While I sit here writing this, I am trying to remain calm knowing that the mail-in ballots are still being counted and hoping that the orange monstrosity will not prevail. It’s hard, trying to maintain a level of calm but it’s necessary. Like many of you, more disturbing to me is the fact that we, obviously, live in a country where kindn…
While I sit here writing this, I am trying to remain calm knowing that the mail-in ballots are still being counted and hoping that the orange monstrosity will not prevail. It’s hard, trying to maintain a level of calm but it’s necessary. Like many of you, more disturbing to me is the fact that we, obviously, live in a country where kindness doesn’t matter, care of your fellow human is lacking, and morals, well they seems to have been left on the side of the road for the street sweepers. That so many people voted for Trump is crushing. What have we become? When Biden is elected (remaining optimistic), where do we go from here as a fellow citizens? The sliver of light in my heart is knowing that there are people, like all of you, who do care, who have morals, and will continue to fight for the soul of our nation. Yet, I must be honest, and this isn’t easy for me, I have decided that I will never be able to look at those who voted for and support Trump, including family and close friends, the same. Their support and vote says what is truly in their heart and they won’t be able to convince me otherwise. So, to my friends here in this community, continue to have hope as we get through these next couple of days and breathe.
Im having the same struggle. My entire family minus my lone self is voting for Trump. They truly believe wholeheartedly, that if Biden is elected we will turn into communist China. I understand their fear. I am so glad that I found HCR and now have an understanding that this "socialist" idea has always been what Reps have accused the other party of, its nothing new. I just don't know how we get over this hurdle. How we help others understand that leveling the playing field is better for all of us.
Honest Education would help. If high schools taught the truth in history classes, as put forth in this letter, instead of the patriotic bullshit I got in the early '60s and is apparently still being fed to the ignorant non-critical thinkers today would be a start. (Yes, my redneck bro in Mississippi actually compared "communism" & "democracy" in one of his tirades to this "libtard.")
Yes! Yes! Yes! I recently finished "Lies My Teacher Told Me," by James Loewen. I believe education plays a huge role in this way. But how do we get kids interested in this stuff? I know there is so much I don't remember from high school. I was a good student but didn't care much about history because I didn't see how it was relevant to today. Boy was I wrong. Reading HCR's books and newsletters has shown me how crucial it is to understand how the past influences our present and the future.
I SO agree! I'm remembering from the 50s & really dont remember much from history or "social studies" - not all that interested. Which is sad - I have a great granddaughter - shes 14 - who is interested in - early history not only of this country but others. I have to hope shes not the exception. Another subject that I keep hearing is the lack of civics taught in schools. They did not have civics classes when I was in school - do you mean to tell me that for the past 60 some years - far too many kids (& now adults) didnt have the opportunity to actually learn how a government runs? Listening to Trumpists talk - It appears that way.
One particular thing that I learned THIS YEAR - for petes sake - was about the massacre in Tulsa OK! Then read about another in NC - and now I'm positive that there were far more than that. Juneteenth? Never heard of it. AND not just the absolute horrors done to black americans, but what was really done to our NATIVE Americans! Have read part of Howard Zinn's Peoples History of the US. I know I wont be able to do more than skim parts of it - its pretty long & very detailed. But the gist of it is how we - European whites - have destroyed so many & so much in the push to acquire!
Sorry for going on & on - but in this particular blog - feels like I'm with so many like-minded people.
Yes! I've also read part of "A People's History" I've had it on hold again at the library. Just became available today! I too just learned about the Tulsa massacre this year! I have to give credit to Trump in that sometimes it takes something as drastic as this to get people motivated to take action. I have never felt a more dire need to get involved and do my part! I am engaging for the first time on here and for the first time in months I'm feeling hopeful in that there is a community of like minded people that I can support and feel supported by. Regardless of the outcome of this election I am so glad to have this community!
I got my copy at the library too. Stopped buying books a couple years ago - have lots & I re-read them. But really adding more to the quantity already here just is not financially (or space wise) a good thing to do!
The Republicans hated Howard Zinn and called him a communist for years. Cousins in Richmond were taught that the Civil War was a draw. Looks like we will continue to dumb down the electorate through false patriotism and constant lies for a long time to come.
Yeah - I read that somewhere - probably that was an added reason to get the book! A draw, huh? As I said earlier - our education is sadly under-whelming (it appears) and has been, I guess. Read somewhere that history is written by the winners-seems to be true.
