As a general rule, I try not to discuss politics with my family. I used to think I was a political moderate, but my time here in Virginia has proven to me that I'm actually just a liberal who didn't know it. Most of my family, true Oklahomans that they are, are quite conservative. Knowing this, and also knowing that they don't actually follow politics the way that I do (what with living within spitting distance of the nation's capital), I recognize that trying to change their minds about anything political is a task akin to Sisyphus: I can keep rolling the stone of fact and whatnot up the hill, but their opinions are just gonna shove it right back down to the bottom of the hill.
This isn't to say my family's ignorant; far from it: my parents are both college-educated, as are some of my grandparents, and the ones who don't have "fancy college learnin'" are still quite intelligent in that "I can fix things with my hands and know how the world in Oklahoma works" sort of way. None of them (with the exception of my brother, Clif) has any sort of historical or political science training, or really understands how politics work. Clif does, and it's possible to have an intelligent discussion on the issues with him, even if we don't agree on things.
With the rest of my family, though, it just isn't possible. I know what I believe to be right, and I know that they disagree. I know I'm not going to change their minds, and they know they're not going to change mine. So we...don't talk about it.
Anyway, yeah, I don't talk about politics with my family. Does mean that, come November 4, one side or the other may do some gloating that the other doesn't want to hear. It's a very distinct possibility.
And now, a kitten!
~chuck
Song of the Moment: The White Stripes, "Your Southern Can Is Mine"
2 comments:
Really? You didn't know you were a liberal?
...
How'd you miss that?
In my defense, I was living in one of the most conservative states in the country. Saying I was a moderate was probably safer than saying I was a liberal, especially given the sort of email forwards I've been receiving from both parents in the past six or seven months.
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