Do you have racist/sexist/homophobic/reactionary friends?

[Leftsolidarity]

None of my close friends are and we have actually gotten into physical fights with people who are but I have found that some of my "school friends" are (sometimes rather extremely). I find it pretty weird that some of those people befriend me even though I am very openly communist (most kids at school don't know me by my name but by "that commie"). I was wondering if anyone else has friends who are like that and how they deal with it.

I usually give them shit, seriously discuss with them, and will jump in if I see them pull any bullshit.

[Property Is Robbery]

I have friends that say sexist and racist things as "jokes". I have no homophobic friends although almost all my friends use the words gay and faggot non stop.

[TheGodlessUtopian]

Eh,depends on your definition of racist,homophobic,sexist and so forth.It can be difficult to discern their warped sense of humor from their actual beliefs.

I think my friends are decent,though I have no doubt that at least a few of them have to be sexist since they don't quite know what equality is.

[Rafiq]

My friends don't have an interest in politics and philosophy at all so no. Jokes are cracked once and a while, but not so much since I poke fun at them for saying sexist remarks like "what a whore" by lashing back and saying like "take your morals to church, why do you care" kind of stuff...

[Weezer]

I don't think anyone of them are genuinely racist or sexist, though they crack a lot of jokes involving the n-word and the kitchen:rolleyes:. Some are homophobic but I can't really do anything about it.

They're just teenagers and I'm only one educated teenager in a crowd of a few thousand. I get into arguments sometimes but I usually just tolerate their humor and views and pretend like I don't care.

[o well this is ok I guess]

I think my friends do it to be ironic.

[A Revolutionary Tool]

Not really that much but one time I had to fight a kid because he said some seriously homophobic shit. He was one of those kids you just hang out with at lunch because they're friends with your friends you know? It was me, him, and another friend waiting where we hung out at lunch waiting for everybody else to get there and he says something is "gay"(Which made me go :glare: but whatever, so many people use it without homophobic intentions that I let it slide) but my other friend says "Man how are you going to say that when there's a gay dude right there". I hadn't noticed him but there was a friend of mine who was gay walking towards the cafeteria right behind this guy which already made me a little angry because he would be upset if he heard it and he gets bullied all the time. So I tell him not to say that anymore, that it's offensive and shit. Instead of just being quite after that he turns to this guy and says very loudly "What? It's not my fault this faggot likes dick in the butt". And I look at my gay friend and he just looks at me like he was going to cry which enraged me so I whooped the shit out of this guy. The suspension was totally worth it and I was the hero of my Gay-Straight alliance club.

[Apoi_Viitor]

Most of my friends are sexist, racist, homophobic assholes.

[Le Socialiste]

Not really, no. Although I'm sure a few would fall in the "reactionary" category. If we're talking about family though, I've got a whole tree full of such personalities. :glare:

[The Douche]

What is a friend?

[Broletariat]

What is a friend?

A miserable pile of secrets

[Dzerzhinsky's Ghost]

The majority of my friends are the "old school macho," type which means sexist jokes are said all the time. Not true racism just kind of observations of displeasure and general jokes. Homophobic, yeah, homosexuality oddly enough is never spoken of, idk why but in my group of friends it's the unspeakable taboo. I think it's hilarious so I like to push the "male closeness," alot. I have no interest in changing any of them though, all in all their left leaning but have no interest in politics and set in their ways and it's mainly jokes not set in stone reactionary politics/views.

[praxis1966]

I used to have friends that had these sorts of bigotry issues. See, the key operative in that sentence is "used to."

[Iron Felix]

Anyone who is racist, sexist, homophobic or reactionary is not my friend. In Moscow, I've had some RASH friends and we would search for neo-nazis and beat the fuck out of them because they deserve it. This is also why I was stabbed 4 times and almost bled to death so I guess that wasn't such a terrific idea.

[Leftsolidarity]

Anyone who is racist, sexist, homophobic or reactionary is not my friend. In Moscow, I've had some RASH friends and we would search for neo-nazis and beat the fuck out of them because they deserve it. This is also why I was stabbed 4 times and almost bled to death so I guess that wasn't such a terrific idea.

First, that's fucking awesome. Second, maybe "friend" is the wrong word but more like people you interact with regularly that you are on a semi-friendly basis with.

