tHe was certainly odd for the eight seasons of the Minneapolis set of Netflix’s flagship dating show Love Is Blind. Most of the action went down in the pods. There, two overlapping love triangles eventually burst, and there was little to no presence in the second half of the season as the four of the most interesting cast members were not fascinated. With a few exceptions (like Dave and Lauren splitting their failure to trust her with their gossip friends and family), romantic vacations and Midwest homecoming felt relatively free of friction. But when it was time to commit, one of the five enthusiastic couples, Taylor and Daniel, Christmas enthusiasts, said, “I.” After that reaction, the truth behind “Minnesota Nice” finally came out at the reunion on Sunday.
It was an incredibly eventful episode, and the revelation was an incredibly eventful episode, from the update to confirm that what happened between Madison, Mason, Alex, and Meg remains a confusion about what multiple people are lying to. But beyond the harsh reading and hidden receipts (congratulations to Madison for hiding something in that dress), the ideological disparity that caused the two women to break it at the altar stands out. Like everything else in American life, love is blind and has become increasingly politicized these days. So it makes sense that the seasons filmed in purple during the lead-up to the 2024 election not only illuminate the partisan disparities that often manifest as gender gaps, but are also filmed in purple.
This topic first appeared after the death of Devin and Virginia’s involvement. They appeared to be one of the most compatible couples of the season, but their conversation about politics, his conservative, liberal, is constantly tense, and he shuns her attempts to elicit his specific views. The reunion reaffirmed that this was a key factor in her decision not to marry. “We didn’t collaborate on some really important things,” she explained. “Devin told me a lot about his core values. Something he didn’t want to talk about on camera.” And while she continued to respect his desire to hide his beliefs, her clarity, her own portrayal, painted drawings of a rather clear negative space. “I support the LGBTQ community 100%. I also believe that women should make the decision to choose whether or not they want to have an abortion, and that a variety of religions should be valued.” Devin’s response was characteristically vague. “For me, I can see past certain things,” he said. “I think you can be together, have a relationship and you don’t completely agree with everything. And for me, the big thing for me as a Christian is to love everyone, no matter how I feel about something.”
This account of their division reflected a more prominent conflict throughout the season in Sarah and Ben’s relationship. Religion was not a big part of her life, but Sarah gave the church a chance, which appears to be the heart of Ben’s world. However, in studying her position and teaching, she discovered a sermon about sexuality that supports “traditional” views. Despite his assurance that he was satisfied with “the community,” Ben’s views on LGBTQ rights, the movement of black life matters and other social issues seemed at best indifferent. (“I didn’t vote in the last election,” he told her in the pod. “I just left that.”) Sarah said, “Equality, religion, vaccines? For example, I raised all of these because I think they’re all important conversations. Do at least have a conversation with anything you believe in. There was no curiosity from his side.”
At the reunion, Ben admitted that his views, or lack of that, was a product of privilege, specifically that he had never thought much about his church’s position on sexual identity because he “didn’t need to know, and it wasn’t really related, because it wasn’t really related. In response, Sarah explained that he wasn’t trying to give him a litmus test. “It’s not necessarily that I was looking for the right or wrong answer,” she said. “I just wanted to have an open discussion. The problem is, it didn’t progress from the pod.” As a result of that impasse, she arrived at the altar without knowing that she really knew who Ben was.
As a state resident who supported Kamala Harris over Donald Trump in just 4% of the vote in 2024, Love is Blind Season 8 cast reflects the true disparity within Minnesota. It also reflects double digit national gender differences. This is the success of the Trump campaign by appealing to men under the age of 40. Of course, all of the above has been killed in the media for the past four months. However, these disagreements rarely belong to human terminology, especially for the millions of us who are present in more uniformly red or blue spheres, as in this season.
The experts on either side of the aisle naturally led to Sarah and Virginia’s choices as appropriate cases of their respective worldviews. A pre-revealed New York post labelled Sarah “Woke up” cited Fox News’ Pro Ben Post by Laura Ingraham and Tomi Laren. “Is there anything more annoying than a liberal white woman?” As you might imagine, the feminist-oriented blog had another read. “It’s one thing to be underedited or repelled by the nuances of our complicated (and broken) two party systems,” according to the site’s Betches. “But to be able to pretend that everything is cold, like a cleaning reminder from a dentist, to actively avoid information (aka human rights) about the biggest social issue is a literal definition of privilege.” “This whole season is proof that women are constantly at work,” wrote the scary mom blogger.
My sympathy should not be lying to the latter crowd, or should not consider the right-wing misogyny gush directed at Sarah and Virginia worthy of a non-mindful reaction. But I also find it troublesome that it goes beyond the true nature of the beliefs of either partisan or partners about the political disconnection of couples. On one side, there are two women who can’t keep up with their stance, from Sarah’s sister to a Muslim relative in Virginia, who find it to have a negative impact on those they care about. Another two men refuse to view political views as more than an abstract idea that should not be publicly discussed, and that should not be considered based on how they affect people in real life, namely their refusal to acknowledge that politics is important. The problem is, for example, considering that same-sex marriage is wrong and you vote (or refrain from voting), you can be as polite as you want to be a strange couple. You are still harming them. The inability to build a real-life relationship with Ben and Devin’s politics as Trump supporters across the US are forced to confront the negative effects of policies voted on is a form of sidious and common denial.
