i dont know how to deal with the fact that close and extended family are now full blown fascists. i dont know what to do about it and i physically cannot pretend that everything is okay when i interact with them.
@wrenman This has been an issue for me regarding some members of my wife’s family. She overlooks it. I cannot and will not. I no longer attend ANY family events if even one of the fascists will attend. I’ve moved on. The only time my wife and I have issues is when a member of her family creates a problem for us. Draw your lines. Enforce your boundaries. Disconnect. It’s the only way to preserve tranquility… as painful as that may be.
@paulcraig901 the problem is, its my side of the family. parents, aunts, uncles, cousins. people who raised me as a child. its not like they create issues when we meet but just the fact that i know they hold these views and think they are perfectly normal views to have.
@wrenman I’m truly sorry you’re having to deal with this. I know it hurts. I’ve disconnected from more than a few friends and former colleagues for the same reason. I have lost so much respect for so many since 2016. I have no good answers… only necessary actions. I hope one day they’ll all awaken from their fever dream… and that there is a world still in existence and ready to receive them.
@wrenman until my father died I had a similar problem. I don’t miss him one bit. My mother, while not being a full bore fascist, fails to see the fascism amongst the republicans. We are going to read Cheney’s book together as a family. Soon. Hoping that will begin to open her eyes. I am trying to practice compassion as much as possible. People like your family and my mother are victims of propaganda which is insidious in its ability to make good people believe bad things.
@wrenman With the things going on in India right now, I’ve muted WhatsApp coz, apart from non-Hindus, almost everyone is on that bandwagon, or, should I say, rath. It’s disgusting, and there are Hindus who are not comfortable with it but are also hesitant to say anything. You may remember this blogger from our early days. His thread puts into perspective what the minorities in India are going through
@pratik i am just imagining the sheer mental loneliness every indian muslim must be experiencing right now, living in a country that has made it a point to make them feel unwanted.
@mbkriegh @wrenman If you are seeking to understand the underlying whys of certain individual’s embrace of fascism, I’ll make the same book recommendation I’ve made to everyone I know for the last decade. Eric Hoffer’s True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements explains the underlying psychology. And then… Martin Gurri’s The Revolt of the Public explains how we arrived at this point from a historical perspective. Both works have helped me understand and cope.