[Tablo]

I used to have a friend that was homophobic and racist. We aren't friends anymore at all, he's an asshole, and I think he's in prison or something.. don't really keep up with him. Most my friends are gay/bi or members of ethnic minorities so racism and homophobia is almost non-existent amongst us, but one of my friends is a bit racist(she says racist things about black people, though her ex-gf was black).. I also have a friend that is a hardcore conservative, but she is also one of the chairs in Spectrum(GBLTQ + Allies group).

[Smyg]

Surprisingly enough :rolleyes:, pretty much everybody I know here in Sweden (outside of the political circuit) are at least slightly xenophobic and racist. Quite a bit sexist too, but less so. Homophobic to a very small extent. Reactionary most likely, but none of them are very political at all.

[Nox]

Gay-Straight alliance club.

Bloody hell, American schools really have got a club for everything.

I have one semi-friend who is a National Socialist, and I have one semi-friend who is a full-blown, holocaust-denying, jew-hating, black-enslaving racist. I also have a super neo-conservative friend who's also very anti-Muslims.

I try not to mix politics and friendship, it's not always a good idea. I think only one person knows about my beliefs, and he never really talks about it.

[Luc]

Bloody hell, American schools really have got a club for everything.

I have one semi-friend who is a National Socialist, and I have one semi-friend who is a full-blown, holocaust-denying, jew-hating, black-enslaving racist. I also have a super neo-conservative friend who's also very anti-Muslims.

I try not to mix politics and friendship, it's not always a good idea. I think only one person knows about my beliefs, and he never really talks about it.

Here (Ontario) we had a gay-straight pride dance (and we have the club, exact name to :lol:)

Op, Homophobes and unconscious sexists but I just recently turned to the Left and so I have no storyies of confrontations yet.

[Agent Equality]

at my high school i used to hang out with this rascist, homophobic, reactionary, just douchebag group of kids who i guess could be considered "the cool kids" although there was absolutely nothing desireable about them at all. They make fun of pretty much EVERYONE they know (which is the real reason most of their friends don't hang out with them anymore) and I was no exception.

I constantly got called jew and jewbagel (which bothered me because i am not jewish, not even ethnically, they only called me that because i had long curly hair?) and would always make anti semitic jokes about me like "im gonna burn you in an oven" and "look at me im hitler are you scared?", etc. etc.

I was too much of a pussy to do anything about it, even if it is completely and utterly wrong. I had contemplated telling the counselors and principle about their comments but i never did. I certainly will though if it continues, maybe even some ass kicking as well :laugh:

But ever since the beginning of last year i stopped hanging out with them and my life improved like DRAMATICALLY. I no longer felt like shit at the end of the day. But these kids are actually pretty upper class and have a big house and nice cars and everything. Point-in-case: When the revolution comes, I think I'm going to be stopping by their house for a visit with a few of my fellow revolutionaries, preferably jewish ones, so they can tell my friends all of the funny jokes they had to say.;)

[Dogs On Acid]

I've got too many for comfort.

[Lobotomy]

I don't think I could ever associate with people who are outright bigoted, but I do have some friends who say things that are a little insensitive or ignorant. I try to combat it by setting a good example.

[A Revolutionary Tool]

I constantly got called jew and jewbagel
:laugh:
WTF is this? I know I'm not supposed to be laughing at antisemitism but I can't stop laughing for some reason, I've never heard this one before. What the hell is a jewbagel? Because all I could think of is somebody is someone has to eat the bagel, which is bad.

[A Revolutionary Tool]

Bloody hell, American schools really have got a club for everything.

I have one semi-friend who is a National Socialist, and I have one semi-friend who is a full-blown, holocaust-denying, jew-hating, black-enslaving racist. I also have a super neo-conservative friend who's also very anti-Muslims.

I try not to mix politics and friendship, it's not always a good idea. I think only one person knows about my beliefs, and he never really talks about it.
WTF?! I try not to get friends and politics mixed either but the line has to be drawn somewhere right? Nazis are pretty far behind that line for me at least. We had a new kid try to hang out with us one time but we told him he couldn't kick it with us when he started talking about supporting the immigration law passed in Arizona and when we found out he had a Confederate Flag tattoo. That's just baffling, I couldn't imagine hanging around with Nazis.

[Dogs On Acid]

:laugh:
WTF is this? I know I'm not supposed to be laughing at antisemitism but I can't stop laughing for some reason, I've never heard this one before. What the hell is a jewbagel? Because all I could think of is somebody is someone has to eat the bagel, which is bad.

