I can't believe how much my family has changed after being brainwashed by the GOP.

[Maraya1969]

I just got 2 emails from my mother. The first one was about this bowling alley, (it was fake) in Florida and how they made all the lanes go down to a picture of President Obama with him mouth open. You are supposed to roll a ball and knock out his teeth.

She would never have laughed at or joked about being violent about anyone in the past. Now she thinks it's funny?

Then she sent me another email about "people in Walmart's airplane" Of course it is like the people from Walmart "jokes" where they show you mostly obese people and people who look different.

When I was a kid if I ever made fun of the way someone looked I would be in trouble and gotten a lecture about how wrong it was.

It is like they have taken my mother away and replaced her with a mean person. I hate it. I have tears in my eyes now just typing about it. The far right is changing people's values in a horrible way.

I got an email awhile ago from my brother, (a minister) quoting Rush Limbaugh about immigration and he is saying, "No mas" and my brother thought that was so, "right on". The interesting thing is our father was an undocumented immigrant for several years in this country. So I wrote back to him and reminded him of this and he replies, "Yea but Daddy wanted to become a US citizen" WTF? As if no one else wants to become a US citizen! And this is from a man who has a frigging PHD!

I remember my brother and my mother and father, (father is deceased now) being very sensitive and caring about other people. They have been ruined. It is so fucking sad.

[lpbk2713]

1. The RW Hatemonger Media constantly pounds away with their wedge

It's appalling how many buy into their message of hate and paranoia.

[Maraya1969]

4. And they have lost the ability to look at themselves. It is like how Hitler got all those

People to hate Jews and how he got the SS men to gas all those people to death. Most of them were just brainwashed.

[lunasun]

35. +1932 (approx.)

[AAO]

37. This is EXACTLY the same.

Anyone that thought Americans could never be herded in the same way have been proven very wrong.

It's very sad indeed.

[GCP]

54. Welcome to DU!

[lunasun]

75. You may enjoy Wrapped in The Flag author C Conner She came from a RW family and has a lot

of history on US / RW extremes
but yes no different than stirrings created in 1930's Germany you are correct imo
welcome & keep it real

http://claireconner.com/wrapped-in-the-flag/

[putitinD]

79. welcome to DU

[IrishAyes]

90. Welcome to DU. I'm very impressed by your post.

It gives me hope for the future. Keep working on your family.

[johnlucas]

94. Bravo for you, tconer!

That's very hard to do going against something you had believed in for so long & finding the truth.
ESPECIALLY when surrounded by family & friends who believe in the same falseness.

That took courage, tconer.
That took insight & foresight.

People are programmable, it's true. Nobody is immune.
So the best hope is to give them the proper programming.
Run the Truth.exe program & uninstall those viruses.

I'm just glad something they did crossed something you held dear & that crossing compelled you to get the real story.

In my opinion, political beliefs are this simple:
Until we achieve Utopia, there is NO political stance to take other than Progressive.
What are we Conserving when this place doesn't work right for everybody?
That's the whole purpose of Civilization, right? Making things better for everybody?

Don't feel too bad for being taken in.
Human beings don't know everything & being presented with half-truths & clever lies to fill those knowledge gaps can sucker anybody regardless of intelligence.
The fact that you overcame those lies is worthy of congratulation.

People tend to overstate the Return of Hitler situation a lot but it's true.
At any time, a destructive mode of thought can capture the majority of a people & end up destroying that society.
We don't want to end up like 1940s Germany.

One way to have protection against that brainwashing is to have care & compassion for your fellow human being.
Once you give in to hatred & disgust it is easier to manipulate you for their ends.
John Lucas

[Fumesucker]

95. Welcome to DU!

Glad to have you aboard.

[classykaren]

106. Thank you

I think a lot of it depends on us. I am happy to see Democrats fighting back on various web site The right wing are even commenting on Huffington Post. Now there is less and less of them on Huffington. People were tearing them apart. I think we all took the high road and just ingnored them and they grew. If the young people of the Ocuppy movement just listened to the wisdom of Congressmen and Union heads who wanted to help them we could have out numbered the Teabaggers, and made some real changes in this Country.

[reflection]

118. Welcome to DU tconer.

Been there, done that, got the t-shirt, although it's been a lot longer than 2 years. When I look back and think about some of the political views I used to hold, it's like a friggin' stain that won't go away. But I did manage to escape the right-wing bubble that still surrounds most of my family, thanks to an uncle who didn't give up on me. Best of luck, and you're not alone.

[go west young man]

123. Great honest post.

Welcome to DU. Nice to see there is some hope in getting righties to see the light.

[CrispyQ]

127. Perhaps at some point you will expand on your thoughts in an original post.

What questions do you ask? What framing does the radical right respond to, that you question? Do you frame issues in a way that you've found to be effective in piercing their ideology?

My biggest issue with reaching out to the right, is how they shut down as soon as you provide facts/sources for your claims & almost always respond, "Well, both sides do it." Then it's conversation over.

In his book Moral Politics, George Lakoff, the left's Frank Luntz, if we would just use him(!), says that the left is perplexed that the right isn't swayed by facts, because generally, we are swayed by facts. He says that's why framing has been so successful with the right, because it's a sound bite, not a fact, but it's short & concise & most importantly, validates their world view. Like Sarah Palin's "death panels" descriptive.

Not to say that I'm not also guilty of preferring people/articles that agree with my view, but I do try to keep an open mind & always be willing to question my current world view.

All rambling aside, welcome to DU! Looking forward to reading more from you.


on edit: What motivated you to start questioning & seeking?

[BlancheSplanchnik]

136. I wish your transformation will happen to more and more people.

I think one difference (thank "god&quot is that because of the internet, there is communication which didn't exist in Nazi Germany. Sure we are propagandized horribly by the mainstream, but there are many other avenues for information. Easily accessable too.

I wish your transformation could have happened for my ex. But really, he had other serious issues that the hate enflammed.... wouldn't have fixed those anyway.

[Michigan Alum]

150. Congrats and welcome!

I was also a republican for a short while until Clinton came around. My family has also gotten very nasty and crazy Republican. My mother thinks that Obama is a Muslim and that the Islamists (she says all of the Arabs) want to take over the U.S. and make us all wear burkas. I can relate to your plight.....

[Dustlawyer]

87. My mom, who is old enough to remember, was just saying this same thing!

Scary thoughts right before Halloween!

[hfojvt]

93. not really

there was a huge strain of Jew-hatred that Hitler tapped in to. It's not like he created it out of nothing. He was telling people, in many ways, what they already believed.