No! No! No! Wake up. Americans vote their pocketbook, not their conscience.
I spent a great portion of my working life as a stockbroker and Certified Financial Planner. Time and again I witnessed situations regarding inheritances where as long as mom was alive, all was well and good among siblings, everyone said they understood how things were supposed to be when mom died. Yes, Sally’s name was on a joint account with mom because Sally was the one living closest and tending to mom’s business, but that account would be shared equally when mom died—everyone understood. As long as the money wasn’t really on the line, everyone was always generous and magnanimous . Then, mom died money and all hell broke loose. Sally, who now had legal ownership of the previously joint tenant account, invariably rationalized mom wanted her to have that money as compensation for services rendered. Commonly the other siblings were effectively disinherited and familial bonds severed. My point is...when push comes to shove, most people are more influenced their pocketbook than their conscience even when it involves their families. Until the Democratic Party acknowledges this, they are always going to vulnerable to charges of being socialists. History is relevant, but human nature rules.
Or that could have been a dysfunctional family. My mom had a bunch of investments that dad set up in the '60s and when she died my sister who had guardianship cashed them all out to the tune of half a million. So, she sent me a quarter million (the only thing that let me retire on SS). Since sis took care of mom with Alzheimer's for years I tried to return some, but she informed me that she had gotten money from insurance for her care. I guess I am lucky that my sis also has integrity and is not a tRump supporter.
"most people are more influenced by their pocketbook than conscience"...A revelatory statement of the depth of family disfunction. There's a view - you could say a mandala with the 4 cardinal directions - that I've found helpful in understanding dynamics. Power - North - sits opposite to Love - South. Truth - East sits opposite to Wisdom in the West. Where a situation is governed mostly by Power, there is no love. Where a situation is governed mostly by Love, there is little manifestation, practical achievement you could say. Truth - brings balance to Power and Love. A healthy family environment functions on all 4 cylinders in harmony and balance. As for socialism, I'd like to know what you mean by that? Interestingly, there are at least a handful of highly performing countries ranking high on an index of societal happiness that enjoy hybrid socialist structures. Indeed, our Social Security and Medicare and library and public schools systems are all socialistic structures.
Good thoughts. Trying to get so many Trumpsters to understand the difference between socialism as a government and socialistic programs is mind-boggling
I can understand where the sibling that took care of Mom thought of compensation, that's called caregiver salary (which is usually pitiful anyway). My wife and I were lucky to have a sibling watching out for our parents and we compensated them (my sister-in-law) still. Mom should have had a will (or even a trust) and this issue talked out among the family way before Mom "croaked". That way everyone would get their "fair" share.
You missed my point. The point is...when the money is actually on the line, virtually everyone rationalizes their actions to grab all they can. In case you don’t know, ownership as joint tenants passes assets outside of a will or trust.
I absolutely agree, but one has to keep in mind that the curriculum in ‘public schools’, paid for by taxpayers, is determined by a State’s Department of Education which follows the mandates of the Federal Department of Education if the State hopes to receive federal funding it desperately needs to function. When the business community began to dictate the ‘model’ schools were to follow with ‘data-driven’ results (‘No Child Left Behind’ and ‘The Race to the Top’= endless standardised testing), teachers were forced to comply and ‘teach to the test’. Even before these times, teachers had to ‘teach to the curriculum’ as mandated by the State; any deviation ‘off script’ was grounds for a disciplinary visit to principal’s office (believe me, I was called into the principal’s office more times as a teacher than ever as a student!). Obviously, I wasn’t the most adept at ‘flying under the radar’, but I did my best to answer, honestly, my students’ questions and tell them the truth, but I was hobbled and hamstrung all the time.
The reason we, as kids, never learned about the injustices and atrocities our White government and citizenry perpetrated against women and people of colour, the truth of our violent racism and bigotry, is that the government didn’t want us to know. State-run public schools were/are in the Business of maintaining and perpetuating the status quo.
Something funny about this. I have a "friend" (knew him a long time ago, now just on fb) who teaches high school history. He's def a bit of a racist and he regularly RIPS Howard Zinn as a charlatan with an agenda who wrote a liberal bible of lies and manipulation. It's not that people are uneducated. It's that people are miseducated and confirmation bias is strong. I have absolutely no idea how to overcome that. There's ni getting through.