In Portugal we have cakes called Jesuits, talk about taking the piss :laugh:

[Leftsolidarity]

Bloody hell, American schools really have got a club for everything.

I have one semi-friend who is a National Socialist, and I have one semi-friend who is a full-blown, holocaust-denying, jew-hating, black-enslaving racist. I also have a super neo-conservative friend who's also very anti-Muslims.

I try not to mix politics and friendship, it's not always a good idea. I think only one person knows about my beliefs, and he never really talks about it.

I have one "friend" like that too. I actually just hung out with him today (first and probably one time).

His whole family is VERY German and very proud. I came in and his dad said in the thickest German accent ever "Is dis dat Commie kid from school?" and then preceded to talk about how terrible communism and equality is and blah blah blah. He even talked about how it makes people prostitute themselves out for old shirts...:confused:

They are pretty racist, xenophobic, fascist (I don't throw that term around lightly), sexist, and even though I didn't catch any straight up homophobic remarks it would be safe to assume they are. They are also very proud of all that.

[a rebel]

yeah some of my friends are pretty racist. Also my girlfriend is pretty racist, she told me she is related to Alexander Stephens, the vice president of the Confederacy. When Jefferson Davis was arguing as to why the needed slavery most of his reasons were economic. While Alexander Stephens would say shit like how they couldn't live with us whites even if they were free.

[Arilou Lalee'lay]

Most of my friends are sexist, racist, homophobic assholes.

That. Not so much racist, but pretty homophobic. I still love them, and can't wait until they mature a little one of these years. Most of the people I know with kosher politics have personalities that piss me off or don't share any of my interests.

[RHIZOMES]

I stopped having genuinely reactionary friends once I left high school. It was truly a beautiful day.

It's much easier to associate yourself with people who aren't assholes when you are not in high school. Every depressed high school leftist should keep that in mind.

[No_Leaders]

Well most of my friends are all pretty left leaning in their views. They might crack racist/sexist jokes as a joke but in terms of their beliefs aren't racist in the slightest. Some are just apolitical, but most are left leaning. I have maybe 2 friends who are more conservative, and we just avoid talking politics.

[The Intransigent Faction]

WTF?! I try not to get friends and politics mixed either but the line has to be drawn somewhere right? Nazis are pretty far behind that line for me at least. We had a new kid try to hang out with us one time but we told him he couldn't kick it with us when he started talking about supporting the immigration law passed in Arizona and when we found out he had a Confederate Flag tattoo. That's just baffling, I couldn't imagine hanging around with Nazis.

I have an acquaintance (not really a close friend but we talk fairly often on campus) who's an admirer of Mussolini. It was interesting seeing how my discussions (or arguments) with him changed the more I moved away from Leninism to a more "libertarian socialist" way of thinking. I have no delusions of changing his mind (anymore), though he's a decent guy in the sense that he's polite, he surprisingly doesn't take himself too seriously, and he's generally sensible when you don't bring up politics. It's kind of strange, but I think we get along just from the mutual feeling of being ideologically isolated from most of our other friends.

[Catmatic Leftist]

Racists, sexists, homophobes, and any sort of bigot are no friends of mine.

[The Intransigent Faction]

I stopped having genuinely reactionary friends once I left high school. It was truly a beautiful day.

It's much easier to associate yourself with people who aren't assholes when you are not in high school. Every depressed high school leftist should keep that in mind.

Lol speak for yourself. I knew no objectivists in high school. By my second year of university, I'd met two or three via my roommates.

[Agent Equality]

I have one "friend" like that too. I actually just hung out with him today (first and probably one time).

His whole family is VERY German and very proud. I came in and his dad said in the thickest German accent ever "Is dis dat Commie kid from school?" and then preceded to talk about how terrible communism and equality is and blah blah blah. He even talked about how it makes people prostitute themselves out for old shirts...:confused:

They are pretty racist, xenophobic, fascist (I don't throw that term around lightly), sexist, and even though I didn't catch any straight up homophobic remarks it would be safe to assume they are. They are also very proud of all that.

You should just calmly tell him that it is his very pride that caused 2 world wars and the holocaust and is responsible for hundreds of millions of deaths and that they should be ASHAMED to be proud of such things. Then kindly tell him to fuck off and go die :D and never talk to that family again.

