Rule

conservatives i respect:

- Louis Rossmann
- Is he a conservative??? I never would’ve guessed that lol
- The guy who uses mental health diagnoses as personal attacks? No, I don't respect him
once upon a time i nearly voted for John McCain, and i'm not even sure i can actually respect him he was just the closest to being a respectable human being that they had.

Shit meme. Everyone everywhere needs to adopt a policy of zero capitulation to reactionaries and their framings.

To any conservatives for the rest of time: fuck top category conservatives just as much. Yeah you're just as bad as the bottom category, but you're just enough of a fucking snake to hide your worst impulses and blend in with polite society.

i really wanna ask some questions, genuinely in good faith as it seems you may misunderstand how politics affects real peoples lives.

would you respect them if they were racist, just not around you?

would you respect them if they were queerphobic, just not around you?

would you respect them if they voted for, and supported, politicians willing and ready to take away your rights or the rights of others?

why would you want to interact with someone who disagrees with peoples rights to live?

this is assuming you are a member of some minority (queer, of color, etc.) if you arent, then i guess i understand.

This is a revamping of the meme about gay people that was complaining about looking colorful, caring about LGBTQ rights, mentioning their partners in conversation the same way straight people do, and maybe having a lisp? It’s thankfully been a long time since I saw it.
You’re right, but I don’t think the OP actually means it, they’re just trying to flip the script on conservatives. I’m not the OP though, so I could be wrong
- idk if that makes it worse, but it definately doesnt make it better.

The problem is that I don't respect "conservatives" if they continue to substantially support abusive politicians, organizations, and groups. I don't care if you're respectful and not personally bigoted; there's no excuse for supporting disrespectful and bigoted actions. Unless you admit your sins and agree to not support Nazis anymore, then your sympathy will never be enough.

Just because American conservatives are Nazis now doesn't mean that all conservatives everywhere are as well. I feel like that word, and fascism, get diluted way too much these days and all it does is increase political polarisation. For example, it scares me the number of Gen Z Aussies that that believe our centre-right conservative party are Nazis and that we're "one step away" from becoming the US. I mean I don't like those conservatives, I think they're fluffheads, but they respect the rule of law and wouldn't try to overturn an election!
- Just because American conservatives are Nazis now doesn't mean that all conservatives everywhere are as well
  They believe all the same stuff, they just know they can not yet bring it out in public.
  You're right that they wouldn't try to overturn an election but it is only because they can't get away with it, not because they actually respect any law other than "fuck you I've got mine".
  And your attitude of complacency is what makes it so that Australia will also become like the USA - you're not special somehow, this is happening everywhere.
- These worries about increasing political polarization seem reasonable on the surface, but political polarization is only a symptom of underlying problems. If you want to worry about polarization itself, the demand must be equally applied to both extremes.
  If no shared values and boundaries are agreed to, there's nothing to stop one party from pushing the window of acceptable ideas to favor their own clan. As one side takes a step forward towards reconciliation, the other can shift the entire conversation in their favor by simply taking a step back. Complaining about the two sides drifting farther apart as a problem in itself only hurts the side less willing to further radicalize themselves.
  I don't know Australian politics, but I do know that most liberal democracies are only a step away from fascism. Some like the UK are already doomed. This is because unchecked capitalism breeds increasing wealth inequality, shrinking wages and opportunities, and causing an increase in people wanting to fundamentally change society in some way. Fascists offer easy answers in the death of liberalism, as many liberal politicians are unable to deliver or even promise substantial change.
  The only way to preserve liberal democracy (the rule of law, civil liberties, a social contract) is to protect the working class from capitalism. Even if you think we need capitalism and can never live without it, capitalism causes societal instability by redistributing wealth from workers to the wealthy. Unless the state and workers can limit or reverse this trend, it will destroy the system by making people believe it can never serve them. Liberal democracy is incompatible with unchecked capitalism for this reason.
- right now the coalition is deciding whether or not to continue its trajectory towards trumpist alt right politics or realign itself as a centre right party.
  this is not something that is just going away.

Lol conservatives aren't worth your respect

"Conservatives I respect:

The ones that stay quiet about their true feelings about how they believe that various groups of people they don't like don't deserve human rights" 🤡

Nah. I've tried to stay friends with conservatives before. They eventually reveal their most inhumane thoughts sooner or later.

I don't want to be friends with someone who wants my trans friends "purged", believes that women are inferior, thinks that people protesting for their rights is "terrorism", etc.

No fucking thank you.

yeah this is where i'm at. they both voted for me to not have rights so fuck 'em, they're the same to me.

