this post was submitted on 25 Jul 2023
102 points (99.0% liked)

Asklemmy

43963 readers
2407 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy πŸ”

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

  1. Open-ended question
  2. Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
  3. Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
  4. Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
  5. An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
 

To be more specific, my parents raised my siblings and me to "respect" them, saying "yes sir, and "no ma'am" to everything they said. Spankings, all of that. Typical super conservative evangelical parents. Before I learned better, I was that way too. I went to college and since then have embraced the left more and more.

They'll say things now and then that are really distasteful politically. Today I made an Instagram post about DeSantis lying about liberal states allowing post-birth abortions and I got several family members railing against me. I'm tired of staying quiet when this happens. I think that, because how my parents raised me, I'm afraid to speak my mind to older family members. Fuck that though.

Has anyone else had this experience? I wonder if therapy would help. I just don't know how to explain it.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] ManosTheHandsOfFate@lemmy.world 62 points 1 year ago (5 children)

I feel cynical about this and don't think we live in a time when most people's minds can truly be changed. Therefore I choose not to engage most people about politics and so find it easier to like people.

[–] minorsecond@lemm.ee 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That's the approach I've taken but not because I'm cynical about it, rather I hate conflict.

[–] Kungolicious@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Don’t forget who raised you to hate conflict in the first place.

[–] Cubes@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago

Which means they'll be easy to beat in political debate! /s

[–] DarraignTheSane@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I wish I could find it easier to simply ignore my aging parents' political views like I do with most acquaintances in the deep red state I live in, but I can't.

The people who raised me to be kind and emphasize with others now base their worldview in fear and hatred. As far as I'm concerned my parents died sometime around 2016 (or perhaps before then), and there are some kind of racist pod people in their place.

[–] OldFartPhil@lemm.ee 5 points 1 year ago

Agreed. I'm old enough to remember when you could have a rational debate with conservatives on a foreign policy question or government budget priorities or economic policy. But how do you argue with someone who believes that millions of illegal votes were cast in 2020 or that Jews secretly control the world financial system or that white people are the real victims of racism?

You can't argue with someone who lives in a different reality than you do because there are no common points of reference. It's the most insidious effect of over-exposure to conservative media and I have no idea how people can be deprogrammed.

[–] CmdrShepard@lemmy.one 3 points 1 year ago

Same. I'll rail against people spreading disinformation online, but try to ignore politics as much as possible with friends and family because nobody is going to change their beliefs and we'll just both wind up pissed at each other.

[–] atlasraven31@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago

Many people in this thread changed their mind over time.