[Rafiq]

Not really that much but one time I had to fight a kid because he said some seriously homophobic shit. He was one of those kids you just hang out with at lunch because they're friends with your friends you know? It was me, him, and another friend waiting where we hung out at lunch waiting for everybody else to get there and he says something is "gay"(Which made me go :glare: but whatever, so many people use it without homophobic intentions that I let it slide) but my other friend says "Man how are you going to say that when there's a gay dude right there". I hadn't noticed him but there was a friend of mine who was gay walking towards the cafeteria right behind this guy which already made me a little angry because he would be upset if he heard it and he gets bullied all the time. So I tell him not to say that anymore, that it's offensive and shit. Instead of just being quite after that he turns to this guy and says very loudly "What? It's not my fault this faggot likes dick in the butt". And I look at my gay friend and he just looks at me like he was going to cry which enraged me so I whooped the shit out of this guy. The suspension was totally worth it and I was the hero of my Gay-Straight alliance club.

I think you go to my school

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk

[A Revolutionary Tool]

I think you go to my school

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk
I highly doubt it considering I live in California.

[bietan jarrai]

I know a lot of reactionaries, some homophobics, don't believe I know any racists or sexists... I don't really consider a lot of people my "friends".

[RHIZOMES]

Lol speak for yourself. I knew no objectivists in high school. By my second year of university, I'd met two or three via my roommates.

Its far easier not to associate with them as friends though.

[Pioneers_Violin]

Ah, who doesn't?

Just because they're seriously misled doesn't mean you can't be friends with them.
Being a friend doesn't mean you have to completely agree with them about everything or even ANYTHING all of the time.

If not you, who else is going to set a good example for these unfortunates?

The path of isolation helps no-one.
All that will happen is that they will be stuck in a viscous cycle with all of their racist/sexist/homophobic/reactionary friends with no voice of reason to counterbalance those unfortunate opinions.
The next thing you know, they'll be getting Racist™ tattoos, beating their spouse, joining the Hillsboro Baptist Church and going to Tea Party rallies.

How does that help anyone?

What are friends for if not to gently poke, prod, shove and if necessary kick and pummel one down the path of enlightenment?

[Coach Trotsky]

Bwahahaha, as they say, the personal is political.

Look at all of you who fear any association with those not sufficiently "enlightened" yet. Do you really have no confidence or competence in engaging such people (the vast majority of people, ultimately)? It's obvious by the way you respond (or just run off to your little alienated circle of 'progressive friends' to gossip). Most 'Leftists' who encountered "racist, sexist, homophobic" people either simply parrot the bourgeois liberal script on those issues and/or just say "fuck you" because they really didn't know what else to say!

Agent Equality said:

You should just calmly tell him that it is his very pride that caused 2 world wars and the holocaust and is responsible for hundreds of millions of deaths and that they should be ASHAMED to be proud of such things. Then kindly tell him to fuck off and go die...
Oh come on, his German pride "caused 2 world wars and the holocaust and is responsible for hundreds of millions of deaths"?!
If you really think that, then why are you NOT actively fighting every single person in America waving the Red, White, and Blue? Why not?! How many wars and deaths has that "USA" pride caused?! Because it's fine to talk shit about Germans' pride among trendy liberals, but whoa don't go getting anti-American around them. Yeah, it's really easy and popular to posture hard in 2011 America against defeated "Nazis", but what about against your own US imperialist bourgeoisie TODAY, what about against "USA" pride TODAY?!

Agent Equality tells his own real-life personal story earlier in the thread, and it is clear that the real enemies he faces upfront come from the good ol' USA bourgeois and well-off petty bourgeois ranks! While you were thinking that the main problem was poor whites who've been tricked into believing reactionary bullshit (which most 'Leftists' don't even bother engaging and arguing against it in a serious way and asserting instead real revolutionary socialist solutions in order to win over those who have nothing to lose but their chains), Agent Equality actually is dealing with 'upper class' assholes who have a real stake in preserving this system and their position in it. Fight them CLASS AGAINST CLASS, then you will be able to sway away better those of our class who buy into the system propping and system serving reactionary crap, and actually teach them through their own experiences about the most basic important concepts of class struggle and revolutionary socialism. Drop all those elitist stand-offish alienated attitudes and postures to the 'unenlightened' masses---you are leaving them abandoned to enemies when you do that! The truth is that the ones who will stand in your way hardest or ditch you most often when you try to fight CLASS AGAINST CLASS will be bourgeois and middle class "progressives"...once you orient most to the working class folks and try to engage in class struggle methods and offer proletarian socialist solutions, they will get away from you quick, or they will do anything they can to disrupt your efforts with misleading liberal "can't we all just get along" bullshit and/or trying to make the issue out to be mainly something other than class.
They will even say that you are the one being "bigoted against wealthier people" and "trying to stir up an angry hateful mob", and that youare being 'anti-American', and they might even drop some liberal's favorite quotes by MLK or Gandhi or maybe some other reformist historical leaders to really mess with you and people who agree with you.

