Two weeks with apolitical Republican in-laws is enough to make you cry.

[Pacifist Patriot]

It's bad enough I had to keep my comments in check when the Vice President shot a fellow Republican with buckshot....and then the idiot victim apologized for being shot.

I did steer them toward the UAE port story...to be met with a shrug. I honestly am not sure which is worse. Freepers who blindly follow their misleader or the apolitical who are quite content to go through life blithely unaware of how fucked up things really are.

I am a minister...who cannot discuss religion.

I am a democrat activist...who cannot discuss politics.

What's left? My toddler's potty training? I am going insane.

It's not the Freepers that will be this country's undoing, it's the countless more who would rather not be bothered. Any bets there are at least 100 of them for every Freeper or DU denizen? The deliberate lack of awareness is an obstacle that seems insurmountable.

For the curious, I have two days left and then I can rant and rail with my husband to my heart's content.

[benburch]

1. My sister is like that too...

...when she isn't saying horrible things about Jews!

My God, none of the rest of us seem to be bigots, how did it happen to her?

[Pacifist Patriot]

4. My family is similar.

Except it's backwards. I've long wondered how in the world my parents escaped the bigotry of their respective clans.

So there is hope!

[babylonsister]

2. Here's an expression I've always embraced:

Relatives are like fish; after 3 days they stink. :hi:

[f-bush]

29. Try after three minutes.

[ThomCat]

3. It's the people who don't care

who make it possible for people to do horrible things.

You are so right.

[PunkPop]

5. I won't take that bet.

100 sounds about right.

[madokie]

6. well bless your heart, way more patience than I have.

[Dunvegan]

7. The dangers of banality

It looks that by the time you have endured your "trial by guest" that you will have the makings of a fine sermon or essay.

Hang in there. All are not blind. Some of us are here.

The Banality of Evil
opinion by Donald Torrence

Whenever I hear President Bush and other neocon ideologues refer to the axis of evil or anoint themselves as civilized and their enemies as uncivilized, I immediately think of Hanna Arndt's classic study of totalitarianism, in which she makes reference to "the banality of evil." A brilliant political philosopher, Arndt used the phrase to characterize the German operatives that were responsible for carrying out the holocaust.

Upon fulfilling their daily tasks, these operatives would go home to their families and indulge their children, love their significant other, and generally carry on a routine existence. They were not different from the norm. They demonstrated no exceptional proclivity to violence or aggression. They simply carried out orders and did a good job at whatever tasks they were assigned within the Third Reich.

{snip}

I pose this question: is Arndt's banality of evil applicable to George W. Bush and the neocon operatives that surround him? Are they ordinary people who are capable of compassion within a constricted class and race, and who--outside of this context--are capable of ordering the destruction of others they define as expendable?

{snip}

[woodsprite]

8. You have my condolences. I have a weekly family

dinner and I can't make up my mind if they just don't care or they really are evangelical fundamentalists with no christian values and think Bush has been annointed. I vote for the 2nd option. I only have to do a week with them once a year at the beach and then hubby and I steer clear of them for much of the time. Actually, this year, it will only be my SIL/BIL and their 5 kids. MIL decided our beach (Hatteras) was too boring and has decided to vacate :) to Myrtle Beach. She's trying to talk my SIL into that also. Hope it works!

Two weeks at the beach with my 2 little liberal angels and hubby sounds great! You may say "Wait, you just said 1 week". That's cause we planned one week with the inlaws and one week to recover after they went home ;)

Hope you have a great homecoming and can rant away. I think my hubby is getting tired of my political rants. We went in with a bunch of coworkers for the lottery ticket last week and we were musing over how we'd spend it if we won. He asked me if I'd quit my job and run for office. I told him I don't have the personality for it, but I'd back the good cause as much as I legally could.

Unfortunately, we didn't buy our ticket in Nebraska :(

[acmejack]

9. They're all like that-willful ignorance.

They want to discuss politics, but only as long as no one wishes to confront them with any facts or contrary opinions. Disagreement is unwelcome, as everyone has found out to their discomfiture. What to do, I have no idea, I am a pariah as I feel the issues are simply too important to be ignored.

Their response is to ignore me, I am regarded a sa head case, which I very well may be.

[MadMaddie]

10. You know when they will respond....and not a moment before...

When their comfortable lives are disrupted...when their television programs are disrupted...when gas is $5-$10 a gallon....when a war not just a terrorist attack is on our soil...they will wake up....

Just like the German citizens of Berlin, Germany when their comfortable cozy lives were disrupted...with bombs dropping on their homes and killing them...

or

A massive storm/natural disaster will hit their areas and they will realize that they were wrong about the Katrina victims.....they will feel the abandonment of the very government that they so blindly supported....

Then and only then...will the sheeple wake up....

I wish no ill will to anyone one but reality is a bitch when it directly effects them!!