[darkangel218]

2. Yup. thats what RW propaganda does to people.

I'm sorry you have to see your family changed so much

[Joe Bacon]

48. I know the feeling

The Religious Right got my whole family. All of them are now hard core Republicans who hate Obama. Hurts to see their Facebook postings.

[ScreamingMeemie]

3. I would write back to my mother, repeating what you told us here...

"When I was a kid if I ever made fun of the way someone looked I would be in trouble and gotten a lecture about how wrong it was." And I would ask her what has changed that now makes it okay.

I'm sorry, Maraya... it is awful to see what this hateful brainwashing has done to previously stand up people.

[Maraya1969]

6. I did write that back to her. And she just called and tried to defend herself and said that those

things were not a big deal. she also said that I am the one who is narrow minded and can't take a joke.

[Shrike47]

14. Bullies frequently say their victims 'can't take a joke.' It's how they justify their behavior.

[Squinch]

15. On the bright side, she did a good job raising you. Keep at her. There's a decent person under the

zombie.

[LiberalLovinLug]

38. If you are reading this Maraya

The very great sentiments that Squinch has revealed is a great thing to say to your mother. To thank her for raising you into a person that rejects the kind of mean spirited "joking" that she, and her like-minded friends and family, has fallen into.

[Squinch]

66. Well, thank you.

[classykaren]

109. They get these people in the attack mode

I don't know how they do that. Second thought I guess the just appeal to their fears. Shame on them. Ask her what is funny about the poor Gays other minorities? I do not talk to my brother who is a teabagger big time. This is breaking up families.

[CrispyQ]

129. "...can't take a joke."

If I had a nickle for every time my mother said that to me . . . Her favorite way of putting it was, "You liberals just can't take a joke!"

[meadowlark5]

5. It really is a shame

I just commented on this very thing the other day to my husband. My MIL has always been christian conservative and a bit difficult to reason with. But she is getting even more infuriating if you get on the subject of politics.This movement by the right to absolutely drive an impenetrable wedge between people in this country is also breaking families apart. I've been told by some people I know who have been all but disowned by some of their family members because they don't hate certain people and president like they do.

My MIL isn't allowed to talk politics when she's around me. My husband made it pretty clear if we want to maintain a relationship that it's best if we don't talk about politics. It changes no one's mind and it accomplishes nothing so why destroy our relationship for nothing?

But it's hard even knowing that she thinks just like Glenn Beck or Sean Hannity does.

[kickitup]

13. I feel for you

and had a conversation with my mother yesterday that turned to politics about halfway through and it just totally ruined my day. My mother and father are good people, and while they have always leaned conservative, they drink up whatever Mike Huckabee says. My mom is worse than my dad and she told me yesterday how awful Obamacare is and how it's hurting so many people and how this country has lost all its morals and on and on and on. In her eyes, the morality of the country is determined by whether or not we okay gay marriage and has nothing to do with giving people food stamps or health care. When she said Obama has refused to negotiate with the other side, I temporarily lost it.

I hate this and on top of it, she feels like she failed because I quit attending her fundamentalist church years ago. That still rears its ugly head ever so often as well as it did yesterday.

Like yours, my husband also tells me to just smile and nod my head because they are older and not going to change.

It is hard.

[calimary]

21. Welcome to DU, kickitup!

Glad you're here! It's just heart-breaking, isn't it? I started noticing years ago that somehow the term "do-gooder" had turned into a pejorative. You were putting somebody down when you called them a "do-gooder." As though it was somehow bad, now, to do good, or be nice to people, or try to be helpful, or show sympathy or empathy when somebody was down and out. Somehow that's become a bad thing. And it just makes NO sense to me at all. Sure doesn't sound like any kind of Christian thing to do. Yet I'm sure the same people consider themselves very Christian, maybe moreso than you, certainly. But their behavior says the opposite.

It's just so disappointing that so many Americans have embraced this. I think it's the hate-radio crowd that's made it okay to bring this kind of shit out of the closet and into the open and acceptable. They've been pounding away at it for years now. And it's worked. And it's tearing our whole country apart.

[AAO]

40. I could almost imagine a new civil war between right and left

The Red and Blue War of 2015.

[KansDem]

99. I thought the same thing...

...when I read meadowlark's Post No. 5 above:

This movement by the right to absolutely drive an impenetrable wedge between people in this country is also breaking families apart.

I remember learning in school about how the Civil War "broke families apart" and pitted neighbor against neighbor. It sure sounds like that's happening today...

[CrispyQ]

131. I have a client I have worked with weekly for three years.

There has never been a peep about politics until this week when she made three negative references to the "Obamacare" website roll out. We're programmers, so the issue is somewhat relevant, so I just reminded her how awful some of the Windows upgrades were & she didn't say anything more about ACA.

[arcane1]

7. I blame television for a lot of this, too. It's all cruelty and humiliation now.

Ok, not "all" but a hell of a lot of it.

[Tumbulu]

85. you are so right, it is truly horrifying nt

[Ednahilda]

8. You have my sympathy.

Since he retired, my dad, who has a PhD in biology, has come to believe nearly every right-wing conspiracy theory that comes down the pike. The touch of dementia is just exacerbating this tendency. I do have to give him some credit for not abandoning all of his marbles: when calmly presented with logical evidence to the contrary he admits its validity. Unfortunately, he has trouble with short-term memory so unless someone can challenge this drivel every day, it sticks in his mind.

[AAO]

42. My Father was a Phd, professor, Dept Chair, and Dean at a major state university.

He was an expert in his field, sought around the world as a speaker, etc. But outside of his area of expertise he was no different than any other semi-bumbling human being. Education is a powerful thing, but it doesn't make you a genius. He has Alzheimer's now, and I love him, but he could barely use a hammer.

[murielm99]

56. My daughter and her husband have a friend like that.

My son-in-law is a New England liberal. He and his friend are physicists. The two of them agree not to discuss politics, or certain social issues.

[AAO]

58. Really makes you wonder about the definition of intelligence.

[Ednahilda]

121. Not Dad.

Several languages, recognizes any piece of classical music immediately, loves (and reads!) Edgar Allen Poe. Mark Twain, Voltaire, Ambrose Bierce, and a host of European authors too numerous to mention. He's a superb woodworker and took years of lessons to learn folk painting. On top of that, he writes well and is an absolute stickler for proper grammar and usage. When I took up beekeeping, he was excited to learn about that, too.

He's always been somewhat conservative and traditional in his outlook although I remember him as quite fair and very logical in his approach to everything when I was a kid, but since Mom died he spends hours a day watching Fox (for company? background noise?) and I'm not even sure whether he realizes how extreme he's become.

