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I had the same experience with my dental hygienist right before the election....she hates Trump and I had to ask her to please change the subject while cleaning my teeth!
I don’t want to hear politics at all from my health care professionals no matter what, I pay them for a service and that’s it. I hear them spouting hate for Biden or Trump I shut it down.
I think many people like to express their self-rightous opinions and now have a free for all platform 24/7 via social media. This has the effect of carrying over into their everyday lives. Tweeting by the POTUS has intensified the media frenzy.
I don't even like seeing political signage on lawns. I don't need to know who my neighbor voted for; it most certainly isn't going to influence my vote.
Bam. You nailed it. This is what I was trying to say, but you said it better.
Growing up in the 1970s and 1980s, I don't remember being conditioned to view everything through a political lens, either. I noticed that started happening in the 1990s.
Personally, I think the manipulation is deliberate. Divide & conquer is the oldest control tactic in the book. But I guess saying that makes me a conspiracy kook
"The Personal is Political." This was a rallying cry of Second Wave Feminism and it was alive and well in the college classrooms of the Seventies. You could crudely translate that into, "If I get stuck having to stay at home and raise children the government better pay me for my service."
Suddenly, to a generation that was moving to the Narcissistic side of the fence, it really was all about me. When people believe they've got skin in the game emotions run high.
A lot of it has to do with the explosion of media outlets and the internet. Virtually any political philosophy irregardless of its toxicity or truthfulness is out there and available. For some people it triggers a long suppressed hidden rage and grievances against the world validated by media demagogues and fear mongers.
I think many people like to express their self-rightous opinions and now have a free for all platform 24/7 via social media. This has the effect of carrying over into their everyday lives. Tweeting by the POTUS has intensified the media frenzy.
I don't even like seeing political signage on lawns. I don't need to know who my neighbor voted for; it most certainly isn't going to influence my vote.
When I went back to our Bay Area home four weeks ago, I was shocked and dismayed to see the hateful language on the signs our next-door neighbors (who are renters) had spread across their lawn. These were custom signs they had had made, not the usual campaign signs.
I also noticed when I saw them each of them had gained at least 50 lbs since I was last there. Apparently eating their feelings wasn't enough.
Several weeks ago, there was a blocking the driveway thread on another CD forum. The O.P. and I had a nice chat via private messages, save that he/she kept trying to give the topic a political bent despite me continually attempting to steer the conversation back to a neutral course.
I've long enjoyed politics and political discussions, but not every single topic under the sun needs to have a conservative/liberal/for Trump or against him angle to it. It's a bad habit that I find to be both tiresome and simple-minded. I tend to disengage as quickly as I can when a non-politically related conversation begins to veer that way.
For me, life is far more nuanced than the "team sports" mentally that's become so prevalent in American politics.
"The Personal is Political." This was a rallying cry of Second Wave Feminism and it was alive and well in the college classrooms of the Seventies. You could crudely translate that into, "If I get stuck having to stay at home and raise children the government better pay me for my service."
That take is interesting, but I don't agree. The Personal *is* Political--you have to be very isolated and priveleged for things that happen in the political realm to not affect your life at all. Decisions made in politics affect small business owners, immigrants, the LGBT community, people with chronic medical conditions, senior citizens, military families, teachers and students, and everyone in between. None of that means that there isn't a time and place or respectful way to discuss politics, but it's not some foreign concept that has nothing to do with real life.
I enjoy discussing politics but I avoid it with people whose views I don't know or have opposing views. My daughter has gotten upset with my wife and I because she says we are constantly discussing politics or the pandemic. She also doesn't like that we always have political talk shows on TV and finds it to be negative.
Dad, is that you? Actually, you have the sense to avoid the discussion when the other person has an opposing viewpoint, so you're not my dad. Lol.
Politics and whack-a-doodle conspiracy theories are all my father talks about, and it's gotten to the point where my husband and I don't want to visit him and my mom (who live pretty close to us). As a retiree, my father has literally nothing else in his life that he wishes to discuss. I honestly don't know what to do anymore. I don't know the psychology behind it and I don't really care to know. At his age, he's not going to change, so I have to figure out how to deal with it.
That take is interesting, but I don't agree. The Personal *is* Political--you have to be very isolated and priveleged for things that happen in the political realm to not affect your life at all. Decisions made in politics affect small business owners, immigrants, the LGBT community, people with chronic medical conditions, senior citizens, military families, teachers and students, and everyone in between. None of that means that there isn't a time and place or respectful way to discuss politics, but it's not some foreign concept that has nothing to do with real life.
There was no value judgement put on the truth of the statement, fleetiebelle. I was commenting on one of the ways that the public was "educated" into a fixation on politics.
Please don't make assumptions about where I stand on an issue without checking it out first.
I don’t want to hear politics at all from my health care professionals no matter what, I pay them for a service and that’s it. I hear them spouting hate for Biden or Trump I shut it down.
I'm all for this approach. Since hearing politics is to me like nails on the chalkboard, I refuse to contribute to (and fuel) discussions, and do what I can to shut them down. That's the only antidote to the heated noise and foaming at the mouth. As soon as you respond, their foot is in the door, like some insane salesperson or religious zealot. Keep that d*mn door closed and locked. Keep them on the 'outside' (symbolically) with all their foolishness. They can go and argue with themselves.
Last edited by Thoreau424; 12-18-2020 at 06:10 PM..
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You nailed it. This is what I was trying to say, but you said it better.
Actually, you have the sense to avoid the discussion when the other person has an opposing viewpoint, so you're not my dad. Lol.
