For context, we're both past the 30-year mark, with myself in my mids and him pushing 40. We've known each other from Uni, have been best friends since, and the entire thing pretty much turned into a siblinghood, with his family sort of "adopting" me (I'm perpetually invited to all of their family events and gatherings, his parents love having me around, etc.) We've been there for eachother through some of our worst times, and we got along really well.
That is, until the Pandemic hit. This has been going on for a while now, but it started getting more pronounced during the Pandemic, when he went from sharing edgy memes to expressing belief in the principles behind those memes (think "I identify as an attack helicopter," "immigrants are exclusively to blame for the downfall of countries," 4chan type jokes about minorities, etc.).
On my end, I tried to discuss these things with him at first, trying to get a sense of why he was doubling down on these things, and the closest I could come to understand it is that it's a relatively irrational fear, fuelled by his tendency to not really explore the veracity of the news he reads - as an example related to his transphobia, it's like he refuses to accept that sex and gender are not inextricably linked to one another, not on a logical basis, but on a "I feel this is incorrect" basis.
Things got pretty tense back in 2022, when I felt the need to call a time off on our friendship for almost an entire year. I just couldn't play it cool when he randomly blurted out something profoundly inconsiderate and devoid of empathy. Conversations turned from heated debates to outright arguments, I could tell that the gap was widening with every subsequent one, and his beliefs seemed to solidify.
We reconciled in 2023 after his wife reached out to me expressing regret that we would lose the friendship over "politics," tried to get back to acting normally around one another, yet the same issues popped up again. This time, with even less empathy. The most recent example was when we both learnt that Trump got elected president again. I expressed a sense of empathy and regret for all of the people who would no longer be allowed to get abortions, the risk he posed to HRT beneficiaries, the danger he posed to all minorities, etc. The only thing he could come up with is "I feel nothing, they deserve it. Did it to themselves." I called him out on his utter lack of empathy, we had a brief, but poignant argument, and now we've barely been talking for two weeks. He periodically drops a message like nothing happened, but I am beyond hesitant to reply. Everything is cold and superficial.
Now, I tried to understand him and his situation... He's a relatively fresh father (his daughter is 2 years old), he is aware of the fact that the world isn't doing too well, but seems to be in denial about it which I sort of understand as being a method of self-protection, but I just cannot abide by his views anymore. No amount of panic or self-defence justifies this in my opinion.
I just don't know what to do. I mean, I do know, or at least my subconscious does, but... I don't know, guess the age and depth of our friendship makes me hesitant to drop it, although this is just the sunk cost fallacy at play... The fact that I feel I'm past my socialite days and knowing that I probably won't make any more friends any time soon doesn't much help, either.
Guess I'm just looking for confirmation around what I already know is the only option...
I was in a somewhat similar situation after the pandemic too. I used to be part of a local fighting game community in my region before COVID, even volunteering as staff for years. There were some great people in that group and I still have a couple really good friends from there.
But when the pandemic hit and all the "enlightened centrists" and people with the shittiest takes you've ever heard started crawling out of the woodwork like roaches, I felt more and more ill at ease being around them. People I'd known for years started spewing out the same gross attack helicopter jokes and edgy 4chan memes you mentioned.
A couple years back after one antisemitic joke too far (just to clarify, actually antisemitic, not anti-Israel), I decided I had enough and left the group discord and the game cold turkey. Instantly I felt my mental health improve. I searched around on Meetup and after a few months found another regional gaming group that was much more open and friendly, and I haven't looked back since.
I'm also past the age of easily going out and making friends (early 30s), so I just want to say that it's never too late to cut out people from your life who aren't worth wasting your increasingly precious time with. I'm sure you've been through all the arguments trying to convince your friend to act reasonable to no avail, and if they continue to stick their fingers in their ears and live in a fantasy world, then let them. As much as it sucks to watch, it's not worth your time, patience, or sanity to deprogram people once they've become radicalized.
Thank you, yeah... I barely have the energy to take care of myself, let alone deal with this bullcrap, I swear...
As for restarting my social life... that one's really going to be a challenge... I can feel myself closing off, and living in a country where the grand majority of the population is made up of god-bothering regressives really doesn't bring out the social animal in me...
As someone with scant social connections across the span or their life, I want to honor the difficulty of considering ending a friendship even when that friend's world view is increasingly diverging from one's own. I'm in a similar boat where my longest friendship, by far, is to someone whose become increasingly alt-right. We've been in the we-don't-talk-about-certain-topics phase for a few years now. People, a la Reddit, might say Dump Them; but it's not that easy or simple
You're 100% right, it never is, even when it's painfully obvious that it is the only solution left.
I've tried to avoid clashes, but they're increasingly inevitable, both because he seems to be settling into his closed off state, and because I'm opening myself up to the world and its problems more and more. And it's slowly becoming emotionally draining to have to dance around this particular flavour of disagreement because I cannot help but be intensely aware of the fact that these are the ideas which will make or break everything...