[Maraya1969]

143. Can he drink a glass of red wine a night? I've been reading that besides all its other benefits

now it is supposed to help ward off dementia.

[Ednahilda]

151. I don't know if he does now,

but when I was growing up, Dad did enjoy a glass of wine a couple of times a week.

I suspect there's more to it than wine can help; there's a string of people on that side of the family (mercifully not everyone) with dementia.

[alterfurz]

9. "Republicans don't have a sense of humor...

...they have a mean streak, and think that is the same thing."

[Shankapotomus]

10. Did anyone of those three,

your mother, father or brother, have long commutes?

[kimbutgar]

57. I have noticed this phenoma also the longer the commute the more right wing they are

I live in the San Francisco and my husband works at the airport for an airline in a good paying full benefit job. His commute is 15 minutes daily and he is a lefty. But quite a few of his co workers have 1+ hour commutes home. They are hard right wingers who hate unions. The co workers that live closer are more to the middle or left.Not since 2005 has there been any left talkers on in the Bay Area. I never listened to talk radio until we got Air America before then the only thing on on radio was Savage, Rush etc on talk radio. My husband said he listened to Savage sometimes and realized the guy was a nut but several of his co-workers said he was their professor!!!!. Long Commutes definitely equate to right wing bias. On a positive note my husband got a buddy of his who has a long commute to listen to Air America and then local liberal station. Now he listens to Randy Rhodes and Norm Goldman on his long ride home.

[Shankapotomus]

74. I listen to NPR and WBIA

here on the east coast. I figured out I didn't like the carnival-like verbal bashing radio programming no matter the side, although I realize the radio personalities on the Left who do engage in it do so as almost a reflexive response to the maddeningly low level of discourse coming from the Right. There is plenty of intelligent, calmly rational Left leaning programming out there but there doesn't seem to be a conservative counterpart. It's all an emotionally driven, angry, childish circus.

[reflection]

120. Yes!

I have noticed this as well. The longer the commute, the more they are exposed to AM radio and it creeps in. I also have three cousins who are laborers, a carpenter, a glass artisan, and a painter. Their days consist of working jobsites with all kinds of different trades. Since no one can agree on the music, it is assumed that "news" is safe. Of course it is anything but. I've noticed a sea change in their political views since they broke into commercial work and began to share a radio with others.

[Blanks]

80. I know where you're going with that.

People on long commutes should listen to music for entertainment.

How, when and why becoming a hate filled bastard became entertainment in this country is beyond me, but that does seem to be the case.

It's especially odd because there's a lot of good music out there, and singing is actually quite good for you. Hate filled obsessions, not so much.

[Fumesucker]

97. To a big extent it's because anger is addictive

Making you angry will keep you coming back and with the right wing talkers in particular it doesn't matter if you agree or disagree with the host, you're going to be angry.

It's a conscious programming decision on the part of station management, they know pissing people off is an excellent way to get them to keep listening to their station.

[Maraya1969]

141. I know I like to listen to talk radio because it feels like someone is with me.

Color me crazy but I feel lonely listening to music a lot. Classical is good though, I don't feel lonely listening to classical.

Now I have tapes from The Course in Miracles that I listen too - over and over. It does the opposite of make me angry.

[Blanks]

148. I had to drive about an hour (each way) to a job site...

In a rural area, in a vehicle by myself. For a while it was very depressing, but instead of listening to the radio - I started listening to an MP3 player filled with my favorite songs.

I like classical music too, but after I got burned out on my favorite songs I started listening to artists that I hadn't listened to before.

Overall, it turned out to be a positive experience. I think we'd all get along a lot better if they took 'hate radio' off the air (both sides of the political spectrum) and played music for commuters exclusively.

[mzteris]

11. How old is your mom?

And when was the last time she had a full checkup (physical)? She should get one, and the doctor should do a mental faculties test.

I'm not joking here, if she is changing that much from her central tenets, then she may be in the early stages of a mental deterioration. Seriously, I'd try and get her to a doctor soon. The sooner they start treatment, the longer they can stave off the more serious issues.

Though, of course, it may be she's just changed. Is she isolated? Who are her friends? What does she do? If she's alone a lot (which would exacerbate and hasten mental deterioration, btw) and she's stuck watching tv or listening to the radio and putzing around on the computer (and your idiot brother is sending her idiot emails!) then she may have been brainwashed. An intervention, maybe?

[Maraya1969]

16. She is 82 and very active, has friends and lives with her boyfriend. I can trace this all to the

far right taking hold. She was always a republican but republicans didn't used to be the way they are now. And I think that her and my dad were mostly concerned about taxes because they were in a very high bracket.

She used to listen to Fox news but has stopped I think because I gave her that study that found Fox news viewers the least informed of any. And in Jersey the radio was filled with Limbaugh and others and even I used to listen to them because there was nothing else on.

Her friends are all like her. She has one friend that mails her the most awful crap you could believe. And I remember a couple who was their friends a long time ago, (and still now) went into NY with them and the man saw a bind man with a cup on the subway and started mimicking him to the point where some lady got real upset and started telling him how he was going to Hell. He thought it was funny! I remember thinking how cruel it was. At that time neither of my parents would have ever behaved that way.

[riverbendviewgal]

28. I was shocked when my boyfriend's brothers girlfriend

Turned around in the car and said Obama was born in Kenya. This was in 2011.
She is in her 70s. Wealthy and from NJ.

I was speechless until I said he did produce it. I never wanted to have any meetup with her again. YuK

[Shankapotomus]

116. I'm in NJ

I listen to NPR and WBAI. 820am and 99.5fm.

[grasswire]

12. the best reply

"Mom, I'm sending this note to let you know that someone has apparently hijacked your email account, and is sending out ignorant and bigoted messages with it! You probably should change your password ASAP, because I know that you don't want anyone to think those messages came from you."

[Populist_Prole]

17. Welcome to my world

The thing of it is; is that I haven't really moved leftward as much as those around me went hard right.

My father, who always leaned rightward and was always hot-headed, and very pushy and preachy by nature has become an absolutely rabid conservative. Add all those elements together and it makes every encounter with him a table pounding shout-fest, with him doing all the shouting and pounding...unless one agrees with him or doesn't challenge his assertions. It pains me to say that what used to be a fascinating person to talk for hours on end with has become one I see maybe once a year.

Two of my best friends have turned into wingnuts and I see them less and less too and if I'm around both of them at the same time it takes exhausting effort on my part to prevent the conversation from becoming political.

[lunasun]

45. I have lost 2 friends too & they would not stop mentioning RW talk points so I now avoid them

like the plague.

One was never political minded at all until about a year ago - always would say "not his thing " until recently.

