I've got three incredibly close and good friends. They aren't perfect people, ranging from typical American lib, to centrist/conservative. We generally stay away from hot button topics, because we just don't agree on stuff.
(ie : an argument that i made suggesting cops don't belong in kids showa/movies, and they were all cool with it because "what's the harm in showing kids what police should be)
I linked to a meme on Twitter just today, and the user had a hammer & sickle, after laughing one friend said" wow, hammer and sickle big yikes". They don't have any idea about where I lay politically, and frankly it's been a pretty radical shift left in the last 10 months.
Anyone else have a situation like this? And how do you approach things?
The "you know the Soviet Union actually wasn't this cartoonishly evil empire" conversation is tough, even for some genuine leftists. A century of anticommunist propaganda is a hell of a drug.
You have to pick your battles if you want to convince anyone of anything. Move them one step left on an issue they're persuadable on, then do that again and again as they start opening themselves up to even more conversations.