Lots of people make an extra effort to understand those with different political views. Vera Papisova, however, took it to an entirely new level. Papisova leans left politically, and in a piece at Cosmopolitan, the 34-year-old details how she spent a year dating only men from the alt-right on a conservative dating app. She told no lies, describing herself as having a liberal background but being "Republican-curious." In the end, she went on 26 dates with 14 men. One takeaway:
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"A conclusion I came to is that these men feel like most people (including the 'mass media') don't take the time—or have no interest in taking the time—to understand them or where they come from. Valid or not, this seemed to compound their feelings of isolation, which in turn bred a lack of curiosity on their part, furthering their own intolerances."
Incredibly, one of the men she dated was someone who had once sent her death threats after a previous magazine article she'd written. Papisova recognized his email, but he didn't seem to recognize her. "He seemed soft-spoken, shy. Not like the kind of person who'd issue death threats." But his mood would shift suddenly on dates, and he would declare things like, "White, liberal women are a plague on our society." In the end, she would break it off with "Jared" and the others.
"I was too different from them, even if that was due to circumstance and upbringing, in ways that made romantic or sexual attraction impossible," she writes. "Despite my willingness to be open to anything, none of my dates progressed beyond talking." Read her full story, in which Papisova writes that the experience has prompted her to question the origins of her own political beliefs.
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