I am saved from what ever racial bigotry that blossomed along the way I can only assume,.
I wish they would stop calling me even occasionally because neither can form more that one or two sentences with out going all RW on some subject now
Also neither are well versed debaters (which I do not mind having a honest discussion with someone ) just mean spirited .
So many things are just lies and very stupid so there is no point in countering the philosophy they live by now
I only know I have not changed - it really is them and all of a sudden they are obsessed
Haters hate

[Populist_Prole]

67. I know what you mean

You made a good point when you mention "neither are well versed debaters". I see this time and time again with people in that they don't even try to sound objective or think things through. It's like they enjoy being on 'Team mad-as-hell'. I'm always hearing "Well I'm just saying" as a pathetic comeback to their disproved assertions. "I'm just sayin'?". What the hell does that mean?

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

128. Right wing media doesn't really provide actual arguments, just "talking points" and buzzwords.

So that anyone who consumes a lot of it gets those phrases drilled in.

"Benghazi"

"Democrats are exempt from their own health care law!"

etc.

Being able to parrot these phrases gives the superficial appearance of making an argument but it doesn't hold up at all if you are actually going to get into a reasoned debate, but it allows the right wing media consumer to feel justified in staying in that camp.

[treestar]

18. I feel your pain

I get educated, sensible people in their 60s-80s who I respected growing up - now telling me they think Obama is really a Muslim! I mean it's one thing to be conservative on economics or differ with him politically on many issues, but I generally consider the birther/Muslim issues to show true insanity on the part of the believer.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

19. The latest from the GOP is they are the heroes of white people being in charge.

[lunasun]

39. Exactly - they are forming the Radical White as a voting base who will make sure only insecure white

people are in charge

[Spitfire of ATJ]

52. What's most disgusting about all of this is seeing Democrats trying to save them.

[Tikki]

20. My bro-in-law has become a gun nut since he hurt his back...

I know meds can cause some paranoia, but he has guns everywhere…just in case someone breaks into
his home.
He says he has no other way of protecting himself.

No one has broken into the area he lives in…it is secure by design.

He still has many Liberal ways, but geez he has more guns than shoes.


Tikki
ps don't guns cost money?

[riverbendviewgal]

27. I had a break in

Same people came back 3 weeks later as we interupted them on first. Police said get a dog. We did get a gentle purbred grown female German shepherd. No more breakins.

[Tikki]

29. He lives in the King of Gated Communities…

It is practically a prison…and he is going out in public less and less.

I worry about his mental/emotional state, but he has a very supportive and clear-headed person
living there with him.


Tikki

[riverbendviewgal]

68. does sound like mental decline

Sometimes that can improve with proper food and meds. And sometimes it could be over medication.

[Tikki]

71. It does…he is such a great guy..

This kind of thing makes me hate guns even more…it is like putting up a wall.
Does he know how much concern we feel.
Guns are such a quick deadly solution for those who just perceive trouble.

And the consequences can be a true tragedy….


Tikki

[Maraya1969]

142. What would happen if you just got him a dog? Get a puppy from the pound. It will start

barking shortly and he will see that a dog will protect him more than any gun. Plus it will probably be good for his mental health.

[Tikki]

145. We kind of have that planned…We are getting a little dog soon and plan to..

show her off and hope he'll take the hint for one, also.. He used to have dogs when his son was growing up.


The Tikkis

[classykaren]

111. I am sorry but her life may be at risk

This is what happens on a daily basis here in Florida. Please talk to your sister to try to get him some help.

[Tikki]

125. We know..it is a deep concern.

His son told us he never takes his guns outside and rarely shows them off, and all
family members there are aware and watching his behavior. He does see a mental health professional.

We wish we could say we would be every bit as concerned about him if he didn't have guns, but
the honest truth is having those guns is just plain scaring us more.


The Tikkis

[Cosmocat]

134. Dog is absolutely the way to go

guns are all fine and well, but a dog is infinitely better.

[Populist_Prole]

30. My father and one of my friends is EXACTLY the same way

I have an interest in firearms and enjoy recreational shooting but these people are beyond the beyond.

A friend is buying up and hoarding everything guns, ammo he can, then complains about shortages and high prices. I try to reason with him that this paranoia-driven panic-buying is causing the shortages. He just dismisses that and basically says, in so many words, "I'm not paranoid, it's just they're out to get my guns". He has guns everywhere. Once I was there having dinner with his family and we heard noises out back and his neighbor's dog barking. He grabs his pistol and asks me to come outside with him to check on what it was. For all we know it was an owl or dead tree branch falling in the woods. He knew it was bullshit too but I could tell he was enjoying traipsing about his property with a loaded pistol in hand. I honestly believe one of the things on his bucket list is to empty a seventeen round 9mm magazine into an intruder in his house.

My father keeps guns everywhere in his house and vehicles. We were cleaning his interior of one and a pistol fell out of a bin. "Don't fuck with an old man!" he boasts. He shows me where he keeps guns hidden: Drawers, inside grandfather clocks etc. I wouldn't be surprised to find one on top of the toilet tank between the tissue box and conch seashell. He's constantly in fear of someone other than white anglo raiding his home. I'm like, "WTF! this is an exclusive neighborhood in a redneck town in a huge geographic area whiter than a fish's belly". Says he's too old to fight, so he needs a gun. Who the hell is he gonna fight?

Fricking bizarro.

[Rain Mcloud]

22. People change.

Not always for the better.
[link:

|

[riverbendviewgal]

23. my mother would hang up on me when I said Obama

My dad had died in 2000. They were retired and on medicare. She
never had anything good to say about my Canada health care which my husband and our younger son were treated for brain cancer and non - Hodgkins lymphoma. We had no medical bills. She hated me so much for becoming Canadian and liking Obama, as all my Cdn friends loved him. When she died in 2010 she left me a dollar.

My brother turned into an Obama hating , Hannity loving man when Obama was elected. He watches Fox religiously. No matter how many linls or snopes links I sent to disprove his racial rants it did no good. My brother is proud he knows nothing about the world. He loves waving the America flag and now the Confederate flag. He is a real teabagger.

So after a few "break ups" the last straw for him was my proof of him quoting the lies of Fox verbatim. The last time we agreed to no politics and no religion. He could not honor that. Oh well, I am glad I'm living very far away.

your brother and my mother are the same.

Be aware that many people move away and choose to relinquish their US citizenship.
You verify this by looking it up in the government records.

I am happy being Canadian.

[Maraya1969]

146. I saw your post before but I missed the part about your mother. I am really

sorry that she did that to you. Something about this radical right and the way it makes people behave is really scary.

