Assuming a stranger's political views

At Slate.com, there is an advice columnist named "Prudence". One letter from last week's "Dear Prudence" was a classic:

Dear Prudence,

I am a woman in my 30s living in Portland, Ore. My husband is black. For some reason, at dinner parties, bars, you name it, people assume we're Democrats. We are not! Comments range from "Why do Republicans exist?" to "I hate conservatives" to worse. I've lived in highly conservative areas of the country, and never seemed to encounter such annoying habits from conservatives; neither did my husband. Do people assume this because of his skin color? Why do people assume everyone within earshot agrees with them? What is the correct response?
—Not a Democrat

I'm not a Republican (nor am I a Democrat) but I sympathize. I cannot believe how many people assume that because I'm in the military I must be against the War on Terror.

People will complain in front of me about the "illegal war" and the "chickenhawks" and "fighting keyboardists" who support it. When I point out that I support it, and I've been there, then they are usually polite, but obviously disappointed. But sometimes the responses are less than polite, and other times they turn into lunacy. On a mailing list I used to contribute to (before I started this blog) a couple of people accused me of being paid to spread propaganda supporting the war!

Sara at Trying to Grok brings up a good point in a similar assumptive encounter with an Englishman:

On the monorail on the way home from the Pajamas Media party last night, I ran into a large family from England. The grandfather was left without a seat near the family, so he came and sat by me. We chatted and joked about Las Vegas and differences he had noted between the US and England and also Canada, where he lives now. And then he said something that he thought the US was a nice country, and then he did that speaking-out-of-the-side-of-his-mouth fake whisper thing and said something like, "We aren't really so fond of that president of yours, but other than that it's a good country." Then he went on to say how the rest of his family was happy to get rid of Blair since he was in bed with Bush.
...
I mean, really, who does this? Who thinks it's appropriate to insult the leader of a country in the first five minutes of meeting someone from that nation? I would never dream of doing this if I met a foreigner, and especially not in his country! I hated every aspect of living in France, and still I would never start bashing the country to a Frenchman I just met. It took me three years to tell my French relatives that I had a horrible experience in their country. Telling someone you just me is just so rude it's beyond my understanding.

I love France, but I agree with her point. I'm not wild about the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, but I would never express this to a Russian I just met on the street.

For countries that have no voice in choosing their leadership (Cuba, North Korea, etc) I might make an exception - if I was out of the reach of the secret police...





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