Off My Chest
RULES:
I am looking for mods!
1. The "good" part of our community means we are pro-empathy and anti-harassment. However, we don't intend to make this a "safe space" where everyone has to be a saint. Sh*t happens, and life is messy. That's why we get things off our chests.
2. Bigotry is not allowed. That includes racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, and religiophobia. (If you want to vent about religion, that's fine; but religion is not inherently evil.)
3. Frustrated, venting, or angry posts are still welcome.
4. Posts and comments that bait, threaten, or incite harassment are not allowed.
5. If anyone offers mental, medical, or professional advice here, please remember to take it with a grain of salt. Seek out real professionals if needed.
6. Please put NSFW behind NSFW tags.
view the rest of the comments
If your father is using those words as an insult, he is probably a maga or close. Being leftist is only an insult if you are an empathy-lacking rightwinger that sees people defending human rights as an enemy; be it because they've been brainwashed or because they are evil.
In any case, be proud, if a maga sees you as a leftist, it means you are a threat to the fascism they want to bring to the world. And my advice is to not seek acceptance from them too hard, chances are they are white supremacists not caring for anything remotely "different". Acceptance comes from people capable of empathising, and magas are... not ready for that.
He is indeed MAGA(?) but does not agree with certain talking points. He only is MAGA/right because he doesn’t like the left.
Many magas don't agree with all of trump's talking points (ask any of them how do they like tariffs and you'll see) but they are brought together by hatred towards "the other". It's hate that fuels them so there's no point expecting them to understand basic concepts such as lgbt+ rights being human rights.
I too am neurodivergent (autistic to be accurate) and I have hidden it from my parents because I got diagnosed at middle age since they didn't want to hear about it because they wanted a "normal" kid. I tried to talk to my father about this and. radicalized as he is towards fascism, he just dismisses it every time saying that autistic people are (his words, not mine) "subnormal" and "retarded". 20 years ago, although right leaning, he was reasonable, now, thanks to facebook and the likes, he's a rightwing drone that only thinks what media tells him to. I now only talk to him once every few months, I have made my mind around the fact that he is a lost cause.
I hate their views on autistic people so much.
Maybe ask him how he feels that his vote is enabling fascism and that he's been led down a path? Tell him you'll accept him calling you as a leftist as an insult if he'll watch this clip the US DOD put out to help Americans identify fascism after WWII. As him if he can honestly say he doesn't feel like a sucker for allowing fascism to take root?
https://youtu.be/vGAqYNFQdZ4
Any time he brings up your politics call him a sucker. See if he can't start working his brain a bit to get out from under it over time, or at least see some of the gaping holes in his view.
He thinks everything not supporting his “side” is fake and left-wing propaganda. I dated someone like that, actually. Didn’t go well but they became very leftist.
Your dad is a member of a cult. It's fully possible that he'll never change.
One thing to remember is that you have absolutely no obligation to keep family members in your life. I haven't spoken to my father since Trump won the election.
I’ve not spoken to him since he moved to a hotel
Yeah, it's super important for systems that are irrational or benefit some groups more than others, to discourage education, questioning, and substantive debate; they know they would lose. Most religions are like this.
Does he think the left is the Democratic Party?
That's a major defining tenet of being a maga, possibly the most important one. Hurting the left and/or others they perceive as different is what brings them together.
Fox made him automatically associate left leaning politics with the extreme anarchist/communist left radicals. Usually when you explain your actual positions to those kinds of people they are surprised you're not for killing all men and making sure every single person has exactly the same property, or something.