Is it literally impossible to criticize the political party you support without it coming off as “support” for the opposition nowadays?

[blueonblack22]

Sadly many people believe “admitting fault = admitting defeat” more and more nowadays. I’m personally a firm believer in figuring out WHAT is right vs. BEING right. Sometimes to figure out WHAT is right leaves you open the possibility of being previously wrong.

But we live in an increasingly less forgiving society. People will cling on to faulty past mistakes you have made regardless if you own up to them or not. We also live in a society where people rather take mental short cuts vs. using mental effort. It’s just hurts too much for some people to think. There is also an adrenaline rush people get from “being in the fight”.

NOTE: I intentionally did not throw out any politician’s names or slurs/labels above. I asked this in earnest.

[normalice]

Yeah. That's another side effect (or perhaps the intended function) of bothsidesism and why it needs to stop. Because republicans are allowed to get away with whatever lunacy they can imagine and can reliably expect the media to bothsides it for them, nothing the republican party does needs to rationally counterpoint anything the democratic party does. What republicans do no longer has to be related to what democrats do in order for the media to insist it is related, and so partiy paths have grown far apart.

So, you can't criticize democrats in any honest way without sounding like just another disgruntled Democrat. And if you do that people will wonder why you don't understand the alternative is literally global fascism so why are you doing anything at all that might chip away at our already fleeting voter enthusiasm. Or, you are repeating republican criticisms of democrats, whihpch are pretty much entirely lies, and you should know better - unless you are a republican.

And Republicans are resolute about screaming bias and partisanship no matter what is said of them so that won't work either.

[RebelinSteel]

I believe that greatly depends on the country you live in and the political system they have. Here in UK we will slag off all parties including the one we vote for, we know what a bunch of pathetic twats they are. It’s like having to decide does the devil shove a coconut or a pineapple up your arse, either way you are really fucked.

There are some parties that no one apart from the criminally insane would want in power, however after that for some seats then certain parties are more appealing. If you have a complete twat representing the party you want to elect, voting for them is a hard ask and some will vote for someone else simply to stop them being your local MP.

[NamerOfStars]

Of course not- but as you've noticed, increasingly, that's how it's perceived.