Dealing with reactionary/liberal families

[Comrade Hill]

Quite honestly, I don't know if I can deal with my mother, father, and grandmother yelling in my face about how communism is "dangerous" and how it makes me "anti-social" and what not.

I do understand, however, that my family descends from a petty-bourgeois background. Still....how do you guys deal with your family who thinks they know everything about communism, when they haven't read a damn book about it in their entire life?

[Камо́ Зэд]

My family and friends are, for the most part, fairly left-leaning, almost to the point of being Social Democrats. My worst experience in this regard is with my father, whose politics are difficult to define. While extremely left-leaning, he hasn't bothered to learn much about theory; he takes many of his ques from Mao's Quotations. Where he becomes a problem for me is in his arrogantly dismissive attitude toward the problem of revisionism, as well as his tendency to just laugh off any deeper questions of theory. Idealism permeates his politics so thoroughly, related to his interest in "the spiritual," that he's adopted very anti-intellectual attitudes.

[Ostrinski]

I have a problem with my father who is very sexist. The problem is that he is schizophrenic and has no friends or hobbies or anything so I feel bad when I yell at him.

[Ostrinski]

Also, my grandparents think I'm a liberal. fml

[ВАЛТЕР]

My mom and dad are pretty much communists. My father though has a weird semi-nationalist (idk how to describe it) phase he goes through every so often, but he really isn't a nationalist in any way shape or form. I think it just comes from frustration at the state of things. My mother is a communist, my grandma is just my grandma and I don't care about her politics because they are probably stupid much like some of the things she says to me sometimes. My cousin is a "communist" who supports democrats and shit like that. We all just call him the "fake Valter" which comes from the Partisan movie I get my nickname from. (You gotta watch it for it to make sense.)

[jookyle]

You just don't let it bother you. Stand your ground, don't get angry or start yelling. Make a joke if you can. The more reaction they get out of you the more they're going to continue.

And if worse comes to worse, build a gulag in the basement.

[Workers-Control-Over-Prod]

Yeah, well, it's quite annoying. I blatantly win every argument and i am always told i don't know enough, too young etc.; just empty, contradicting brainwashed blablabla that spurts out. For instance, i argued with my father that what is happening in Greece is a crime, that the greek working people are not to blame for anything because they do not make decisions. He responded with saying "but they kept voting corrupt politicians! The Greeks don't work, they don't make anything, they're lazy!", and i told him if he thinks that it would be okay if the state fired him (a bureaucrat) just because german corrupt politicians ran up the national higher than Spain's by the way. He said "No, i worked hard my whole life!" which is a total absurdity, bureaucrats don't do much work, picking up a pencil and not forgetting to clock out are some of the hardest daily tasks of a bureaucrat.

Anyway, in a few months i will laugh at him and remind him of the argument. By then the German government will implement the same austerity as the Greek bourgeoisie and he will most likely suffer similar salary cuts of 50% and mass unemployment. Capitalist Propaganda is very meticulously hammered into the public mind here, consumerism and the labor aristocracy is the second biggest factor to smash worker solidarity. The anti-humanness of the treatment of the current problem is very vile, if i wasn't a leftist i probably would have had quite a many arrests for punching people in the mouth with the rage that builds up living in this system.

[cynicles]

Yeah, well, it's quite annoying. I blatantly win every argument and i am always told i don't know enough, too young etc.; just empty, contradicting brainwashed blablabla that spurts out. For instance, i argued with my father that what is happening in Greece is a crime, that the greek working people are not to blame for anything because they do not make decisions. He responded with saying "but they kept voting corrupt politicians! The Greeks don't work, they don't make anything, they're lazy!", and i told him if he thinks that it would be okay if the state fired him (a bureaucrat) just because german corrupt politicians ran up the national higher than Spain's by the way. He said "No, i worked hard my whole life!" which is a total absurdity, bureaucrats don't do much work, picking up a pencil and not forgetting to clock out are some of the hardest daily tasks of a bureaucrat.

