Re: Politics is ruining my family
Quote:
Originally Posted by
clownshooter
Shasta I'll go one more higher than Tery and say that extremists on both the right and left are guilty of fear mongering as in "if you don't believe my point of view or politics, the sky is going to fall!"
I don't know how old your dad is but allow me a possible explanation. I'm 63 which makes me a baby boomer. I grew up praying in public school, climbing under my school desk in the event of a nuclear attack (a lot of good that would do :-) ) and practice evacuations to the fallout shelter. I watched the civil rights movement from the safety of my TV not really understanding the whole thing till I moved to the south (from NY) in the late sixties, early seventies.
I suppose the previous was a long winded way to say that I have seen a lot of change in my lifetime. Unfortunately, change is very scary to some people. I have had very close friends who refused to embrace computers and technology not because they weren't smart enough or capable; I opine it was simply fear or maybe denial.
America has become more diverse. I remember an advanced management class I took for a week back in 1989. One of the things we were told is that the native born, caucasian American is on the decline and in 15-20 years the person working next to us may not be a native American and English will be a second language for him/her. Boy, were they spot on.
We have also recently experienced a really bad recession, our nation is in debt, and the climate is going to hell in a hand basket. There are a lot of social issues that weren't issues 30 years ago and some of them are very devisive.
The press (name your flavor) has taken advantage of this and has both sides of many issues foaming at the mouth.
So you may have to give your dad some time to digest everything. Once the election shock wears off, he may seek an opportunity to speak to you and it may be just to rant. Consider that a debriefing of sorts because if he does rant, you will be able to read between the lines and see what his fears really are. Even if they are unreasonable to you, they may be very real to him. Hopefully the opportunity will arise where you guys can just talk.
I don't know if this was helpful or not. I have had to go through this with a few very close acquaintances. Once they settled down and realized that they were still getting up the next morning and having a cup of coffee as usual, they began to calm down. I will earnestly hope for a reconciliation.
Oh yeah sure, the grating and most ann:glare:ying voice of reason:biggrin2:.
Re: Politics is ruining my family
Quote:
Originally Posted by
clownshooter
Once they settled down and realized that they were still getting up the next morning and having a cup of coffee as usual, they began to calm down. I will earnestly hope for a reconciliation.
I still haven't heard a word from my father. I'm contemplating not even calling him on Thanksgiving just to see how long he's going to keep this up for.
Re: Politics is ruining my family
Might not want to bring this up. Breaking news: Romney is back to pumping his own gas. :glare:
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/r...-election.html
Re: Politics is ruining my family
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Shasta
I still haven't heard a word from my father. I'm contemplating not even calling him on Thanksgiving just to see how long he's going to keep this up for.
I'm not usually this direct, but: don't do that. Call. This politics stuff is not important enough to put up a wall between a father and a daughter. It's okay to be the first to extend the olive branch even if the other person was clearly in the wrong. Isn't a good relationship worth more than being vindicated? Anyway, my guess is that even if he realized he was wrong, he'd never say it. Pride is a hard thing to swallow. But CALL. He might be mean again; just remember that he must have been very afraid (however irrationally) to speak to you the way he did. It came out as anger, I know, but really it was fear. And maybe he's still afraid. Don't let him push you away, though. Keep trying.
I know, I'm bossy. Sorry. :smile2: I've had a lot of experience this year vehemently disagreeing with people but realizing I want to hang onto them for dear life anyway.
Re: Politics is ruining my family
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Todash
I'm not usually this direct, but: don't do that. Call. This politics stuff is not important enough to put up a wall between a father and a daughter. It's okay to be the first to extend the olive branch even if the other person was clearly in the wrong. Isn't a good relationship worth more than being vindicated? Anyway, my guess is that even if he realized he was wrong, he'd never say it. Pride is a hard thing to swallow. But CALL. He might be mean again; just remember that he must have been very afraid (however irrationally) to speak to you the way he did. It came out as anger, I know, but really it was fear. And maybe he's still afraid. Don't let him push you away, though. Keep trying.
I know, I'm bossy. Sorry. :smile2: I've had a lot of experience this year vehemently disagreeing with people but realizing I want to hang onto them for dear life anyway.
But aren't you even CURIOUS as to how long it will be?
Though, I must say the last time I did that we didn't talk for 10 years. Literally.
I just really want to know if it's that important to him to do that again.
But I know you're right. I'll probably call. Because losing him for another 10 years? Nothing's that important to me.
Re: Politics is ruining my family
Quote:
Originally Posted by
not_nadine
I was unaware he knew how to do such an mundane thing.
Re: Politics is ruining my family
Quote:
Originally Posted by
not_nadine
I just read the article? This stupid secession thing makes me think that I want to send a letter to the White House asking if the state of California can ban him from moving here. Though we do really need the little bit of taxes he pays....
Re: Politics is ruining my family
Re: Politics is ruining my family
Shasta, I thought of your dad being so serious about politics when I read this. Looks like he has competition...
http://www.edmontonsun.com/2012/11/1...s-to-democrats
Re: Politics is ruining my family
Must be something in the air in AZ, because there's also this one.
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012...ot-voting?lite
