An interesting and telling parallel. On one side, we have a person wearing a hat in support of "Making America Great Again" and a banner in support of the president of our country, neither of which have ever been awful, friendship-preventing acts in the past ("oh, that guy supports this president... No WAY am I going to talk to HIM!"),. while on the other side we have some one engaged in criminal activity, violence, and vandalism, and yet those two sides are somehow seen as equally undeserving of friendship. Bizarre world. I can see not being interested in befriending an arsonist, but I see no reason to avoid friendships with those who don't share my political views as long as there's mutual respect and kindness shown.
As I've said elsewhere, I am a professional musician and I've taught at several universities. The VAST majority of my close friends are outspoken liberals. I love my friends, some of whom I've had for decades... Two of them, in particular, are like the brothers I never had. The thing is, in virtually every social setting I'm in, since the "crowd" I move in is fairly homogeneous politically, vehement president-bashing and NY governor-worship eventually surfaces. The strongest most vocal people doing so are, without exception, the same people who spend increasing amounts of time on Facebook at al. I know my friends well enough to know that for a fact. My closest friends know I'm conservative and we've had wonderful discussions, but if I spoke up and attempted to offer rationale and facts to support my views or counterpoint to the bashing and misplaced (in my opinion, of course) support when it occurs in those larger gatherings,those who have not been my lifelong friends would now simply "delete" me. That's not conjecture, that's fact. I've already lost two fairly steady, nice-paying enjoyable theater gigs I've been doing for decades because the contractor found out, through the grapevine and not from me,that I'm a conservative. I don't even talk about it in places where folks would be upset by it.
Another fun real story...I was the music director for another professional production recently and one of the actors had an opening monologue regarding the music and history of the 40s and WWII. In rehearsal he flubbed a line and ad libbed a pointed repudiation of Trump, then asked if he could keep that in the show. The director, a friend/acquaintance of mine whom I've worked with many times over the years, walked up to the stage and whispered something to the actor (whom I've also worked with several times over the years). A look of shock fell over the actor's face.
After rehearsal, pretty sure of what had transpired, I approached the actor and inquired as to what the director had said. The actor confirmed that the director had whispered that I was conservative,and the actor apologized for his comment. I told him he had nothing to apologize for..I don't hold anyone's good-hearted opinions against them. I'd like to think that same courtesy would be extended to me. Frequently, it no longer is... Because people become accustomed to controlling who are permitted to interact with them. As another poster has said, Facebook gives you a pool of 20 million people (or whatever the real number is) to pick from and surround yourself with your precise "friend" requirements. Real life provides you with far fewer people for personal contact, so empathy, compromise, taking-the-bad-with-the-good, seeing immediate human reaction to your actions and words..all of that...is needed and cherished. Whether one realizes it or not, time spent on Facebook changes you. One of my two "brothers" is now pretty much a Facebook addict, while the other one rarely uses it. It hasn't been a positive change in the one.