I can remember exactly two public school teachers who wouldn't have made the world a better place pushing them out the window. The rest are this undifferentiated mass I spent most of 12 years ignoring. Thank god for the main branch of the Denver Public Library and my father's "adult" card that let me check out 10 books at a time, every other Saturday.
Graduating 125 from the bottom of a class of 850 from high school, when I came back from the service my options were limited. I could get into Colorado State College (the "University" of Northern Colorado the past 50 years or so), the state teacher's school, where all you had to do was graduate from high school. I had no plans of being a teacher, but finally at the beginning of sophomore year, I took an "education" class, Education Psychology. The class was rote learning of the "perfesser's" text book, with "tests" being fill in the blanks from the book. Most of my fellow students were idiots. I was working in the school PR department, where I read a report that for 80% of the student body, the school was the one they could get into, not even #3 on their list, and that the majority were there with "C" averages from high school.
All my questions about why I had hated 12 years of public school were answered that quarter, seeing what they made teachers out of and how they went about it. Needless to say, I departed the end of the quarter and finished actual "higher education" in California.
How any actual "good" teacher ever came out of that system is beyond me. Then 40 years later, during a period of extended unemployment, I considered doing substitute teaching. I had to take the CBEST test (the test students have to take to graduate from high school). I didn't study for it, walked in, took the test on subjects I hadn't thought of since public school, walked out 90 minutes later (you had 4 hours to take it) and scored a 94 out of 100. The majority of the test-takers were recent college graduates, who had taken "prep" classes for the test. I learned there was a 50% flunk rate.
How anyone gets an "education" in the American public school system is a miracle. I educated myself in spite of the system down at that library, reading what interested me (thank goodness my grandmothers had been teachers, and taught me phonics at age 4 - since the Denver Public Schools adopted "word recognition" reading "education" the year I was in first grade - nobody ever came out of that as more than a semi-functional semi-literate. And that was nearly 70 years ago. The miseducation of America has been going on a looooonnnnnng time.
Oh, and we did have "civics" classes, in which I was the only one who didn't sleep through them.
Right. There are so many who want to influence history textbooks to canx out anything about slavery. Accordingly, history should be about true patriotism and rah-rah-rah.
It sure is dismaying to realize you are the one in your family who is alive in their Being today. And, your awareness of their distorted perspective is the start of a productive inquiry into your understanding of --how they have come to believe it. What sources do they draw their information from? Media? Family history? Friends? Internet? What is their fear about? Loss? Loss of what? Oppression? What does socialism look like to them? Communism? Do they understand social security, public schools, libraries, Medicare are all socialistic structures? As you glean information from them it becomes a repository of useful facts usable in the future to create meaningful, clear ways to convey and educate about socialism in ways that takes the fear away. You can contribute a lot to the public dialogue. Many of the young adults today are free of the paranoia old folks like myself (late 70's) were inculcated with. That is a good thing.
I am a sponge for information. Ive had a lot of trauma in my life that has made me question everything and for that I am grateful. When people started using the socialism word I looked up the meaning. I find we throw words around we don't even understand and I also happened on a great article about socialism and how the understanding of the word has changed over time.
My problem was that for every article I shared 4 were sent back at me "proving" the other side.
Family members started attacking me on Facebook, calling me names and basically saying I was a communist for believing that black lives matter, because the organization is marxist. I have had to stop all talk of politics with family. We get nowhere and it drives us further apart.
I've been told the youth of today are ignorant and that the paranoia you describe is valid and they have no idea what they are in for. I dont agree.
I've had the same experience. I start talking and my family looks at me like I look at QANON believers. They see me as the crazy one. I now leave the room or go inside to my safe place as soon as politics come up. There is no getting through.
Carl Jung, the great psychoanalyst, once said that in every family there is always one who can break the harmful family patterns. So take heart, Krista. You're the pioneer. It's tricky, but you may want to have a go of staying in there when politics comes up. But, sit back, get curious, maybe ask yourself - what can I learn here in terms of content but especially - a personal interest of mine - where and how did my family come up with their opinions? And, what do they use to support their opinions? Others' opinions? facts/research outcomes? family stories? experiences? media? internet sites? books? observations? travels? As soon as they get snarky, tell them, as much as you'd like to explore more with them and get to know them better, that you have a rule for yourself. The Self-Respect rule. It forbids you to judge others for their opinions and forbids yourself to stay in the presence of disrespect.
