Losing friends for political reasons

Philippines
May 14, 2016 5:52am CST
Well, I held on long enough before posting this. We've recently held our Presidential, Vice Presidential and Senatorial elections here in the Philippines and the months leading to the elections was very brutal. There was a lot of mudslinging involved and people were divided over whom to vote and whom not to. I got caught up in the election fever and after getting bugged a hundred times I finally relented and revealed who I was voting for. That didn't sit well with some people who were voting who they thought was the right candidate. Still, I held on to my beliefs and chose whom I wanted. Because of too much flak from people whom I considered friends, I finally wrote a piece about the candidate I was voting for and why. As soon as I posted it, a hundred or so people started commenting on it and giving their reactions. I ended up losing some friends over my political views. In the end, my candidate won. And instead of saying "I told you so" I reached out to my friends as a form of reconciliation but I found out that they had erased me from their friends' list. I'm still trying to mend the broken friendship but some of my friends told me not to waste my time because those so called friends were too close minded. In the end, was it worth it? I'd guess so, because I found out who my real friends were. So, my question is: have you lost friends for political reasons and was it worth it?
8 people like this
13 responses
@Shavkat (136864)
• Philippines
14 May 16
I don't mind if some of my friends will turn against me for such reason. The only thing that comes to my mind is not worth to cling on them. It is also a part of being betrayed by them.
2 people like this
@Shavkat (136864)
• Philippines
15 May 16
@transcendent People change nowadays. That's the downside.
1 person likes this
• Xian, China
15 May 16
@Shavkat They are so busy,at least in my country, to chase after fame, fortune, life standers and some other worldly possessions that they have little time to reflect on the relationships with their friends, family members, lovers,etc. It's a pity for this situation and I hope the society would give more room to its people to concentrate on the daily affairs.
• Xian, China
15 May 16
Maybe, you can interpret your standpoint to your friends first. I deem the real friends would understand you and accept your views that differ from theirs.Or it's wise for you to leave them and, just as you say, regard it as a part of being betrayed by them, witch is so usual in our daily life.
1 person likes this
@toniganzon (72317)
• Philippines
14 May 16
No i haven't. It's the most immature thing I have ever seen this year.
1 person likes this
@flapiz (22403)
• United Kingdom
14 May 16
True about the immaturity statement. It's people like that who can't tolerate different views that makes this world chaotic.
@toniganzon (72317)
• Philippines
14 May 16
@flapiz Me and my friends have different political views and we had our INTELLECTUAL arguments which didn't get in the way of our friendship. It's a shame that people in this country don't even know the word RESPECT. Respecting each other's views should have prevailed above all.
1 person likes this
• Philippines
14 May 16
@toniganzon I know... crazy right?
@scheng1 (24650)
• Singapore
14 May 16
I think your friends are as young as you. If they are 20 years older, they will not get so excited. In the grand scheme of things, no matter who you vote, the whole political system is still corrupted, and you can expect all the money into infrastructure and other projects will end up in someone's pockets. It is too optimistic to hope that a single person can change the country for good when he is fighting against the whole system.
@scheng1 (24650)
• Singapore
15 May 16
@chipesterkhan Wait till they are 57 years old or 60 years old. By then, they will give up on all politicians.
• Philippines
14 May 16
hahahah I'm 37 years old and I have friends who are older than that
1 person likes this
@flapiz (22403)
• United Kingdom
14 May 16
No I haven't. I am lucky to have friends who can agree to disagree and if not, at least friends who listens to my side and who I can have an intellectual political discourse with without the dramas. Frankly though most of my friends here in Oz voted for Duterte as president so I'm not at war with any of them.
• Philippines
14 May 16
Try having some friends who are staunch Roxas supporters... sheesh...
1 person likes this
• Philippines
14 May 16
@flapiz hmmm your region? Are you from Region 8 too? Cause I'm originally from Tacloban City.
1 person likes this
@flapiz (22403)
• United Kingdom
14 May 16
@chipesterkhan I don't have any Roxas Supporter friends as Roxas is quite infamous in my region. But I have friends who are rooting for Miriam Defensor Santiago. Which for me is quite a good choice too. Although if I had Roxas supporter friends then I'd still respect their opinions and agree to disagree. I mean that's the purpose of casting votes right? Being able to pick out your own president regardless of what others choice are?
@hereandthere (45671)
• Philippines
14 May 16
i was surprised and shaking my head at the level it has reached - the breadth and the depth. i wonder if it is because more and more of us really care now?
1 person likes this
@ida123 (6206)
• Cagayan De Oro, Philippines
14 May 16
No, I haven't lost any friends because I haven't persuaded anyone even my family members, I let them decide to whom they think are good candidates. As for those who erase you in your friends list, just leave it until they can realize that what they did is wrong.
1 person likes this
@skysnap (20154)
14 May 16
I lost some friends because of religion reason, politics reason, feminism reason and what not. We are passengers to each other in the ride of life. So I don't consider them friends who leave for poor reasons.
@marlina (154183)
• Canada
14 May 16
No, but just because I refuse to discuss politics with certain people as I know it is a waste of time.
• United States
16 May 16
No, and I say no because I don't discuss politics with friends, or on my communities, as they do not all them there. I found it is strictly my business, who I vote for and no one else. As you see political discussions can get out of hand, people get very upset,so I do not discuss it.
@boiboing (13153)
• Northampton, England
14 May 16
I try very hard not to let such things get between me and my facebook friends but sometimes I am so offended by the crap that people believe and that they share that I have taken people off alerts. If I can't see what they're posting I can pretend to not know how bigoted and selfish they are.
@magallon (19281)
• Philippines
14 May 16
They are not real friends. Just because of politics they abandoned you? It's not worth it.
• Xian, China
14 May 16
It's very usual to hold different views between friends.When such different views do occur between friends , the first thing for you to do is that giving your reasons and, at the same time ,listening to theirs. If they still can't tolerate and turn against you, it may be a good choice for you to leave them. There's no pity at all to do this. I have lost friends for other reasons rather than political ones and I do deem it worth it.
@rz3300 (357)
• United States
15 May 16
Well I have always operated under that assumptions that the two things you just don't talk about are religion and politics, and sticking by that has worked pretty well for me so far, so I have no reason to change anything there. I have not personally lost any close friends, but I can imagine that it could put a divide between some people.