So, I am a left leaning person in a fairly conservatively minded country. I, by no means, think I am well versed in my politics, I just like to study them and have a generally optimistic and progressively alligened view on things. I try not to be too dogmatic, and I only debate people who want to debate, as that's what makes it fun and interesting, even when it does get heated.
Anyways, yesterday in work, I was enjoying my lunch break, chatting to my coworkers about Christmas and work gossip, normal ass stuff, when the 'buddy' type manager comes in. He's the type of guy to call all the customers 'brother' and 'dude' and generally attempts to act cool in front of the younger staff (who range from 16 onwards, so a lot of them like him because he's the nice, teacher-like manager who is chill with them). I've had no issues with him in the past and I like him mostly, even if I find him a bit annoying. We get along and the odd time we have talked about history or social issues or movies or whatever. He is the time of fella who believes he already knows everything because he's older, that's fine, he can have that, I'm just glad to be talking about some of my interests in a neutral setting. He came in during my hour-long break and sat down across from me and says to me in a jokey tone, 'So OP, I hear you re somewhat of an activist, I'm a capitalist myself, are you gonna blame me for all the wrong things in the world'. I was a bit put out and surprised by this, as I was just five seconds ago have a normal conversation, but now I've to randomly defend my politics. I said to him something to the effect of, 'Yeah [manager's name], I don't know who told you that, but I don't really want to talk about politics in work, let alone do I want to talk about it on my break'.
He proceeds to try and goade me into an argument, saying that I can't even defend '”my”” political system, and that I don't believe in democracy and individual rights. I literally said to him that he doesn't know me and obviously I believe in those things but I have my own views on them, I don't want to talk about it. In the end some of the stuff he was saying annoyed me so I explained some of my positions, regarding housing and the welfare state, to which he agreed on anyways, which made the argument refundent anyways.
What irritated me so much is a) he randomly decided to use my politics (which he didn't know anything about in the first place) against me, b) was constantly contradicting himself and wasn't making any sense, (at one point he was defending a person's right in [my European country] to do whatever they wanted with their lives, whilst also saying that if people succumb to addictions or are societally oppressed economically, i.e., poor, they should 'just work hard and everything will come to them', which is nearly always not the case. c) he was overtly nationalistic in his sentiments. One of the ways I eventually made him fuck off was, he said something to me in our native language that is dying out and I told him, oh I don't speak that dead tongue which really pissed him off lol, (he has also expressed racist and homophobic comments towards staff members, despite me telling him that him being personally offended at trans people is irrelevant to them choosing to transion, and also if he believed so much in individual liberty, why does he care lol d) he attempted to use other staff members in the break room against me to back up his 'arguments', despite them not knowing what he was asking or talking about, e) he reduced the conversation at the end to a popularity contest, saying to one of the staff 'do you like OP', to which the other fella awkwardly goes 'yeah he's nice' – he then claimed that defeated my politics since I'm not popular?? f) most of his 'evidence' was anecdotal, bemoaning against the poor for being poor, despite him living comfortably, and just obviously making up shit on the spot. Even when I gave him fact-checkable evidence from a reputable source of how nearly 680,000 people in my country were living dangerously close to the poverty line, he waved it off and told me to: 'fuck off out of that' as if that was an answer lol. He refused evidence that contradicted with his world view of 'this country is the best country because I live well.'
Anyways there was so much more but this post is already long enough. Essentially, tldr I was verbally assaulted for my political views while on lunch break by a manager, despite never stating my opinions to him, and expressing that I didn't want an argument on my break. I'm pretty upset by this exprience, mostly embarresed for his sake for having ridiculous views. Oh also at the end he goes to me, 'see OP, I think you feel like you ve finally found your intellectual match in me, you see' which reeks of insecurity imo.