Good for you, Jennifer. You know your own mind. You searched and found information. Now you are in a strong independent position to discern opinion from fact. Clearly, you have an open, inquiring mind graced with life giving life broadening curiosity. You like to think for yourself instead of grafting on in whole cloth others' opinions and ideas. I just read this on a google site: "BLM openly dedicates itself creating the conditions for Black Liberation through the abolition of systems and institutions of white supremacy, capitalism, patriarchy and colonialism'” Suggestions: Ask your family members if they're interested in an open dialogue? An open dialogue is one where the personhood of the "other" is respected, not judged, and name calling is off limits. If they say, "no" - well then, you know they're set in their ways. You could say, "that saddens me as I wish we could explore our ideas with each other."If their "no" persists, Save your energy for someone who is searching for answers. If they say "yes" but break the rules (call you names), say thanks and hang up, end of story. If they say "yes" - Let your curiosity guide your questions. I'm curious about these things; Do you think only white people should be in positions of power and call the shots? How come? How would they feel if they imagined themselves to be Black or Asian? How was colonialism painful for people of color? Is there a difference between communism and socialism? What is it? What do they think of Scandinavian socialistic structures? the Netherlands? Denmark's? The USA's socialistic forms (public schools, social security, Medicare, public libraries)? Do they see any efforts to maintain White Supremacy? How do they feel about labeling someone by their packaging?
When Hillary Clinton talked about Trump supporters as "deplorable", I think she was right on target. Those who voted for Trump in 2016 should have realized by now the failed experiment they supported; yet they vote again making the same mistake - deplorable.
I would add that any person who understands what's at stake who voted for Trump. I do believe the majority of American citizens are horrified, but the electoral college is allowing a few people who aren't to make this a nail biter.. that's what Heather is saying here.
"What we are seeing in this election is the result of voter suppression across the southern states, along with an Electoral College that has been corrupted from its original intent and is now artificially skewed toward rural states"
While I sit here writing this, I am trying to remain calm knowing that the mail-in ballots are still being counted and hoping that the orange monstrosity will not prevail. It’s hard, trying to maintain a level of calm but it’s necessary. Like many of you, more disturbing to me is the fact that we, obviously, live in a country where kindness doesn’t matter, care of your fellow human is lacking, and morals, well they seems to have been left on the side of the road for the street sweepers. That so many people voted for Trump is crushing. What have we become? When Biden is elected (remaining optimistic), where do we go from here as a fellow citizens? The sliver of light in my heart is knowing that there are people, like all of you, who do care, who have morals, and will continue to fight for the soul of our nation. Yet, I must be honest, and this isn’t easy for me, I have decided that I will never be able to look at those who voted for and support Trump, including family and close friends, the same. Their support and vote says what is truly in their heart and they won’t be able to convince me otherwise. So, to my friends here in this community, continue to have hope as we get through these next couple of days and breathe.
Im having the same struggle. My entire family minus my lone self is voting for Trump. They truly believe wholeheartedly, that if Biden is elected we will turn into communist China. I understand their fear. I am so glad that I found HCR and now have an understanding that this "socialist" idea has always been what Reps have accused the other party of, its nothing new. I just don't know how we get over this hurdle. How we help others understand that leveling the playing field is better for all of us.
Honest Education would help. If high schools taught the truth in history classes, as put forth in this letter, instead of the patriotic bullshit I got in the early '60s and is apparently still being fed to the ignorant non-critical thinkers today would be a start. (Yes, my redneck bro in Mississippi actually compared "communism" & "democracy" in one of his tirades to this "libtard.")
Yes! Yes! Yes! I recently finished "Lies My Teacher Told Me," by James Loewen. I believe education plays a huge role in this way. But how do we get kids interested in this stuff? I know there is so much I don't remember from high school. I was a good student but didn't care much about history because I didn't see how it was relevant to today. Boy was I wrong. Reading HCR's books and newsletters has shown me how crucial it is to understand how the past influences our present and the future.