You know...sometimes I think this sounds paranoid but I honestly am coming to the conclusion that this is what it will take.

Hang in there and we will be saying a DU prayer for your last two days!!!

[IsItJustMe]

20. I have come to the same conclusion. This thing is like a cult and

very powerful. It amazes me.

I for one; though, will continue to walk in the world of facts and reality. It is my curse and I do have the bad habit of facing down ignorance when encountered.

I have had idiots actually try to hit me over my truth telling. I have been ostracized by my wifes Church friends, and have been called un-American.

At night when I to bed though, I know that I have lived my life by my golden rule, TO THINE SELF BE TRUE.

[SmokingJacket]

11. Boy, oh, boy, do I feel for you.

They don't WANT to know what's going on -- it's so much easier to just enjoy their creature comforts and forget about it all...

I once spent more than a month in your situation. Lemme tell you... NEVER AGAIN!

[IsItJustMe]

12. I feel your pain. Last Thanksgiving my brother in law and his wife came

up for four days from Georgia. The first thing he said to me is, "isn't it terrible that they won't say merry christmas to you anymore to you in the stores".

Then he started in on how Barbra Bush got a terrible letter from Cindy Shehan. I was ready to puke but I promised my wife that I would be cool.

A day after he arrived my other brother in law came in from Indiana. He likes NASCAR alot and I think he believes that WWE Wrestling is real. He belongs to a union and makes damn good money.

Of course he starts running down his union and starts asking me if they have approved GAY Marriage yet in Illinois, Knowing that Illinois is a blue state.

The morning they all left, I have to admit, I blew it. I could no longer take it. I am grown man but was brought almost to tears.

I told them all that I hope they will all be happy when they take science out of high school education and start teaching the book of Ex educe.

I like these people, but I find they are very narrow minded, watch FOX NEWS, and believe the bull they are being fed.

I feel so lonly sometimes. The only Dem left. I have found this forum however and luv it.

God help us all

[Goblinmonger]

25. Welcome to DU

for all the bullshit that even happens on here (which I am admittedly a part of and cause sometimes) I still know that we are all on the same side. Enjoy your stay here.

[rucky]

13. K&R for Apathy Awareness!

[callous taoboy]

14. My ex-liberal brother turned realtor voted for * in '04

so I immediately sent him a link detailing the * administration's planned assault on the environment (something that my brother had been passionate about before he went soft in the head). He immediately shot back with, "I am not interested in receiving any more e-mails from you that are of a political nature!"

Invasion of the body snatchers: We're witnessing it. I can't talk to my parents any more about anything except how my lawn is doing and I've pretty much written off my brother as brain-dead.

[Pirate Smile]

22. I only talk to my in-laws about superficial things now too.

It is a terrible feeling.

[sickinohio]

26. Ha - that's funny.

My daughter sent me an email saying basically the same thing: "Don't send me any more anti-bu$h emails. I don't read them anyway. I just delete them".

go figure

Sheeple, I tell you, Sheeple!!!

[MikeH]

27. That must be especially hard

It must be especially hard for you given that he had previously been a liberal and passionate about the environment, and then votes for *. A sense of betrayal of his previous values.

[callous taoboy]

31. Frankly, I think all of the blotter acid he did is catching up to him.

Used to be a pretty sharp guy, but he also partied very hard back in the day. He and his wife inherited over a million dollars, so now that they have the dough-rey-me he has changed (she still adheres to good causes, but then she never liked acid).

[Atlas Mugged]

15. I agree with your statement about apathy 100%

I internally explode when I'm socializing with family or friends and the topic of current affairs is met with complete indifference by some of them. They have no interest, whatsoever, in what's going on outside their little "reality bubble". And, as a world traveler, it's pointless to even bring up where I've been as a contribution to the conversation...the response is always something like, "Why on earth would you want to go THERE???" And, "There's plenty of things to see and do right HERE". Then the discussion moves on to whatever bargain they got at WalMart and/or (depending on their age) where and when the next kegger is. Sadly, some of these people are young and completely inert - socially, intellectually, politically and spiritually (BTW, I'm quite the Secular Humanist, but I have an active interest in religions of all kind. Hell, I even subscribe to 'Biblical Archaeology').

I have a rather serious nervous tic when I'm stuck in those situations; I start chewing on the inside of my mouth and then have problems, for days, trying to get it to heal.

[sarcasmo]

19. I think we need to start speaking out and speaking the truth.

Holding things in only makes them stronger.

[MikeH]

16. I am anxious about my mother

My mother is for the most part a good person, but she did support * in 2000. (She especially despised Clinton after his affair.)

I expressed my concern and upset with her after it became definite in December 2000 that * was going to be the pResident, and she told me the country will survive.

I wore a T-shirt to a family gathering in 2002 which said "This American Patriot Protests the Corporate Controlled George W. Bush", and my mother was offended.

