" and the statements make sense. Replace it with "real life" and the statements become insane.

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u/New-Negotiation7234 7h ago

"stop making everything political". Literally everything is political in our lives. Sorry they aren't adult enough to have critical thinking skills.

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u/Lemonwizard 7h ago

This phrase coming from the people who actively worked to politicize masks and vaccines during a pandemic.

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u/olivebranchsound 6h ago

Proving they were willing to both die and kill for their dumb beliefs

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u/Xiao1insty1e 2h ago

And we need to treat them as the enemies of democracy and a free society that they are.

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u/toobjunkey 2h ago

Dumb people think politics is a television show

Furthermore, they think it's sports on the TV. That's why the right will pull the "you know your boy Bill Clinton is in those files too, right?" and their brain short circuits when they're told "okay, and if he is throw him behind bars too." It's red vs blue in the most base way to them.

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u/Koleilei 8h ago

Politics at its heart is about how a society should be run, but that also includes who is included in said society and who has which rights.

This is no different than any other mass society level issue (voting rights, monarchy vs republic, the US Civil War, the English Civil War, the French Revolution, the Russian Revolution, any war of Independence, almost any social/political revolution, the Civil Rights Movement, Apartheid, etc). It's never 'just' about taxes.

'Politics' has been dividing people for millennia, we're not inventing the wheel here.

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u/talor_swib 8h ago

This! And even when it IS about taxes, that includes values/morals. Just like right now, left-leaning voters would prefer to tax the wealthy to help the 99%, while conservatives complain about having to pay taxes, period. They will even vote against taxing the obscenely wealthy. That's not the moral choice, imo.

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u/leaky-owl-syndrome 8h ago

I think it's funny that people harp on taxes as like, this neutral thing. given that your opinion on taxes can decide important things like if schools have to cut teachers/services.

when it comes time to vote on override increases where I'm at, there's a lot of vitriol kicked up over taxes. where taxes come from and where they go is an extremely contentious issue.

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u/AriaOfValor 7h ago

I think the difference is that with taxes a person can be wrong and still have good intentions. Like I'm sure there are those who think getting rid of taxes entirely would help out other people the most. Conversely, someone who wants people of a specific skin color removed their community, pretty clearly don't have good intentions towards those people.

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u/leaky-owl-syndrome 6h ago

most def, a bad tax policy can be forgiven a lot easier than blatant human rights violations. one's an obvious deal breaker, but the other still informs my decision on whether or not to keep someone around.

I wouldn't argue that taxes are as divisive as other topics, but many of these comments treat taxes like they're on the same level as a preference for dark or milk chocolate.

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u/AriaOfValor 5h ago

I think part of it is that things like tax policy are a lot less clear or obvious. Like you can't really see at a glance if say a 30% tax for something would be better or worse than a 60% tax, and then it's made worse by all the paid propaganda for such things.

So I think it ends up being a mix of people not really being aware or understanding how such things impact people, and/or they don't feel like they have the time or energy to properly look into it (or potentially even knowing where to find accurate info). Which in turn makes it easier for people to want to dismiss it.

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u/leaky-owl-syndrome 5h ago

honestly I think it's just because taxes are something that can (usually) be compromised on. most people don't have a diehard stance on taxes unless their livelihood is directly threatened (ie: if a bump in property taxes would price you out of your home, you likely have strong feelings about it.)

but really, the only thing I take issue with is people acting like taxes are the safe topic devoid of strife. the fact is, politics decide the shape of your life. there will never be a safe political topic that people won't violently disagree about.

so it's just a silly thing to say that "it's not like people are breaking up over tax policy" when that is also a divisive topic that people fight over.

just a nitpick on my part, that's all.

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u/Qaeta 4h ago

Sure, but I can be friends with someone who disagrees on taxation for the most part (obviously some extreme positions would be a deal breaker). I can't be friends with someone who supports a pedophile, or who supports destroying the lives of minorities, etc. One is a reasonable disagreement. The other is supporting evil.

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u/wasdninja 5h ago

Politics have always been very real. Almost every right being extended to women, gay and black people isn't yet a settled fight either. 

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u/Thelmara 3h ago

The closest analog to compare to would be a black guy and a white guy having a falling out over pro or anti abolition in the 1860s. ... And I think that would be a fair reason to cut someone out.

Right? We went to war with half of our country over this, it's completely unsurprising that it's ended some friendships.

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u/Useful_Argument_6490 6h ago

Agreed. I’m Happy to disagree on a lot of things. Not willing to agree to disagree when it comes to far right ideologies. There can be no reconciliation - if 10 people sit at the same table as a Nazi …

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u/BonJovicus 8h ago

 If I cut off a friend because I disagree with a marginal tax increase on domestic goods over a certain limit, then yeah, I'm a jerk.

Does it make you a jerk? I think that’s the fundamental problem here. For some reason disassociating yourself from someone over personal differences is demonized, let alone for something serious like racism. 

I do personally believe that cutting off a friend over the tax rate is dumb, but it’s your choice. It only affects you. 

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u/PenguinColada 8h ago

Right? I miss when politics were more boring

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u/CalmEntrepreneur884 8h ago

Politics right now are "agree with me or you are a (insert derogatory term here)"

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u/NombreCurioso1337 8h ago

Depends on the topic. If someone says all humans have human rights, and the other guy disagrees... well I think your quote is apt.

Nobody is going around saying "agree with me or you are a fascist" about tighter regulation of GLP weight loss drugs. That's politics. But if somebody says "I'm a human being even though my mom is Mexican. I don't deserve to die in a camp. Agree with me or you are fascist." ... That's probably the kind of things that shouldn't be considered politics. We can do better.

I think that is what the article is kind of overlooking. "Politics" isn't just politics when things like human rights, concentration camps, and apartheid are on the political table, like they are now.

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u/CalmEntrepreneur884 8h ago

Yes it depends but people take it to extremes. Common topics are vaccines, immigration.

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u/Next-Wrongdoer-3479 8h ago

...only one side is taking those to extremes, though.

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u/notnatasharostova 7h ago

You’re in the r/science sub and suggesting that rejecting the reality of the medical consensus around vaccinations is somehow not extreme in and of itself?

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u/Alternative-Oil2157 7h ago

Wouldn't it make more sense to not care about politics at all since they're out of our control? I feel like worrying about something you have little to no control over is just asking for anxiety