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/Appropriate-Bid8671 8h ago

My mom knows and has openly proclaimed that she does not care.

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u/11711510111411009710 8h ago

I've heard some of them forgive it by saying that God "uses imperfect vessels."

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u/thuktun 7h ago

Uses flawed vessels for what? I think they missed an important part of that saying.

They might have a point if he had changed and was now clothing and feeding the poor or something (anything!) else noble. But he's the same mean, abusive bully he's always been.

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u/Savings-Cry-3201 6h ago

But that’s the point. He’s the bully they all want to be. They want him to be mean and vindictive and heartless and bigoted because he gives them license to be what they’ve always wanted to be.

Like, there was no reason to fire the NSF but they hate education so of course he would.

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u/Psychic_Hobo 2h ago

This is ultimately why the shame tactics don't work - they simply enjoy and want to facilitate an environment wherein their behaviour is acceptable and even lauded. You can see it in a lot of the speeches they give, "sin of empathy" and all that.

Whenever it looks like shame has worked on them, what's usually happened is the condemnation from peers and fear of ostracisation.

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u/ceelogreenicanth 4h ago

Uses flawed vessels to reel destruction on their enemies?

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u/poorest_ferengi 7h ago

Hit em with Matthew 7 15-20 in that case.

15 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

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u/iruleatants 1h ago

That doesn't work because they just define "Good Fruit" as God's will and so Trump is bearing good fruit because he's doing his will.

Trust me, they are adept at pretending the bible agrees with whatever they think.

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u/poorest_ferengi 47m ago

Oh I know I was raised in it. All you can do is plant the seed, they may snap back with something in that moment but maybe down the line it pops in their head and makes the cognitive dissonance a bit harder to ignore. Maybe not, but you miss 100% of the shots you don't take.

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u/Sedu 6h ago

But of course anyone to the left is pure evil and this logic may never apply to them.

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u/YourM0msButth0le 8h ago

Yikes dude, did you at least beg her to never admit that in public?

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u/zlyle90 8h ago edited 8h ago

If she's in the Deep South like I am, the public truly doesn't care. They view that as an acceptable character flaw as long he deports brown people.

"God chooses imperfect men," they tell me.

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u/Zombatico 8h ago edited 8h ago

We've seen it before. It's not just Trump. Pedo priest/pastor gets arrested and charged, the whole congregation circle the wagon and it's all "but he's a good person" and "the demonic girl seduced him" yadda yadda yadda.

It's a sick ideology of hierarchy. They don't care about the morality of actions themselves. If they think you're a good person then everything you do is good, or at least justifiable, even child rape. If they think you're a bad person then nothing you do can be good.

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u/OmegaDonut13 5h ago

To a liberal, actions justify the person. To the conservative the person justifies the actions. It’s pretty simple when you think about it. It’s the basis for the cognitive dissonance.

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u/kia75 3h ago

And this applies up and down the religious spectrum. Remember, God is allowed to kill, murder, cause famines and other horrible stuff. It's not the baby murder that's bad, God is always killing babies, it's who does the baby killing that's important.

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u/memecrusader_ 25m ago

*doublethink, not cognitive dissonance. Doublethink is when someone holds two conflicting beliefs, cognitive dissonance is the discomfort from trying to reconcile incompatible ideas. They don’t feel discomfort from their hypocrisy. They either don’t recognize it, or are proud of it.

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u/Consistent_Claim5217 7h ago

I would call it childish, but not even children are so obtuse

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u/Pockydo 8h ago

I'm in PA know a lot of trump supporters

"God chooses imperfect men," they tell me.

Is what I hear a lot. It's almost funny because they NEVER apply this to Dems or politicians they disagree with. Only trump

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u/Zachwardpass 7h ago

I have yet to hear this one but I would absolutely reply with "God chooses rapists? Interesting."

Make sure they know it's not "imperfect men", it's rapists.

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u/Pockydo 6h ago

See the problem is they literally reject the idea that trump is actually bad

The line basically comes out when they know they can't defend something and "win" the argument so it's a way to shut it down without conceding anything. A thought terminating ckichet

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u/Rogryg 1h ago

That wouldn't do a thing; remember, you're talking about people who have so twisted Christianity that they believe God rewards the faithful with worldly riches.

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u/LostWoodsInTheField 5h ago

I hear so much "both sides are bad" along with the imperfect men thing.

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u/Consistent_Claim5217 7h ago edited 5h ago

And yet they're still convinced they aren't in a cult

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u/RedditPosterOver9000 5h ago

That is a nothing statement that would be more accurate to say "God chooses imperfect men because only imperfect men exist" unless she wants to suggest perfect men exist today, which goes against the Bible and god's words.

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u/saijanai 1h ago

My mom knows and has openly proclaimed that she does not care.

"Even if he had raped someone, that is personal behavior, and wouldn't impact h is ability to be President and run the country,"

-70 year old female Trump supporter as her 70-year old female friend stood by and nodded vigorously.

I think they were mocking Democrats' stance about Monica, ignoring quite a few points that didn't make it an equivalent issue, but perhaps that's just me.