"Kind" Germans vs bad Germans during the Holocaust:

There were some 800.000 Germans arrested for "resistance activities" during WW2, and tens of thousands were executed for it.
Now, I'm not saying those were all good people, but there were at least some good Germans. But terrifyingly few.
- They weren't "moderate" conservatives, they were mostly leftists
Remember kids be like the Bohemians (the couple who resisted the Nazis during WW2)

Conservatives i can respect:

• Joe Biden

Joseph Robinette "Civil Asset Forfeiture" Biden, Jr? nah fuck that guy he can rot
I have no sympathy for Genocide Joe

i think the point they're trying to make is that people who make politics their entire personality suck, and at least for me that's true regardless of what side of the political spectrul they're on. but even if they're chill outside of that and you can have a good conversation with a conservative, the fact they agree with people that want me dead is still gonna leave a sour taste in my mouth

hell, those more reasonable conservatives might be worth a 5 minute talk. i've seen people who vote conservative for purely economic reasons and never really thought about the whole killing minorities thing, and when i explained it to them they reconsidered
though to be clear, that's where i'm from. you cannot make the same argument for trump voters
I think you're litterally the only person in the entire fediverse who understood the meme correctly
idk, i think people who make "we should treat people better" their entire personality are quite cool and sexy and etc etc etc

Conservatives think that other people having basic human rights somehow alienates their's. There is no respectable conservative, since I can't respect someone that thinks in this way.

For #1, you're missing the bullet point:

"Acts nice to my face, but doesn't consider me a human being (and votes accordingly)"

conservatives i respect: -didnt vote for trump -arent ignorant or uninformed

I think they are endangered species or already extinct (dead Catholic Boomers with open minds raising latchkey Gen X children).

Conservatives I respect = None, conservativism is basically selfishness.

there's some for a political ideology that considered any change to be dangerous, and we should be cautious regarding trying new things...
and that is what "conservatism" sounds like.
but they aren't conservatives, they are reactionaries, they want to push the whole system to the right.

Lmao the conservatives I respect aren't republicans, they see trump for what he is and have been voting biden

I said it before: those people are not conservative. They don't want to conserve anything, they don't want to caution against change or are stuck in their old ways.

Those people are reactionaries who want to return to a past that never really was, and fascists who think a strong leader will hurt the right people.

Don't allow them to mask as moderates of any color. Don't accept that being racist, sexist, corrupt and proudly admitting to be it are moderate, sensible, acceptable positions instead of radical extremist ones.

Capitalism leads to monopoly and imperialism. Fascist are the useful idiots of empire. Both political parties in Yankee dumb dumb land are right wing. This has all to do with socioeconomics and the populist movements in merikkka. This meme is an example of how lazy children think. Liberals will not save you they are controlled opposition. Fuck Nancy pelosi. We are too busy slaving away to have friends anyways.

at least with maga you know they're dangerous, like a bright colorful snake

Now ship them!

wild i have to block someone that purports to be anti-conservative for using a word like "sp*z" as if it's not problematic
- Fuck spez.
- I had no idea what that meant until I looked it up. That's definitely reprehensible. Still, I'm not a native speaker so the tone and meaning of the comment you are replying to weren't quite clear.
I'm blocked lmao?

Hi, I'm respectable conservative. I am deeply sorry that you are having to deal with the worse version of us.

Trump is just the openly honest version of a regular conservative.
There are zero respectable conservatives.
- You read the meme champ?
what does being a "respectable conservative" actually entail?
Hi I'm also a respectable conservative, I want to melt the poor for biomass but in a respectable way /s
That's an oxymoron.
hi respectable conservative, i'm fest
anyway everyone has a different meaning for "conservative" so can you explain your views in politics?
hi, i'm a trans woman. fuck your respectability, you are giving cover to those who drove me from my home and continue to pose an existential threat to me and all those like me. your ideology is poison and putting a "nice" face on it and pretending that should make it all hunky dory is some seriously craven shit.
- You don't even know this person, we're not even sure if they're indeed like the others. All of this polarizing won't help your country, if people keep treating others as scum just for supporting a different side.
Honestly, I'd abandon the label of conservative at this point and just broadly define yourself as a liberal. It's what separates the "traditional conservatives" that didn't stand with Trump from the now fascists who did; they value the system of liberal democracy that this country was founded on. They wanted conservative policy, but through democratic means, whereas fascists favor winning by any means necessary.
Granted, I also don't respect liberals very much, as they refuse to sacrifice capitalism to maintain their own system, but being a liberal is what separates non-fascist "conservatives" from fascists. As conservatism is hierarchical, it's very easy for it to leave liberalism behind.