[Quail]

I have some friends whose views are different to mine, but only a few who are racist, sexist and homophobic. I actually find it difficult to be around people who say things that are discriminatory because it pisses me off, and when I confronted one of my friends a while ago about his use of the word "paki" he just gave me some bullshit excuses about "not meaning it in an offensive way" and "having grown up in a racist town, it's just how people are." Maybe I wasn't convincing enough, but some people are very set in their ways.

[Nox]

WTF?! I try not to get friends and politics mixed either but the line has to be drawn somewhere right? Nazis are pretty far behind that line for me at least. We had a new kid try to hang out with us one time but we told him he couldn't kick it with us when he started talking about supporting the immigration law passed in Arizona and when we found out he had a Confederate Flag tattoo. That's just baffling, I couldn't imagine hanging around with Nazis.

The Nazi semi-friend in question is a good friend of a good friend who is in many of my classes, I sit with him in most of the lessons we're together. Me and him agree on pretty much everything except politics, he is a really nice, intelligent guy but he somehow believes that stuff. Anyway, he isn't the attention seeking type, in fact the only reason I even know about his beliefs is because I overheard him talking to one of his friends about it before.

The way I see it, friendship should be based on common interests, not personal opinions. Me and him share many interests and we aren't that desimilar, even the majority of our personal opinions are the same.

[electro_fan]

no, no close friends who are, and wouldn't be friends with anyone who was, although pretty much everyone i know has at least one seriously reactionary viewpoint, nobody's perfect ffs. i know tonnes of people probably think i've got reactionary views on some things, but then it depends how you define reactionary

[A Revolutionary Tool]

The Nazi semi-friend in question is a good friend of a good friend who is in many of my classes, I sit with him in most of the lessons we're together. Me and him agree on pretty much everything except politics, he is a really nice, intelligent guy but he somehow believes that stuff. Anyway, he isn't the attention seeking type, in fact the only reason I even know about his beliefs is because I overheard him talking to one of his friends about it before.

The way I see it, friendship should be based on common interests, not personal opinions. Me and him share many interests and we aren't that desimilar, even the majority of our personal opinions are the same.
What kind of personal opinions are you talking about? Well Stalinists and Nazis both have authoritarian personalities, so it's not much of a surprise that you two would find common ground.

I don't base my friends around whether or not I agree with their politics, most of my friends are actually pretty conservative. In fact the only other "communist" I've met that was my age I could not stand and I couldn't stand his politics either so I don't hang out with him, we're not friends at all.

But I draw that line at fascists, I'm not going to be friends with people I'm potentially going to have to kick the shit out of if they show their faces in public speaking their hate.

[Summerspeaker]

Nobody stands completely outside of these systems of oppression, including myself. But I try to avoid anyone who explicitly embraces such horrors. All of my current close friends express opposition to racism, sexism, and homophobia.

[Pioneers_Violin]

Know some unsavory Racist/Sexist/Homophobic/Reactionary people?

Don't avoid.
Try to help.

No, I'm not suggesting marching into a Skinhead convention with red flyers.

Assuming they're at least kinda "friends" talk with them. Try to find common ground and gently point out that maybe those people they hate aren't so bad and aren't deserving of their ire.
Possibly point out the REAL problems as you see them like maybe corporate fraud, evil monopolies, loss of freedoms, wage slavery... whatever.

Most people, including most of "Them" are pretty much in the same proletariat boat as us.

Work on them. Set a good example. Be a good friend! Don't go galloping off on your high horse because they're Racist/Sexist/Homophobe/WHATEVER....
Isn't excluding or dehumanizing people precisely what THEY do?