I SO agree! I'm remembering from the 50s & really dont remember much from history or "social studies" - not all that interested. Which is sad - I have a great granddaughter - shes 14 - who is interested in - early history not only of this country but others. I have to hope shes not the exception. Another subject that I keep hearing is the lack of civics taught in schools. They did not have civics classes when I was in school - do you mean to tell me that for the past 60 some years - far too many kids (& now adults) didnt have the opportunity to actually learn how a government runs? Listening to Trumpists talk - It appears that way.
One particular thing that I learned THIS YEAR - for petes sake - was about the massacre in Tulsa OK! Then read about another in NC - and now I'm positive that there were far more than that. Juneteenth? Never heard of it. AND not just the absolute horrors done to black americans, but what was really done to our NATIVE Americans! Have read part of Howard Zinn's Peoples History of the US. I know I wont be able to do more than skim parts of it - its pretty long & very detailed. But the gist of it is how we - European whites - have destroyed so many & so much in the push to acquire!
Sorry for going on & on - but in this particular blog - feels like I'm with so many like-minded people.
Yes! I've also read part of "A People's History" I've had it on hold again at the library. Just became available today! I too just learned about the Tulsa massacre this year! I have to give credit to Trump in that sometimes it takes something as drastic as this to get people motivated to take action. I have never felt a more dire need to get involved and do my part! I am engaging for the first time on here and for the first time in months I'm feeling hopeful in that there is a community of like minded people that I can support and feel supported by. Regardless of the outcome of this election I am so glad to have this community!
I got my copy at the library too. Stopped buying books a couple years ago - have lots & I re-read them. But really adding more to the quantity already here just is not financially (or space wise) a good thing to do!
The Republicans hated Howard Zinn and called him a communist for years. Cousins in Richmond were taught that the Civil War was a draw. Looks like we will continue to dumb down the electorate through false patriotism and constant lies for a long time to come.
Yeah - I read that somewhere - probably that was an added reason to get the book! A draw, huh? As I said earlier - our education is sadly under-whelming (it appears) and has been, I guess. Read somewhere that history is written by the winners-seems to be true.
No! No! No! Wake up. Americans vote their pocketbook, not their conscience.
I spent a great portion of my working life as a stockbroker and Certified Financial Planner. Time and again I witnessed situations regarding inheritances where as long as mom was alive, all was well and good among siblings, everyone said they understood how things were supposed to be when mom died. Yes, Sally’s name was on a joint account with mom because Sally was the one living closest and tending to mom’s business, but that account would be shared equally when mom died—everyone understood. As long as the money wasn’t really on the line, everyone was always generous and magnanimous . Then, mom died money and all hell broke loose. Sally, who now had legal ownership of the previously joint tenant account, invariably rationalized mom wanted her to have that money as compensation for services rendered. Commonly the other siblings were effectively disinherited and familial bonds severed. My point is...when push comes to shove, most people are more influenced their pocketbook than their conscience even when it involves their families. Until the Democratic Party acknowledges this, they are always going to vulnerable to charges of being socialists. History is relevant, but human nature rules.
Or that could have been a dysfunctional family. My mom had a bunch of investments that dad set up in the '60s and when she died my sister who had guardianship cashed them all out to the tune of half a million. So, she sent me a quarter million (the only thing that let me retire on SS). Since sis took care of mom with Alzheimer's for years I tried to return some, but she informed me that she had gotten money from insurance for her care. I guess I am lucky that my sis also has integrity and is not a tRump supporter.
Rob Boyte, you and your sister are good people
I had the same experience, Rob, with my two sisters when my mom passed.
"most people are more influenced by their pocketbook than conscience"...A revelatory statement of the depth of family disfunction. There's a view - you could say a mandala with the 4 cardinal directions - that I've found helpful in understanding dynamics. Power - North - sits opposite to Love - South. Truth - East sits opposite to Wisdom in the West. Where a situation is governed mostly by Power, there is no love. Where a situation is governed mostly by Love, there is little manifestation, practical achievement you could say. Truth - brings balance to Power and Love. A healthy family environment functions on all 4 cylinders in harmony and balance. As for socialism, I'd like to know what you mean by that? Interestingly, there are at least a handful of highly performing countries ranking high on an index of societal happiness that enjoy hybrid socialist structures. Indeed, our Social Security and Medicare and library and public schools systems are all socialistic structures.
Good thoughts. Trying to get so many Trumpsters to understand the difference between socialism as a government and socialistic programs is mind-boggling
Plain Truth.
