Comment by Spivak
7 days ago
> transphobic but support abortion so they have always voted Democrat
This is the NYT if you want a high-profile example of this existing in the real world.
I worked with a guy who was a goldmine of odd but sincerely held political opinions that subverted the usual narratives. He was (I guess still is) gay but believed that trans people shouldn't serve in the military because he saw that they didn't get the treatment they needed. He wanted everyone to have guns as a protection against crooked cops-- he was from a small town. He was against single-payer healthcare because he thought the government would use it as a political weapon. He was was in theory anti-union because he thought union benefits should just be turned into labor protections for everyone instead of just being for union jobs and supported them only as a stopgap. He was pro-solar/wind and had an electric car not for any environmental reason but because he didn't want to be reliant on the greedy power company.
To me that just sounds like someone who arrives at his political views by thinking rather than blindly adopting whatever his peers believe. It's only odd because it's (sadly) rare these days.
Yea, holy hell... someone with _nuance_ in their views? Blasphemy!
I will admit that this is not only accurate, but also a sad commentary on the current state of things. I know I am now actively avoiding any political discussions ( I mean, realistically, I should have before, but I do hold some opinions I wish to inflict upon others ) for very pragmatic reasons. We are semi-officially in soviet state regime, where your speech can mean your family is excluded from society. It didn't start with Trump or even with Covid, but it is absolutely enraging to see this become not only a default, but encouraged aspect of this society.
Realpolitiks...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Realpolitik
> He was was in theory anti-union because he thought union benefits should just be turned into labor protections for everyone
Uh, hmm. So weaker unions result in labor protections for everyone? I gotta say, doesn't seem like that's really how the U.S. is playing out. If weekends off and an 8-hour workday didn't exist they certainly wouldn't be argued for now.
US has very strong unions, you don't have anything close to SAG-AFTRA in Europe since such strong unions are illegal. European unions are just big, but their are reigned in by laws much more.
So yeah I think weakening the protections unions from workers in USA enjoys would lead to more people joining them, since there is less risk in doing so. Most people don't wanna work in an industry dominated by something like the screen actors guild.
i mean, his views don't sound too odd. he sounds like a communist who's got a dim view of reform or socialism as a means to communism.