How would you propose changing the world if you can't start by at least trying to change a few minds?

If we ever want success in bringing down the whole Capitalist Farce, we will need all the help there is. Including "theirs".

A couple of Lefties in the corner by themselves shunning all who could and probably would help are going to get precisely Nowhere.


PS. Stalinists realize the need for good leadership and logistics. Honoring one of the greatest Leaders of all time doesn't necessarily make us Authoritarian.
Stalin could get the biggest and possibly most diverse country in the world to agree on what needed to be done and he didn't do it with Hitler-esque tantrums.

[Dogs On Acid]

No, I'm not suggesting marching into a Skinhead convention with red flyers.

What Skinheads are you talking about? There are Communist and Anarchist skinheads y'now?

[Nox]

:laugh:
WTF is this? I know I'm not supposed to be laughing at antisemitism but I can't stop laughing for some reason, I've never heard this one before. What the hell is a jewbagel? Because all I could think of is somebody is someone has to eat the bagel, which is bad.

Aahahahaha I laughed so hard at jewbagel.

It's one of those rare stereotypes that are non-offensive :D

We eat bagels like there's no tomorrow :laugh:

[Nox]

What kind of personal opinions are you talking about? Well Stalinists and Nazis both have authoritarian personalities, so it's not much of a surprise that you two would find common ground.

I don't base my friends around whether or not I agree with their politics, most of my friends are actually pretty conservative. In fact the only other "communist" I've met that was my age I could not stand and I couldn't stand his politics either so I don't hang out with him, we're not friends at all.

We share some personal opinions on stuff thats going on in the news, we both dislike capitalism, we both dislike imperialism etc


But I draw that line at fascists, I'm not going to be friends with people I'm potentially going to have to kick the shit out of if they show their faces in public speaking their hate.

Like I said, he isn't the attention-seeking type, he keeps his views to himself. If he wore a nazi armband everywhere or something ridiculous like that then I doubt I would be as close to him as I am now.

[Kornilios Sunshine]

I have tons of fuckin' racists.Most of them hate Albanians and Pakistans and a small minority of them are nazis.The thing is that they don't know shit about politics and they think they formed an opinion because they once heard their mommy/daddy speaking bullshit. I am sick of this.

[Ele'ill]

No, I don't have friends like that. I simply cannot tolerate it. I also stopped talking to some relatives because of this.

[A Revolutionary Tool]

We share some personal opinions on stuff thats going on in the news, we both dislike capitalism, we both dislike imperialism etcI have serious doubts that you're being serious right now. Nazis disliking capitalism and imperialism?




Like I said, he isn't the attention-seeking type, he keeps his views to himself. If he wore a nazi armband everywhere or something ridiculous like that then I doubt I would be as close to him as I am now.
You would just be kind of close to him right?

[Pioneers_Violin]

What Skinheads are you talking about? There are Communist and Anarchist skinheads y'now?

My apologies to our Hairless Comrades.
See? We already found some common ground! ;)

Some of them are already on the right track... Now lets get out there and help them down the track a ways.

[L.A.P.]

Aahahahaha I laughed so hard at jewbagel.

It's one of those rare stereotypes that are non-offensive :D

We eat bagels like there's no tomorrow :laugh:

So wait, you're acquaintances with a Nazi and you're Jewish? What the fuck!?

[Rss]

I have a friend who hates furries. Does that count?

[Nox]

I have serious doubts that you're being serious right now. Nazis disliking capitalism and imperialism?

You would just be kind of close to him right?

Well, I am trying to convert him to a Communist ;) Helped alot by his dislike of Capitalism and Imperialism.

No, if he wore a Nazi armband I would not associate with him.


So wait, you're acquaintances with a Nazi and you're Jewish? What the fuck!?

Since I made the first post, I have spoken to him about his beliefs and my beliefs, and he said that he likes solely the concept of National Socialism, he said that he isnt racist or anti-semitic and he doesn't want to associate his beliefs with Nazi Germany and the actions of Nazi Germany.

I think both of you are missing the point here - I don't give a shit about his beliefs; he's a nice guy and we have common interests. You may base your friendships around your political beliefs, but I don't, I base my friendships around personality.

But yeah, I'm going to stop replying now - I don't feel that I should need to publicly defend someone I talk to in class, if any of you want to continue this, you can pm me.