I have a friend who is a pretty hardcore republican (although, at times, she doesn't sound like one). I was watching the debate with her and her husband last night (although I preferred to not watch it). Some of the topics that were discussed were surveillance and internet control, in order to deter terrorism. This was the debate that ensued:
Her: "I have no problem with a portion of the internet being shut down or having the government listening to the American people's phone calls, in order to intercept terrorist plots. What do you think?"
Me: "Well, I am against both, especially shutting down a portion of the internet, although I am unsure what Trump exactly means or how he would do this."
Her: "So, youre willing to let terrorists plot against Americans by using the internet, without caring that thousands of Americans may die?"
Me: "Of course I do not want Americans to die, but why should law abiding citizens who use the internet in a benign way, have to suffer?"
Her: "Well, youre a scumbag if you care about your precious internet so much that you have a problem with the government shutting down a portion of the internet to stop terrorist plots. You're willing to let Americans die, so you can go on that stupid bodybuilding site getbig or whatever its called."
Me: "Last week you said you had no problem with law abiding people owning guns, despite gun violence, and that we shouldn't punish law abiding gun owners for a bad apples. Yet, you want to punish law abiding internet users?"
Her: "Youre changing the topic and thats a stupid analogy to use."
Me: "No, its not. It actually makes perfect sense. You really don't get to pick and choose what rights you want taken away and which rights you want to keep. How do you decide that? And who decides when it is or isn't appropriate?"
Her: "Well, I don't care about gun ownership. I am not talking about that topic."
Me: "But, its sort of interrelated. What we are really talking about is stripping people's rights, whether its privacy, internet use, or gun ownership. I am not for any of that."
::she begins to scream and curse. Her husband tells her to calm down, then he goes into the other room::
Her: "If you don't stop with this shit, I am going to throw you out."
Me: "Why, because I disagree with you? You don't sound like a republican. You sound like a fascist, trying to strip away the rights of the people."
Her: "Okay, you need to stop."
So, I figured at that point, there was no sense of going on. I went inside and me and her husband (who doesn't really care about politics) chatted. She went upstairs. I left.
Politics......