[Thucydides]

24. My family has always been the voice of reason, guess I was lucky....

however there was that one crazy uncle that loved this guy....

[ffr]

25. It's a dehumanizing campaign.

It's legitimized if the other people are seen as less human.

Watch for it in their language. It elevates the listeners as better than others.

[gopiscrap]

26. some of my in laws started attending a fundy church and immediately

every brain cell in their went to mush. Now they're just a bunch of blathering mouth pieces for corporations, the 1% and Nazi like tactics. The sorrowful part about it is that they don't see how these policies directly working against them.

[mudstump]

31. You are not alone...

my mother, father, sister and brother-in-law are wacky after years of watching Fox and listening to Limbaugh. After arguing with my dad one day he stopped and asked me where I got all of my "do gooder" ideas? I said, "you dad, it was you that instilled these ideals in me."

He is the one that changed....not me.

[Skittles]

91. wow

very sad indeed

[Enthusiast]

32. The American Far Right® has been actively cultivating cruelty and intolerance for years now.

Fascism cannot flourish in an environment free from cruelty and intolerance. So they promote it. You can see the results in our society today.

[TeamPooka]

33. RW radio and Fox changed my mom on me too. I feel your pain. nt

[narnian60]

60. Mine, too!

Even though we have agreed not to talk politics, I get anxious just THINKING she is going to bring it up. I take her to the doctor a lot and I get anxious thinking someone in the waiting room is going to start in. (I live in Texas, so this is a real fear.)

[Jasana]

34. I am truly sorry this has happened to your family.

This right wing cruelty is like a sickness... a virus of the darkest kind. While I'm thankful I haven't lost any family to it, I have lost friendships to it. There's only so much negativity you can take before you say, "Enough is enough. I can't talk to you anymore."

[lunasun]

36. 2 liberal ( well they seemed it for years.. ) friends have gone total RW

[Marr]

41. It really does change people-- and never for the better.

People are always changing anyway, of course, but the people I've known who fell into listening to right-wing hate radio for any extended period of time each day turned into bitter, angry, resentful, mean little people-- without exception.

[madrchsod]

43. you should remind her that....

she taught you by example to be tolerant and caring.

[Tigress DEM]

44. Do you think FAUX is transmitting subliminal hate messages?

Or is the repetition of their talking points hour after hour enough to drive people off the edge?

My mother died before all this stuff went down, but she was watching the 700 Club (Pat Robertson) and she was spewing anti-gay hate talk. My mother TAUGHT me tolerance and was accepted everywhere from China to Indian Reservations and ate sheep eyes (once) with Pakistanis.

[kimbutgar]

61. I read years ago that in the 50's the CIA developed techniques to brainwash people subliminally

Nixon was very interested in this and Roger Ailes probably took that research and developed it to use on Fox. The swirling in the backgrounds, the noises, repeating the same talking points over and over. Yes there is brainwashing and it is making right wingers hateful, fearful people who now think and vote against their best interests. Attacking affordable healthcare is good and people getting access is bad!! This is crazy shit and this is definitely brainwashing. How we can get people deprogrammed? We need to find out quick before these people destroy our country. Saying you are a Christian and a right winger who is hateful probably causes Jesus to roll over in his grave constantly.

[Chrom]

152. +1000000

"How we can get people deprogrammed?

We need to find out quick before these people destroy our country."

[Lex]

62. The GOP can only thrive when there's division, bigotry, suspicion and hate of

anything "other." Fox "News" amplifies this and worms its way right into the brains of the vulnerable (older folks in particular).

It's sad.

[Doctor_J]

63. Subliminal? It's their entire reason for being

[Maraya1969]

72. That's interesting. I wonder if they do send subliminal messages.

I know it was banned in grocery stores and movie theaters but did anyone think to make sure the TV was not doing it? I would not put it past Fox to do such a thing. I think I would expect it.

[Iris]

46. "If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything."

It's like the RW has convinced people that they are standing for their "values" when, in fact, they've managed to twist people's values so they are unrecognizable.

It's insidious. I see it in my own family and they are diehard Democrats. Unfortunately, it's all to easy to create an "us vs them" feeling around most issues.

It is painful to see people you love fall prey to this suspension of critical thinking.

[silverweb]

47. Can definitely relate.

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]Except for my proudly liberal offspring, most members of my immediate family are TeaGOPers (and one rabid Libertarian) with whom I absolutely, categorically refuse to discuss politics in any form.

As meadowlark5 has already said here, "...if we want to maintain a relationship ... it's best if we don't talk about politics. It changes no one's mind and it accomplishes nothing...."

In the recent past, I've said the very same thing in refusing to engage in such "discussions." I've also said, "I'd rather we get along, especially at this point in our lives, and if you insist on pursuing this subject, we won't."

I've left the house to avoid being harassed into these "discussions" and I put "discussion" in quotes because it never is. It's a bullying fest for them, a contest to see who can be the most derogatory while attempting to browbeat the family liberal into submission.

The last attempt was when one person yelled, "I have a right to my opinion!" My reply was, "Yes, you do. I absolutely agree 100%. And I have the right to walk out on it."

Then I flashed a big smile and walked out. God, that felt good!

[ChiciB1]

49. Personally I'm COMPLETELY SICK As I Continue To See

this continual "dumbing down" of a once great country! Been an activist for most of my life but no longer know HOW to fight this system! My last foray was with OCCUPY down here in Florida which turned into a FARCE! What's more our society seems to know so little about how this country runs. Most know NOTHING about the 3 branches of government for starters and it gets worse from there!

Was amazed to see some clips from people on the street who had no idea what Christopher Columbus's first name was! PATHETIC!

As a Boomer, don't know if I should be happy that I may not be around to see THE COLLAPSE coming, or cross my fingers and make a wish that somehow the massed will wake up from this living nightmare.

One thing I'm sure of is that I right now I don't think I would be making any positive bets! Because it causes me great anxiety I can no longer "tune into" all the chaos! Never thought I would get to this point where I feel totally useless!

I know there are those who don't see it my way, but try as I might I'm not seeing a silver lining these days!

[Blue_In_AK]

50. I'm pretty lucky, I guess.

My brothers and my kids are all lefties, or at least left of center. My mom and dad have been gone for years; I know they would be appalled by what passes for republicanism these days. My mom did lean Republican (old school) but she would never have gone for this stuff. Even before she died in 1999, she was coming down hard on the religious right.

My husband's brother and sister, though, are very right-wing. Luckily, they live in the Lower 48 and we seldom have to deal with them. Sad, his sister was my best friend in high school, but we have very little in common now 50 years later.

