Russian vassalization of Ukraine

[John Galt]

[John Galt]

[John Galt]

putin is a realist, he is a traditionalist, and he is a populist (he is, after all, the most interesting man in the world). those are the things that make him popular with anybody.

he's also power hungry and an autocrat and abuses his position of power for personal gain. i don't support him, i don't like him, but in the end, the bad stuff he causes for his people are not felt by people physically, jsut in their pocket book, years from now. stalin starved people to death. what has the government under putin done? put some poeple who were having an orgy-protest in a mall in jail for disrupting the peace or whatever it was? oh f**k well. frankly they should have been jailed just so we wouldn't have to hear them "play music" anymore. he's not starving people to death like stalin. he's not war mongering like NK. he ends up seemingly above the fray in many things because of his carefully manicured image. he's the one in charge, he's the one promoting peace in syria. and so, do people like him? obviously, and they look past the whole castling thing he's done with dmitry and whatnot

[Dylan]

[jimmyz]

[Dylan]

A few old friends from high school/college and a bunch at work who just care about low taxes it seems.

Also get together with a family member and his military bros here and there, most of whom are very conservative.

Why do you ask?

[jimmyz]

[John Galt]

[exploited]

In my opinion, anonymity increases honesty. It's only when people start talking about themselves that this isn't the case.

[Dylan]

Ah. Well of the rabid conservatives I know, one is just a really nice guy. Dumb as a pile of bricks but great heart. Runs a feed store in Nevada. Not bigoted in any way as far as I can tell. Good dude.

One is in the army and lives for killing "Hadjis". Likes to rant about Muslims and how evil they are.

Another is a finance guy in Oregon. Rabid racist. Foaming at the mouth. Not sure why I get a pass, but I'm glad I do.

Most of the guys I played hockey with in college were staunch republicans. Didn't hesitate to break out racial slurs when we played a team with a Chinese player. Reveled in it in fact.

They're more secretive of their views IRL is the only difference. Eg, There was a deeply offensive rant about Muslims a while back from a conservative poster here. Incan't imagine that same poster would have made that statement in front of their coworkers.