I do want to know more than I ever thought I needed to! She said, ordering up the book from the library.

I don't know guys. I think maybe we should be more generous with LW2 and remember that this was an argument between supposedly close and intimate friends. We don't know what LW2 said to Alice, or what the politics the argument was about, or what was said by either party over the course of the argument. We don't know what kind of a person Alice is. We can't assume that just because LW2 characterized her as more liberal that she is. Or that because she is, she was right or is a better person than LW2. We can't assume that her comment was justified and not just a last nasty shot at LW2 who was maybe shakily trying to make amends. And we will never know.

There's no place like a heated argument to make people less articulate and more dogmatic than they actually are. So we can't take Alice's last comment as revealing of what LW2 thinks or believes. We can only take it as revealing of how Alice thought LW2 believed. It seems to me LW2 was very distressed by this comment and its implications that they were unloving (towards that group, whomever they are) and unloved (by their friend). Personally, I think LW2's distress at the comment shows they don't feel the way their friend thinks they do based on their argument. Otherwise, I don't think they would have mentioned it in the letter/been so upset by it.

In any case, LW2, to you I say. This sucks. I've been you and I've been Alice. I've been the left and the leaving. There is no more painful thing than a friendship that feels precarious. We hope, all of us, that our friends will love us in despite of our worst selves, and our shaky and sometimes misguided beliefs. We all hope to be able to be loved by someone who will forgive us our worst words. Even though we know that maybe this is a terrible thing to want., and an utterly greedy thing to demand. Its scary to have these fights because they reveal not just a disagreement in position, but in approach. These disagreements with loved ones are as much about how we argue and how we perceive the argument as they are about what we argue. Some of my most distressing political fights with friends and family had less to do with having differing beliefs than with differing perspectives. Some of them, we can come back from. Some of them, we cannot.

Which is all to say, maybe when you have a conversation with your friends, talk about how you argue and communicate, and maybe identify where miscommunication happens/ed. I think cbear had a good point about values not necessarily always aligning with politics--like do you share the same values? Do you communicate well in other areas of your friendship? Ask yourself: What are you trying to get out of an argument, whether political, personal, or both? Do you want them to understand you? Or to agree with you? What do they want out of an argument? Do they want your understanding or your agreement? In part, having these arguments with friends are about learning to trust each other, that you have mutual goodwill towards each other, as they are about larger ideas. Good luck in your conversation. I hope your friendship is not as precarious as you think. And if not, I hope you find a bosom friendship elsewhere.

Soul-stealing eyes. I can't explain further. You've either looked into them or you haven't.

That scene from "10 Things I Hate About You" where Julia Stiles backs her car into Andrew Keegan's and Heath Ledger's character just stands on the sidewalk and laughs, totally into her having just done that but not offering any other commentary other than laughter.

Guys. I've come back to say I'm pretty sure the Hogwarts Houses map onto astrology/occult elemental stuff. Water signs=Slytherin, Fire signs=Gryffindor, Earth signs=Hufflepuff, Air signs=Ravenclaw. Hells bells, even the color schemes and where they are located in the building TOTALLY support this.

Conversation with friend upon my learning that I was Slytherin:

Me: I mean, I don't know. I just don't see myself as a Slytherin
Her: I think you are. It's not like you are immoral . . .
Me interrupting: Oh I don't care about morality! . . . .Okay, Yes I just heard it. I am a Slytherin.

Once a Texan told me I was "irreverent" so I'm pretty sure I would be burned as a witch

Have you ever noticed in internet quizzes about Mr. Darcy, Wishbone as Darcy is never an option? What's up with that? Clearly, Wishbone was the best Darcy. Or at least, better than Laurence Olivier.