I can understand where the sibling that took care of Mom thought of compensation, that's called caregiver salary (which is usually pitiful anyway). My wife and I were lucky to have a sibling watching out for our parents and we compensated them (my sister-in-law) still. Mom should have had a will (or even a trust) and this issue talked out among the family way before Mom "croaked". That way everyone would get their "fair" share.
You missed my point. The point is...when the money is actually on the line, virtually everyone rationalizes their actions to grab all they can. In case you don’t know, ownership as joint tenants passes assets outside of a will or trust.
Great perspective and insight!
I absolutely agree, but one has to keep in mind that the curriculum in ‘public schools’, paid for by taxpayers, is determined by a State’s Department of Education which follows the mandates of the Federal Department of Education if the State hopes to receive federal funding it desperately needs to function. When the business community began to dictate the ‘model’ schools were to follow with ‘data-driven’ results (‘No Child Left Behind’ and ‘The Race to the Top’= endless standardised testing), teachers were forced to comply and ‘teach to the test’. Even before these times, teachers had to ‘teach to the curriculum’ as mandated by the State; any deviation ‘off script’ was grounds for a disciplinary visit to principal’s office (believe me, I was called into the principal’s office more times as a teacher than ever as a student!). Obviously, I wasn’t the most adept at ‘flying under the radar’, but I did my best to answer, honestly, my students’ questions and tell them the truth, but I was hobbled and hamstrung all the time.
The reason we, as kids, never learned about the injustices and atrocities our White government and citizenry perpetrated against women and people of colour, the truth of our violent racism and bigotry, is that the government didn’t want us to know. State-run public schools were/are in the Business of maintaining and perpetuating the status quo.
Something funny about this. I have a "friend" (knew him a long time ago, now just on fb) who teaches high school history. He's def a bit of a racist and he regularly RIPS Howard Zinn as a charlatan with an agenda who wrote a liberal bible of lies and manipulation. It's not that people are uneducated. It's that people are miseducated and confirmation bias is strong. I have absolutely no idea how to overcome that. There's ni getting through.
I can remember exactly two public school teachers who wouldn't have made the world a better place pushing them out the window. The rest are this undifferentiated mass I spent most of 12 years ignoring. Thank god for the main branch of the Denver Public Library and my father's "adult" card that let me check out 10 books at a time, every other Saturday.
Graduating 125 from the bottom of a class of 850 from high school, when I came back from the service my options were limited. I could get into Colorado State College (the "University" of Northern Colorado the past 50 years or so), the state teacher's school, where all you had to do was graduate from high school. I had no plans of being a teacher, but finally at the beginning of sophomore year, I took an "education" class, Education Psychology. The class was rote learning of the "perfesser's" text book, with "tests" being fill in the blanks from the book. Most of my fellow students were idiots. I was working in the school PR department, where I read a report that for 80% of the student body, the school was the one they could get into, not even #3 on their list, and that the majority were there with "C" averages from high school.
All my questions about why I had hated 12 years of public school were answered that quarter, seeing what they made teachers out of and how they went about it. Needless to say, I departed the end of the quarter and finished actual "higher education" in California.
How any actual "good" teacher ever came out of that system is beyond me. Then 40 years later, during a period of extended unemployment, I considered doing substitute teaching. I had to take the CBEST test (the test students have to take to graduate from high school). I didn't study for it, walked in, took the test on subjects I hadn't thought of since public school, walked out 90 minutes later (you had 4 hours to take it) and scored a 94 out of 100. The majority of the test-takers were recent college graduates, who had taken "prep" classes for the test. I learned there was a 50% flunk rate.
How anyone gets an "education" in the American public school system is a miracle. I educated myself in spite of the system down at that library, reading what interested me (thank goodness my grandmothers had been teachers, and taught me phonics at age 4 - since the Denver Public Schools adopted "word recognition" reading "education" the year I was in first grade - nobody ever came out of that as more than a semi-functional semi-literate. And that was nearly 70 years ago. The miseducation of America has been going on a looooonnnnnng time.
Oh, and we did have "civics" classes, in which I was the only one who didn't sleep through them.
Don't underestimate state teachers' colleges. Lyndon Johnson went to one of those.
*no* getting through {eye roll}
Right. There are so many who want to influence history textbooks to canx out anything about slavery. Accordingly, history should be about true patriotism and rah-rah-rah.
Agreed.
