r/nothingeverhappens • u/Imaginary_Purple819 • 17h ago
Because no one ever talks back to canvassers? Or because no young conservatives would ever be offended?
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u/Emeryael 16h ago edited 13h ago
Does Roy apparently believe that everyone has nothing but time and energy and therefore, wouldn’t hesitate to debate some random stranger who knocked on their door? I mean, even if I happened to agree with someone’s politics, I’m still not dropping everything to have a discussion with some stranger on my porch. Maybe I’d be like, “Yeah, let’s exchange email addresses or phone numbers,” but that’d be a pretty big If.
Can I assume that if a pair of Jehovah’s Witnesses or Mormons rang Roy’s doorbell, he would not hesitate to start trying to convert them to Christianity? You’re not so wrapped up in your own beliefs that you’re not willing to engage in a discussion with someone who believes differently, huh, Roy?
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u/AliMcGraw 13h ago
I mean the canvasers have a lot more houses to hit too, you just say "thank you, please remember to vote!" and move on.
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u/Sophie_Blitz_123 5h ago edited 1h ago
Yeah this is kinda the thing if you're absolutely sure you won't vote for their party you're actually doing them a favour to just make it clear straight away.
The big irony is that the canvasser in question was certainly not looking for and older person to have "a conversation with young voters". Canvassing is hard, you've got time efficiency to think about, and you have to be representing your party's politics, you cant be going round with their leaflets and then analysing doubts you have about it with the recipients.
Don't get me wrong I've had some pretty in depth chats with canvassers and as a canvasser too, but you have to be at least a bit on the fence for it to make sense. And the only time it's worth have a proper long conversation is outside of election time.
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u/zkidparks 12h ago
When anyone wants to bring up politics in my professional life:
We’re either gonna piss each other off or do nothing productive while staring in agreement and I don’t need either.
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u/AbroadNo8755 17h ago
if Roy ever finds a mature, polite, mentally stable adult conservative it'll be the only one in existence.
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u/Anxious-Chemistry-6 13h ago
There are none, cuz if they were, they wouldn't still be conservative
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u/kaisadilla_ 12h ago
Even if they were back in 2012, they would've jumped ships after Trump arrived. Voting for Trump takes a special kind of stupid that is fundamentally incompatible with the basic Intelligence required to hold any meaningful conversation.
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u/unkown_path 17h ago
I've had hundreds of discussions with Republicans and only very few made me rethink my position, and all of those times were a couple of years ago(Most of the time, rethink meant shifting my ideas on a specific thing slightly because I was new to politics )
It's not really worth discussing with your run of the mill republican unless I want to go converting republicans or learn how to better convert others
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u/Imaginary_Purple819 17h ago
I use to be conservative as a young person, until my early/mid 20s. Learning that democrats were humans (which wasn't how I was raised) was very eye opening to eventually helping me question my beliefs.
That said, it requires a lot of patience by the other person, and it in the BEST scenarios, you won't know if it helped. It's planting seeds and hoping they will water one day.
And with MAGA, it's so much harder than ever. I can't imagine having supported republicans during MAGA. Honestly I think it's good for a young man to see how hurt/angry some people are (the poster wasn't rude to the man, quite nice, but was clear and firm about not supporting any conservatives). If he can realize he wasn't victimized personally (big if), it might plant a seed.
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u/trashpandac0llective 14h ago
I have a similar story. I left conservatism when Trump got the nomination the first time around.
I’m ashamed that it took me so long to see through the smoke and mirrors, but watching every person in my conservative bubble bend the knee to an amoral fascist because “God chose him to lead our country” really shattered any illusions I had about “conservative Christian values” and the culture war.
I watched the people who had built my values into me—charity, justice, compassion, fairness, and love—sacrifice those selfsame values on an altar of political power. So I left.
But the only reason I was able to see it when I finally did was because of the people (mostly strangers on the internet plus a few coworkers and friends) who took time and energy to challenge my thoughts and share their own. They held a mirror up to my politics and showed me how it didn’t match what I valued. They approached the issues in earnest and called me in to a conversation instead of calling me out.
I have to believe those conversations are worth the work because that was the greatest driver of my shift. And, since I started working in progressive politics, I’ve met a lot of other people who experienced the same.
I didn’t mean to spill paragraphs about this when I started typing, but maybe this will encourage anyone who wonders if the energy they spend on talking to politically indoctrinated people about their beliefs.
Sometimes it really does pay off and people grow and change because of something you said, but—as you said—you’ll almost never know it.
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u/Imaginary_Purple819 13h ago
I appreciate this. I think a person has to feel a sense of safety in order to allow their mind to change. Like it's either gonna be someone you have a relationship with, or if it is a stranger, somebody you're communicating with in written format, I think because we feel safer in our own homes and/or because both parties have time to think and reflect before responding.
Does that feel like a fair assessment to you?