[stage left]

53. I'm so sorry to hear this, Maraya.

Here in South Carolina, I'm surrounded by right wing fundamentalist ignoramuses and their hateful BS. I become more awake to and aware of how hateful it is every day. Almost any day I'm out in the car, I see at least one pickup truck with a confederate flag decal that says--Heritage, not Hate. Yeah right. (sarcasm). Whenever we make a trip to the mountains we have to pass one of the largest "confederate merchandise" stores anywhere. Damn it, the confederacy is dead. It was a bad idea from the beginning based on the continuance of the deplorable practice of enslaving fellow human beings. And it deserved to perish. And I'm glad it perished and will be overjoyed when the last ugly stain of it is washed from my native soil.

Sorry. Didn't mean to get carried away, but it was brought home lately, at least to my imagination, how awful it must be to a black person to have that dreadful flag shoved in their faces every time they're on the road.

I'm very fortunate that the majority of my family are Democrats. Some are not as liberal as I am, but that's OK. The only exception is my MIL, but I already have no contact with her , because she is about the meanest, most racist person I know. I don't think she's ever listened to right wing hate radio, but she could give some of its fans a run for their money.

J

[Maraya1969]

147. "Heritage - not Hate"? There heritage is that they lost the war. There heritage is that they

are losers who can't pick up their things and go home. There heritage is that they are slave owners.

What the heck are they proud of?

[Prophet 451]

59. I'm sorry for you

If it helps, remember that they are old. People tend to swing to conservative as they get older. Not because of wisdom of age or anything like that but because they see teh world changing around them and, because of a flaw in how the human psyche works, it seems like teh changes are coming faster and faster so they try and slow it down by becoming conservative.

[narnian60]

64. I think you are right.

My RW mom threw a fit in a restaurant when I told her I got a Nook for my bd. I can only surmise she felt "betrayed" because I would no longer read the books she gave me???? Man, that was so weird, and then, of course, we never talked about what happened because then she'd have to admit how ridiculous her reaction had been.

[dorkzilla]

98. I guess I should be happy one of my parents is bucking that trend

I have 3 parents; Mom, Dad and Step-dad. Mom and stepdad have turned full wing-nut--Fox 24/7, and step dad is an ultra-successful, otherwise intelligent man. Dad on the other hand, who has always been a lefty, has even gone more left! He's always been my best friend, but now he's also my island of familial sanity. My brother and one of my sisters claim to be Libertarian. My youngest sister is left leaning, but not active.

[Skittles]

65. I hear you Maraya and I sympathize

I had to cut off an aunt (by marriage; my uncle long deceased) from sending me rightwing crap emails; some of them were absolutely vile (overtly racist).......she does not email me at all now.......she used to be a perfectly lovely person

[Douglas Carpenter]

69. Rush Limbaugh, Fox News and the whole right-wing infotainment industrial complex who created a false

form of working class populism and turned the natural resentment against the rich and the privileged into contempt for those less fortunate than themselves and the egg head know-it-all liberals who sympathize with them

[polichick]

70. Have you pointed out to them how they've changed, or is that a bad idea?

[Maraya1969]

73. Oh yes. And she tells me how she has always been a republican and I remind her

that old time republicans were very different than today's republicans. But she can't see it. I don't think old time republicans had such hate in them, except for demanding to keep slaves, (I now realize)

I know my parents were anti-racists. They were not from the south and my father especially used to talk about how he liked when races mixed together like in Hawaii.

[polichick]

77. I'm sorry - it must be pretty disturbing...

Shows how powerful propaganda networks/materials can be.

Maybe over time they'll return to their old selves.

[Thinkingabout]

78. I feel your pain, I am probably the only one in my family who is still Democrat or at least I am the

Only one who admits being Democrat. I refuse to give up my life long beliefs to follow the RW crap and never would I vote against my best interest on one issue. I have left one religion because of the hate preached from the pulpit, this is not what I was taught as a child. I was recently de-friended by a family member when I pointed out the information still spinning was about the HR 3200 and not the bill passed. When I commented with the correct bill passed that was the end of me but I still stand on my principles. BTW, I do not have wealthy family members so every vote for the GOP is a vote against them. Stand with your principles.

[Arugula Latte]

81. I've seen a mean, racist streak surface in older white people I've known for years.

It really rattles me.

[Link Speed]

82. I lost my mother and my inheritance over this

In the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s, my dear mother was the most leftist, anarchist person I knew. She was legendary in our Texas town because she had the time and the money to fight anything she wanted to fight.

Then I moved out West and she was left alone with my asshole stepfather and Fucked News. During the last election, she began to send those typical right-wing bullshit emails and I told her to stop.

That cost me more money than 99% of Americans will see in their lifetimes and I have lost no sleep over it.

[SayitAintSo]

83. Same with what's left of mine...

My older sibs are of the same ilk...can't believe we're related at times. And the stupid, ignorant tripe that comes from them is both alarming and sad to me. We now have a 'safe word' that basically means STFU or someone gets hurt whenever they start...

[missingfink]

84. Life-long best friend now a narrow-minded Fox believer

I am sure many have had the same thing happen. My decades long best friend has completely changed from before his time viewing Fox and listening to Rush. He has taken on all of their points of view. Long story short: We had an agreement not to discuss politics but he is the one who always breaks that deal. I no longer look forward to our time together.

[JEFF9K]

86. Americans have been subjected to hundreds-of-thousands of hours of "false advertising" by ...

... conservatives in the form of talk radio and Fox News and zero hours by Democrats. The bad effects are hard to calculate.

[awoke_in_2003]

88. We've become a nation of selfish ass holes. nt

[certainot]

89. until the americans stop giving 1200 coordinated corporate kkk radio stations a free speech

free ride it will continue.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

92. my one brother ... what it had done to him ... and his wife or vice versa. sad.

[Lilyeye]

96. I know exactly what you mean

My boyfriend's mom was a democrat her entire life and a very nice lady. She married a right winger about 10 or 9 years ago and she hasn't been the same. She has turned into a hateful bigot. Makes me think that maybe it was already in her, but she just seems so different and angry all the time. Ironically, her husband has claimed down somewhat.

[WiffenPoof]

100. My Sister and Mother

I was speaking with my sister a few years back and she decided to tell a joke. She asked me why so many blacks died during Katrina. Her answer was that blacks don't know how to swim. She thought that she was being clever. I laid into her about how racist her joke was. She basically said that I was being too sensitive. I ended up cutting the conversation short by basically hanging up on her.

I called my 75 year old mother (a true liberal) and she basically agreed with my sister. According to her, I was just being too sensitive.

I was shocked. This is the woman who was the greatest enfluence in my life and the one responsible for my political point of view.