In April 2003 my mother called me to tell me about the fall of the statue of Saddam which was on TV, and how wonderful it was. I sent her a not very nice e-mail telling her off, and what I thought about the situation, and that the fall of the statue was staged. She was a little hurt, but it did not cause any permanent rift.

I will say that my dad, who died in the mid 1980's, sometimes did some very good things, but sometimes bordered on being abusive, especially emotionally and psychologically. My mother for the most part went along with him, and I see her having gone along with * much the same way as I saw her going along with my dad.

I live in San Diego, CA, and my mother had been living there until the summer of 2003, when she moved to Ohio to be with one of my sisters and her husband. Since then she and I have not talked about or mentioned politics. We usually talk about safe topics like the weather, or family matters.

She is well off financially, and has been very generous with me. And I don't want to say or do anything to threaten that.

Yes, she lives in Ohio, the key battleground state in 2004, and in which much is going on that is not good, and I don't know how she feels about any of it, and want to avoid asking anything about it.

Actually one of my brothers has told me that my mom is now not too happy with *, and I would be happy if that is the case. But it is a sensitive topic that I do not feel comfortable about mentioning to her.

[sarcasmo]

17. Don't feel bad, I cut off ties as much as possible with the wifes freeper

brothers and father in law and Mother in law. This last five years has been real trying for me too. Thanks to D/U I can vent.

[catmandu57]

18. It's infuriating

that there are people so passionless, so empty, so go along to get along, these are the people I want to shout wake up to. It's their fault that we're where we are today, because they wouldn't get off their dead asses long enough to concern themselves about the rest of us.

Over half of the country didn't bother for one reason or another to vote in 04, either they'de take whomever because they're all they're same anyway. :nuke: I just don't know how to get through to those people.

I can understand the freeps, I think they're wrong dead wrong but, they have a passion, that I can appreciate. It's people like your inlaws who need a serious dose of reality.

[BR_Parkway]

21. I feel your pain. Just stumbled across an under 100 poster wailing

about how come we weren't doing something about SD banning abortions and totally went off about where the hell were they while we were yelling and screaming to get their attention that this was going to happen.

I'm still most boggled by those who answer a survey or an online poll as "I don't know" or "I don't have an opinion". It will only matter when it hits them in the purse, or tax bill, or gas pump.

My father has gone from railing about the 'libruls' in Congress stealing from him to give to the poor who are too lazy to work to railing about the 'libruls' in Congress stealing from him to give more big companies more tax breaks. I guess I'm making progress, at least he must be reading some of the stuff I've been sending. Here's to safely lasting another 48 hours.

[stanwyck]

23. This is the reason

Fear. My liberal brother and father now watch Faux and voted for Bush. This breaks my heart. It's as though they've been replaced by pod people. This is not who they are.
And though they're educated, they're no longer well informed. They've given up. When I try to debate with them, they don't know the issues. They used to read. But now, they just watch Faux.
This happened after 9-11. And it's fear. You uncover why the people you know are clinging to Bush and the rightwing, and you'll find people who are scared.
The America they loved is disappearing. Jobs are gone. There is no economic stability. No healthcare. No pensions.
And they've been told terrorists can only be stopped by a strong, militaristic rightwing protector. And that's George W. Bush.
It's calming to them to listen to Hannity, Limbaugh, and O'Reilly. The answers are in black and white. And the hate-talkers speak decisively and authoritatively.
People are scared. And Bush and his henchmen have convinced them they're only safe if the rightwing is in control.

[Dunvegan]

24. Well, then there is your American Reichstag Fire

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reichstag_Fire

Fear is what it takes to take away freedom.

Freedom is an antidote to fear.

Freedom is full of unknowns.

Unknowns are frightening.

Get people caught in this loop and they get churned up and (unless they have a great deal of spirit and strength born of conviction) they get spewed out on the side of surrender.

[f-bush]

28. I wouldn't care..I'd discuss my political views with my

in laws anyway and if they gave me any shit, I'd tell them to go fuck themselves. If they get huffy, then that's just an excuse not to have to socialize with them again.

I got into it with my inlaws over Reagan during the 1980 presidential election, I was just married a couple of months and let them have it. We have not seen them since, nor written or phoned. Our family of four is doing just fine with out the asshole nazi gop sympathizers!!!!

[erinlough]

30. I work with two women like that

sometimes I just have to leave the room. If it isn't about kids or shopping they don't know about it and don't want to. I think of them as brain dead and I feel sorry for them.

What gets me most is when they listen in when another collegue and I talk about informed politics and they turn to the side and talk about shopping just loud enough to drown out our already quiet conversation. What a couple of dunces...hopeless.

[Just Me]

32. I completely identify with your frustration.

x( Glad you'll be free to fully express yourself, soon. :hug:

[Pacifist Patriot]

33. The worst part?

They spend the first two hours of every day immersed in at least three newspapers. They read them cover to cover...and still don't give a shit! What does that tell you about journalism today?