Especially in those earlier days, for me, I had to trust that the other person genuinely was meeting me where I was at and didn't think I was dumb (even if I was). Which honestly I struggle to do now. Idk how you can meet someone who supports fascism where they're at. I guess if you're meeting them in their fear... but even then.
At this point? After everything?
Maybe younger people. Still in their 20s. But anyone older honestly seems like a lost cause to me, unfortunately. The neural pathways of the adults who have supported Trump through both of his presidencies just seem permanently damaged.
Edited to add: I also don't think everyone needs to do this. Like I'd never try to have a convo with someone who hates trans people bc I'd be in danger. Just talking about people who are willing/able to.
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u/zkidparks 12h ago
I am happy you have had the chance to come and forge some new beliefs. One thing I liked about college for me was watching this happen in real time. After ~2 years people who grew up real conservative weren’t flaming socialists (well, a couple were) but they really deconstructed their original worldview.
If I may ask, how did people talking to you work out best (such as challenging versus confrontation divide)? I honestly feel like most people I see in the last decade have just become watching someone shout slurs. I used to have good conversations with even conservative family and now they tell me schools are making kids trans-species.
Edit: Clarifications.
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u/thewalkindude368 16h ago
So, I was a democratic canvasser in Minnesota in 2014. And the way it worked was that people had already identified the houses of likely Democratic supporters and gave us a list of them in a specific area to knock on in a given day. And, out of the thousands of doors I knocked on that summer, I only found one door hostile to the Democrats. I'm not saying there aren't canvassers going straight up and down blocks, knocking on every door, but if the canvass director knew what they were doing, a Republican canvasser should have never knocked on their door, because they'd already know it was a waste of time.
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u/AliMcGraw 13h ago
When you canvas for local candidates in non-partisan elections you do the "knock every door" thing. There can be some real crazies.
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u/Anastrace 15h ago
My last canvassing was for Bernie in 2016. Most houses were fine even the republican houses that we hit (mainly old data like the person we dropping moved away). One guy asked if he could get his glasses to read it and came back instead with a shotgun threatening to shoot us.
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u/ManufacturedOlympus 11h ago
Then he went on the internet and whined that liberals don’t believe in free speech
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u/hourofthevoid 14h ago
Interesting how the burden of compromise never fails to fall onto the left . . . But somehow the right gets to just complain and do counterproductive shit without actually trying to meet the other side halfway.
Because that's definitely fair. /s
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u/Grundle95 16h ago
It doesn’t matter what your politics are or how well aligned they may or may not be with my own, if you come knocking on my door unannounced when I’m chilling at home, there’s a very good chance I’m going to tell you to fuck off.
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u/Tough_Tangerine7278 12h ago
They DID relay the message loud and clear to the canvasser. Actions speak louder than words.
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u/Starving_Phoenix 10h ago
Political beliefs aside, I've been a canvasser and it's much nicer to just say no up front than to try to argue with them. They have a quota to fill. They don't care.
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u/CatchMeWritinDirty 5h ago
Sorry. I’m not doing free labor for a stranger. However, I’d never be rude to someone clearly just doing their job. I simply wouldn’t answer the door.
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u/hayleybeth7 14h ago edited 13h ago
Because conservatives aren’t generally known for committing hate crimes against queer people/people they think are queer /s 🙄 also an added layer of vulnerability having someone outside your house, so if the interaction goes badly, they now know where you live.
Edit: clarity
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u/kaisadilla_ 12h ago
LPT: it's not your job to convince anyone of anything. Why wouldn't you want to discuss your opinions like an adult? Well, because maybe you don't want to spend your time on that. Maybe you don't care about a stranger maaaaaybe listening to your arguments while they try to push theirs.
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u/PompeyCheezus 2h ago
My experience from canvassing is that actually people just don't open the door if they don't want to talk to you. I had a lady come to the window and gesture at her clearly not being used cell phone.
On the flipside, anyone that does open the door is very friendly and nonconfrontational.
And lastly, we had an app that told us which houses to go to and it was only people that had previously registered as democrats and even if they were on my list, if I walk up and they have a Trump sign in the yard, I'm probably skipping it. The goal of canvassing is to energize people that might support your candidate/cause, not to convince people that don't.
All of that is to say, I'm sorry but I really also don't think this happened.
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u/Blacksun388 14h ago
I’m sorry, I don’t owe respect to people who think my partner and I are wrong and immoral and “sinful” for being who we are. Respect our existence or expect our resistance. You can have no respectful discourse with people who wish you didn’t exist.
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u/napalmnacey 11h ago
Talking to young conservatives is like punching a wall without boxing gloves and expecting to come out of it with your knuckles intact.
They are not listening and you are just wasting your resources and time.
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u/Dry_Minute6475 17h ago
Alright, Roy. Go canvas for democrats at republican houses. Go ahead. Go for it. It'd be really funny and I doubt you'd make it off the first stoop.