I lost my mom late last year. I'm still baffled by her take on my sister's "joke."

Paige

[Turbineguy]

101. I suppose that next

they'll stop telling you anything for rear that you will put them in an Obama re-education camp. You know, the one we all went to before signing up with DU?

[frog64]

102. family

Don't know where the poster lives, but here in Texas our family has been increasingly divided by politics, and it is sad, as you say. At least in our case there hasn't been change from lib to conservative (radical), but increasingly the lines have been more firmly drawn, and it causes tension during holidays, especially.

[libdude]

103. No naturally

occurring vacuum, which applies to the intellect as well. I was told this by a professor during my three year effort to find out I was not college material, just intellectually curious.
Our mind is filled by our exposure to our world as we develop, family, friends, community, etc. As we grow and live, we begin to choose through our filters what we allow in.
From all the posts your family is like many others and I too have relations by marriage that have chosen negative and hateful views. Obama, minorities, government, Democrats, welfare recipients, voter I.D. issues, gay rights, etc. etc.
Their sources of information, fundamentalist
" Christian " church, Fox news, socialize with like minded people.
Hang in their, choose positive and affirming views, and hold to your good thoughts.

[classykaren]

104. kindly

I would kindly write my mother just what you stated. I am a mother and I would appreciate it.

[the_sly_pig]

105. Hate is for the mentally lazy n/t

[Laelth]

107. This is a particularly disturbing thread. n/t

-Laelth

[Mr Dixon]

108. SAD

Yes that is very sad, hopefully they can return to normal one day, good luck.

[allan01]

110. re:I can't believe how much my family has changed after being brainwashed by the GOP.

then the brother is no longer a man of the cloth but a garden variety bully using his pulpet . faux news had my dad so brainwashed that everytime aca was mentioned hed be in tears by the time it was done . i d hate to use the word conspirascy but these people via fox news slush rimshod and his ilk wannabes aim at their target of military , retired military and white male adults.

[mgardener]

112. My mother...

never listened to Fox but it sure sounded like her 'friends' did.
She was talking about immigration one day ranting on and on.
I finally said to her, "you married and immigrant. I married an immigrant. Your grandchildren are children of immigrants".

There was dead silence. And she said, " I forgot".
my father's family came from Ireland in the 20's and my husband came over as displaced person after WW2

My mother is dead now, but I too noticed a change in her and her generation. Is it fear? That they will not get what they are entitled to? But why align with the tea party?

[eilen]

122. I don't like to think about it too much

but there was a period of time in which I considered myself conservative and right wing. I believe it was PTSD after 9/11. After 9/11 I lost my cousin. I was in physical pain. Right after that happened I started listening to the radio during the day to hear news about it. It was local radio and mostly talk radio. I believe I brainwashed myself by listening to it and then also watching Fox News. My poor mother.... This lasted a few years, I love my family for not giving up on me.

How I stopped being a zombie: I stopped listening to talk radio (I never listened to Limbaugh if I could help it but there were others that I think are just as bad). I had initially thought it was more humor I was listening to but no, the jokes are mean spirited and they dumbify/simplify things down. Some things... Ann Coulter came out with a biography of McCarthy that charged him as being an American Hero and a book about Mother Theresa charging her as a villain. Katrina. Wars not ending. Social Security. I work in healthcare and while others did, I could never resent anyone that had medicaid. I went to another state to work and met people who had been denied cancer treatment because their state ran out of indigent care funds and was horrified. I never bought into the Tea Party shit --that came after I deprogrammed myself but who knows-- if I had not, maybe I would be there. After all this, I find I am always turning the radio tune knob to a different station if I feel the familiar feeling of the hate parade whether it is right or left.

I never had a big issue with immigration when I was brainwashed. I live in the NE so don't really have personal issues w/it. Except for my brother complaining of other contractors using migrant labor to cut costs and underbidding him down in TN but I saw that more as a labor issue, not immigration.

If you think your relatives and friends have integrity at their core, challenge them to turn off the talk radio for an entire week and no Fox News, no RW reading/internet. Just listen to actual music, read literature in books, listen to BBC News or NPR news but not the talk/analysis or just read the local newspaper. If they can do that, take a month. Take a break from politics and religion (other than some daily prayer and bible reading if they are actually religious--God really doesn't ask for much more than that). They will feel happier and lighter. They might still laugh at fat people who wear stretchy clothing that is too small for them at Walmart though-- I'm finding that to be pretty universal. Understand too that being mean to poor people is not a Tea Party phenomena. That has been around for a very long time.

[heaven05]

113. In response to your first line in OP

I can and I know why.shrug: We have gone from being a citizenry looking and striving for enlightenment, suffrage, better working conditions, end to child labor, New Deal, Medicare, 1965 civil rights act to prewar 1933 Weimar Republic citizens following a RW/fascist leadership in concert with a MSM, to a hateful and dangerous place where any reason, black, gay, brown, 'immigrant' is reason to hate and destroy. Zimmerman the pig enlightened me on all these points We are in trouble as a nation and we 'progressives' have a fight on our hands in the next decade or two. Good luck in staving off the racist, hateful hordes(Tea Party at the head of the hordes) at the gates. this is most americans. DU you're a light in a very dark time.

[Pakid]

114. It has happen to a lot of my friends

People who where once decent caring people are now full of hate for anyone who doesn't agree with them. Very sad! But the hate even effects us in our own thinking. I have found that my tolerance for the right-wing no longer exist. I just don't bother with them at all anymore if they want to hate do it on someone else's time not mine!!!

[rurallib]

115. Hate is a terrible drug that can take away our soul

just like any other drug. It is like there needs to be intervention teams.
We used to have a watchdog media that would stop the lies and the hate with something called truth. But that is long gone.

[abelenkpe]

117. Same thing happened to my mom

Brother, sister, uncle....I don't know them anymore. I blame FOX news. So sorry to hear you are suffering the same.

[Dash87]

119. Not a big deal, imo.

The first one - who cares? I would just ignore the emails or have a good laugh at them. You don't have to correct every factually wrong (or ridiculous) piece out there. That bowling alley one isn't really violent - it's just dumb. That's the typical RW bull crap chain email.

The second one - I think you're being too sensitive. I love those emails. They're hilarious. Maybe your mom's just trying to send some light-hearted, fun emails to you?

As for your brother, also not a big deal. Just ignore his emails. Because they fell for right wing garbage doesn't make them bad people or mean. That's a bit silly.

