His wife is detached from reality and parroting a terrorist cult’s propaganda and he’s just decided not to care.
I’m not sure we watched the same video if that seems healthy and functional to you. But I mean… you do you.
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Yeah, this isn’t a healthy and functional marriage, it’s a hostage situation.
Been with my wife for over two decades now. We don’t agree on everything, but we do have hard lines that would end the marriage if either of us crossed too far. Supporting terrorists who wish half the populace of the US dead is well over that line.
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Yeah, you kinda have to draw the line when your friends or loved ones join ISIS, Al-Qaeda or the GQP.
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my most recent familial interactions have given me a small gift. a relief from guilt. ( or at least, the possibility of that. )
for a long time, ive wondered if im the problem - im the odd kid out, one of the rare lefty, non military men in my immediate tree. so, did i not do enough? am i not understanding enough? i know so many people with hard to deal with parents - and yet they manage, so why can’t i?
their full on embrace of qanon and trumpism, and their unwillingness to talk about it without shouting me down, hanging up on me, or berating me …
the only thing they want from me on the topic is for me to listen, and nod. they don’t want me to say anything in return.
f that. that’s not a relationship, and it’s not my fault. truly. they’re adults who can choose to act differently if they want to. i’m here if they ever want to learn who i am, what i believe in, and why.
it makes me sad that they’ve chosen their beliefs over a relationship with me. but that is on them. i don’t have to feel guilty about it anymore. let them worry about their role for once
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wait until you realize who MADE the internet!
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There is always a way so long as there is hope. Just as we can harm relationships we can heal them. Even when we don’t see how. Maybe some bbq therapy?
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@Gatto the only thing they want from me on the topic is for me to listen, and nod. they don’t want me to say anything in return.
Had a similar experience when eating Thanksgiving with family, a few years back during Trump’s heyday. Table full of adults wildly engaging in fictitious speculation. Eventually they all settled down and noted that I was being extremely quiet. Mind, I’m extremely outspoken and certainly not shy about saying what I think is necessary. I had just been quiet the entire time, because, when that’s what’s in the air, what can be said about it? What can you possibly add that cuts through.
When they finally asked what I felt about it, I just told them “You know me. I’m a scientist. I believe in data and measurement. I try and solve problems by finding evidence that I can rely upon. You know this is wild speculation, you know it will affect other people, and you know that this can’t be relied upon”. At least everyone had the decency to look a little shamefaced, which is why I remain firmly convinced that most people purposefully remain participatory in this delusion.
It’s all heartbreaking.
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Totally speculative thought:
Could today’s political extremism and conspiracy theorising be a generational echo of the lead-crime hypothesis?
The same cohort of population that were subject to the highest levels of highly neurotoxic lead in their childhood environment are now 30 years older than they were in the 1990s. Perhaps they have aged out of a likelihood to commit criminal violence, and into a age of political conflict?
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Terry was very aware of the history of nursery rhymes and fairy tales as cautionary stories for children. It shouldn’t be surprising that he made his own.
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A while back, a wise friend said “If there’s one emotion that’s going to save us, it’s shame.” Surprised me at the time, because she’s got very little time for perfectionism or needless guilt. But now I see where she was going with it.
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Maybe it could be phrased as hidden knowledge? “Did you hear about what Davos is doing? It is really dark, and secret, so be careful who you pass this on to…”
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Sure, computers (and the internet) have been around for a long time, but the vast majority of people in their 60’s never used a computer* until they were adults, whereas kids these days have access to them practically from birth. There’s a big difference between “I have learnt to use this new technology” and “I grew up with this old technology”.
*smartphones are computers
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I saw it put this way, and I wish I could find the quote:
“If you ask people in their 40s how much time they spend online, it’s a lot. If you ask people in their 30s, it’s even more. But if you ask people in their 20s how much time they spend online, they don’t understand the question.”
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ok, i’ll grant you that people in their 60s, sure – but you also grouped in people in their 50s, too, and i’m one of those. i first used a computer in the 70s in school and i haven’t looked back. they have been part of my everyday existence since at least the mid- to late 1980s, and inseparable from it since the early 1990s, especially as the internet came along. i may be one of The Olds as far as Gen Z is concerned, but i literally grew up with this technology, too.
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For me it’s often before I even walk into my local Walmart. You’d be surprised to see that much three percenter and 1776 shit in rural western ny lol
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The only thing missing is Cypress Hill “insane in the membrane” blasting in the background, and you have a David Lynch’ian episode defying all reality.
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Don’t shop at wally world.
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I took my first programming class at 17, and bought my first computer at 23. Forty years later, I find I’m being lumped in with people who refused to acknowledge technology.
Is that as funny as I think it is?
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The fact that she was into New Age quackery before QAnon came along is perfectly predictable. The so-called QAnon Shaman was the same way, and a friend of mine from college who was into “the power of crystals” has apparently fallen into this same rabbit hole.
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I’m very thankful that my parents never fell for the Q garbage. I’m not sure I would’ve been able to deal with them over the last few years if they managed to get neck deep in that. I agree with Lanika, Gatto, and chgoliz in that there’s only so much time in the day and time in our lives, and cutting people out of it when they come to believe truly vile, outlandish things and won’t be swayed by reason is the better option than sticking it out because they raised you, they’re your sibling, holding out hope that you can change them for the better, etc.
As I was growing up, I’ve seen more than my fair share of cartoons, movies, tv shows, and games where the theme is: Just because somebody is your own flesh and blood, that doesn’t make them someone worth devoting time and energy toward. Your family is the people that trust you, care for you, and listen to you.
It’s those people that deserve your time and energy alongside your regular endeavors, and it’s that time and energy that will make the world a better place. Trying to reach out and understand the Q cult and Trumpists, act like all it takes is one thing to change them like this is some Hallmark Channel special? That stuff won’t.
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