It sure is dismaying to realize you are the one in your family who is alive in their Being today. And, your awareness of their distorted perspective is the start of a productive inquiry into your understanding of --how they have come to believe it. What sources do they draw their information from? Media? Family history? Friends? Internet? What is their fear about? Loss? Loss of what? Oppression? What does socialism look like to them? Communism? Do they understand social security, public schools, libraries, Medicare are all socialistic structures? As you glean information from them it becomes a repository of useful facts usable in the future to create meaningful, clear ways to convey and educate about socialism in ways that takes the fear away. You can contribute a lot to the public dialogue. Many of the young adults today are free of the paranoia old folks like myself (late 70's) were inculcated with. That is a good thing.
I am a sponge for information. Ive had a lot of trauma in my life that has made me question everything and for that I am grateful. When people started using the socialism word I looked up the meaning. I find we throw words around we don't even understand and I also happened on a great article about socialism and how the understanding of the word has changed over time.
https://news.gallup.com/opinion/polling-matters/243362/meaning-socialism-americans-today.aspx
My problem was that for every article I shared 4 were sent back at me "proving" the other side.
Family members started attacking me on Facebook, calling me names and basically saying I was a communist for believing that black lives matter, because the organization is marxist. I have had to stop all talk of politics with family. We get nowhere and it drives us further apart.
I've been told the youth of today are ignorant and that the paranoia you describe is valid and they have no idea what they are in for. I dont agree.
I've had the same experience. I start talking and my family looks at me like I look at QANON believers. They see me as the crazy one. I now leave the room or go inside to my safe place as soon as politics come up. There is no getting through.
Carl Jung, the great psychoanalyst, once said that in every family there is always one who can break the harmful family patterns. So take heart, Krista. You're the pioneer. It's tricky, but you may want to have a go of staying in there when politics comes up. But, sit back, get curious, maybe ask yourself - what can I learn here in terms of content but especially - a personal interest of mine - where and how did my family come up with their opinions? And, what do they use to support their opinions? Others' opinions? facts/research outcomes? family stories? experiences? media? internet sites? books? observations? travels? As soon as they get snarky, tell them, as much as you'd like to explore more with them and get to know them better, that you have a rule for yourself. The Self-Respect rule. It forbids you to judge others for their opinions and forbids yourself to stay in the presence of disrespect.
Good for you, Jennifer. You know your own mind. You searched and found information. Now you are in a strong independent position to discern opinion from fact. Clearly, you have an open, inquiring mind graced with life giving life broadening curiosity. You like to think for yourself instead of grafting on in whole cloth others' opinions and ideas. I just read this on a google site: "BLM openly dedicates itself creating the conditions for Black Liberation through the abolition of systems and institutions of white supremacy, capitalism, patriarchy and colonialism'” Suggestions: Ask your family members if they're interested in an open dialogue? An open dialogue is one where the personhood of the "other" is respected, not judged, and name calling is off limits. If they say, "no" - well then, you know they're set in their ways. You could say, "that saddens me as I wish we could explore our ideas with each other."If their "no" persists, Save your energy for someone who is searching for answers. If they say "yes" but break the rules (call you names), say thanks and hang up, end of story. If they say "yes" - Let your curiosity guide your questions. I'm curious about these things; Do you think only white people should be in positions of power and call the shots? How come? How would they feel if they imagined themselves to be Black or Asian? How was colonialism painful for people of color? Is there a difference between communism and socialism? What is it? What do they think of Scandinavian socialistic structures? the Netherlands? Denmark's? The USA's socialistic forms (public schools, social security, Medicare, public libraries)? Do they see any efforts to maintain White Supremacy? How do they feel about labeling someone by their packaging?
Family, the gift that keeps on *living*!
When Hillary Clinton talked about Trump supporters as "deplorable", I think she was right on target. Those who voted for Trump in 2016 should have realized by now the failed experiment they supported; yet they vote again making the same mistake - deplorable.
I should revise my statement where supporters are "deplorable" to their "actions" are "deplorable".
I would add that any person who understands what's at stake who voted for Trump. I do believe the majority of American citizens are horrified, but the electoral college is allowing a few people who aren't to make this a nail biter.. that's what Heather is saying here.
"What we are seeing in this election is the result of voter suppression across the southern states, along with an Electoral College that has been corrupted from its original intent and is now artificially skewed toward rural states"