[CrispyQ]

124. It happened in my family, too.

My mother went from a kind, generous person to a mean-spirited hateful being I hardly recognized. It started when she got a job where she could listen to radio & she started listening to Rush Limbaugh, every day, five days a week. This was back in the early 90s. We were not close, so I didn't see her often. All I know is one Christmas she seemed fine, the next she seemed a little out there & the following Christmas I wondered who had taken over my mother. She passed in '07. I miss her sometimes, but I wonder if our fragile relationship would have withstood the freak show that was the 2008 republican campaign.


Now I'm going to go back & read the rest of the responses & discover what I always do on these types of threads, and that is that this has happened to too many families! The day Limbaugh dies, the world will smell a little better, the sun will shine a little brighter, & I will buy a bottle of champagne & dance & party all night long.


I am sorry for you loss, cuz that's exactly how it feels.

[snot]

126. This is why who owns the media MATTERS. DU'er's should be fighting tooth and nail to

restore restrictions on consolidation of media ownership and to protect net neutrality . . . but how many of us even subscribe to the Media group?

For those who care about this issue but don't know where to start, here are some organizations to check out – at least get on their list for updates:

Access Express - https://www.accessnow.org/
Center for Media and Democracy - http://www.prwatch.org/cmd
FreePress.net - http://www.freepress.net/
Media Channel - http://www.mediachannel.org/
and of course Electronic Frontier Foundation - https://www.eff.org/

E.g., were you aware of this? http://www.democraticunderground.com/1174947

[Maraya1969]

140. I kicked and Recommended you DU post and I am saving the information you just gave

and I will go back to all the links and see how I can help.

[snot]

149. Thanks!

[Myrina]

130. I haven't seen most of my family in 10 years ...

.... the Iraq war & mindless hoo-rah over Chimpy and Cheney's "bring em' on" attitude was my last straw.

I don't care what you believe if you can tell me - logically and backed up with (reasonable) facts - why it's worth believing.
They had nothing other than blind sheeple syndrome. So, buh-bye to them.

[AndyA]

132. Amazing, isn't it?

Truly like pod people--the real ones have been replaced with something else that looks like them, but doesn't act the same.

Did you write back to your Mom and remind her that there was a time when she wouldn't have endorsed these things? Might not hurt to refresh her memory that your standards and beliefs were taught to you in part by her good example.

I remember having a similar conversation with my late Father. I reminded him that there was a time in his past when he would not have approved of such things. I told him I didn't think the changes were a good thing. It was kind of hard to say to him, but it needed to be said.

[SpankMe]

133. Same here.

My wife of 25 years has joined the NRA this year - even though we don't own guns and have never even discussed or thought about guns. Guns aren't a part of our lives in any way, and they never have been.

I said she joined the NRA simply because they are one of the most caustic anti-Obama organizations out there that isn't aligned with the KKK. She said no, that wasn't it. She said she's "...genuinely concerned about everybody's second amendment rights...". After 25 years. All of a sudden.

Ever since her mother moved here 5 years ago (very conservative, passes around those poison RW emails) my wife has moved far right on almost every issue. We don't talk politics any more. I now have to sneak Rachel Maddow on the Internet - I can't watch it on TV any more because it starts fights.

She's used to be concerned about animal rights, the environment. She volunteered at the zoo and was impressed at how the air quality had improved in the L.A. area when we lived there.

Now, she decries all environmental regulation as "job killing" and we haven't been to a zoo or aquarium in years. She says they're left wing propagandists with their pro-environmental message.

And my mom - who has been a left leaner all her life - has suddenly become an anti-government zealot who thinks no one in government bureaucracy is any good. She, like many of us, has been disenchanted with overly zealous bureaucrats who hold up your housing permit or business permit and the like. Fine. But, now, no one in any station of government - from the DMV clerk to the NOAA meteorologist, can do any good. She's still progressive in many street-wise ways. But, there are now subjects we have to stay away from when politics comes up. And, up until now, I've been able to talk to her about anything.

The current flavor and tone of the conservative movement is altering family relationships nationwide - and in a bad way.

[Chrom]

135. And I thought it was just me...

After this thread and another one a few weeks back about so many people witnessing this weird shift in previously rational people...

I have been formulating a theory. Does anyone remember the subliminal 'RATS' on TV that was captured before the first Bush 'election'.

Is it possible that they are still using subliminal messaging?

Perhaps what is controlling their thoughts is beyond these people's control.

We are the party of compassion, perhaps we need to step back and find out what is really happening.

If Norway, or one of the other smarter countries with a really good psychology and tech department....could take apart and analyze. frame by frame. what is being shown on US TV and find subliminal messages, or if anyone listens to Limbaugh, he has a strange "zonk" noise before and after each commercial break...there is something going on here besides regular brainwashing.

How do we get an outside country to look at our media and what is happening. It is almost like we are living in under an Iron curtain, we need some help here.

[DeschutesRiver]

137. I have grown old and haven't been brainwashed by rw shit. It is these people's f'g choice

To allow themselves to start believing and championing this utter crap.

Brainwashing lets them off the hook too easily. It doesn't take much intellect or empathy at all to do anything other than laugh or gag at the stuff Fox promotes; yet some people are just wrapping themselves in this stinky fishwrap of falsehoods.

I hear age being blamed; that is bullshit too. i have seen plenty of less than old people parading these reprehensible nasty beliefs around. i see this crap from former friends, acquantainces, local business owners and family members of all ages.

Might not be teribly fair of me, but when I deal with someone who has so let themselves go off their rocker over make believe hate that they can't be reasoned with, I cut them out of my life, if they continue to discuss this crap in my presence. These are not the people whose minds can be changed, as they are deliberately holding these beliefs tightly in the face of all evidence ro the contrary. When they want to knock off this nonsenseical thinking, they will turn off Fox and start living in the real world again. Until then, buh-bye. They are the minority now.

I have been shocked to learn just who in my life or circles have willingly jumped into this mental cesspool. Their choice, 100%, no one is forced to turn on Fox. I see it turned on in plenty of businesses but I no more pay attention to it than I do to the equally false world of wrestling programs. Anyone who happily allows themselves to make others miserable and themselves angry and agitated over demonstably false "news" or beliefs needs to be ostracized by normal people until they make a different choice.

[EC]

138. Isn't the path to citizenship the repubs are screaming

about wanting to become an American citizen?

[Initech]

139. I have completely blocked Fux Noise from all the TVs in my house.

Most of the relatives on my dad's side of the family have bought into the bile and garbage spewed by that horrible network. I swear it's like Medusa - if you stare at it long enough, you're mesmerized and drawn in by it's hypnotic power. And it doesn't let go.

[SoCalDem]

144. Prolonged (and unrefuted) propaganda works

Decades of rightwing spin has created our current uncaring society