Anyway, in a few months i will laugh at him and remind him of the argument. By then the German government will implement the same austerity as the Greek bourgeoisie and he will most likely suffer similar salary cuts of 50% and mass unemployment. Capitalist Propaganda is very meticulously hammered into the public mind here, consumerism and the labor aristocracy is the second biggest factor to smash worker solidarity. The anti-humanness of the treatment of the current problem is very vile, if i wasn't a leftist i probably would have had quite a many arrests for punching people in the mouth with the rage that builds up living in this system.
This inability to piece together basic logic is a lot of why I suspect the upper classes evicted philosophy from the educational curriculum. Their propoganda wouldn't be as effective if people we're armed with a greater knowledge of basic logic and critical thinking skills.

[Robespierres Neck]

I've been really struggling with this as well. More so than usual. Except my family, all together, is more conservative than liberal (even if they don't want to admit it). I was raised pretty liberally so it's still quite strange to me.

[Radikal]

Yeah, my dad doesn't know that I'm a communist, he still thinks I'm a liberal :\

[Камо́ Зэд]

Yeah, my dad doesn't know that I'm a communist, he still thinks I'm a liberal :\

Aren't they the same thing?

[CryingWolf]

Politics is simply not discussed in my family, except on rare occasion. I bet my parents can tell you who the president is. But beyond that... ? Meh. :mellow:

[Igor]

In the end, they're just your parents, though. If you're living with them right now it might suck, but you don't have to discuss politics with them. It's really pretty much that simple, if you being a commie causes shit with your family, stop bringing it up. I never really discuss politics with my family, even though that probably wouldn't really cause any conflict whatsoever.

and if you are living with them, they're probably not going to be a huge part of your life in coupla years anyways so even if it sucks now it's all going to go away

[Rugged Collectivist]

No one in my family knows I'm a communist. I told my twin sister I'm an anarchist (I'm not, but technically all communists view anarchy as the end goal) because it has less of a stigma and some of her friends are anarchists. She knows fuck all about politics though and doesn't care.

I won't tell my dad because he's a business owner and it could get pretty awkward really fast. My mom wouldn't care but she's a blabbermouth so I won't tell her either.

Honestly I plan on being open about it when I'm living on my own. Most of my family is pretty sexist and racist, except my twin sister, who's staunchly opposed to those things but is kind of apathetic and views them in a way that's disconnected from politics. And my mom, who tries hard to be open minded but can't fully escape the biases she was raised with. Despite their reactionary views, everyone in my family is a democrat. I grew up hearing "Republicans are for the rich, they don't care about us".

[Ravachol]

Quite honestly, I don't know if I can deal with my mother, father, and grandmother yelling in my face about how communism is "dangerous" and how it makes me "anti-social" and what not.


How could the desire to reconstruct the lost human community, the infinite extension of the communal relationship possibly be 'anti-social'? Anti-'society', yes. But anti-social?

[Ocean Seal]

How could the desire to reconstruct the lost human community, the infinite extension of the communal relationship possibly be 'anti-social'? Anti-'society', yes. But anti-social?
I suppose that anti-social was used here to mean that it will get rid of your friends and make it harder for others to approach you. Which is to some extent true.

[Ostrinski]

I'm pretty secretive about my politics as well, except with my teachers and stuff in the past.

I for one do not feel the need to cruise around town with a red flag on my car.

[Yazman]

MODERATOR ACTION:


:lol:


yes

Please don't make posts like this. If you agree with somebody or want to compliment them, use the reputation system. That's what it's there for.

One-word posts are not allowed in most cases, and your cases are not exceptions.

Don't do it again!

This post constitutes a warning to Matt Apocalypse and essmat

[Igor]

I for one do not feel the need to cruise around town with a red flag on my car.

you overall don't want to be That Commie Kid because those kids are annoying as fuck and most people actually don't care about your views that much. be chill about stuff and don't people to think of you as you probably think of the maoist rebel news guy. it's not a happy place.

[cantwealljustgetalong]

This inability to piece together basic logic is a lot of why I suspect the upper classes evicted philosophy from the educational curriculum. Their propoganda wouldn't be as effective if people we're armed with a greater knowledge of basic logic and critical thinking skills.

I couldn't agree more. I've only studied formal logic for a year, and I'm already a sharper thinker, speaker, and arguer. I was thinking to myself: "Why don't they teach this in primary school? Oh, wait, right."

I honestly believe a crash-course in formal logic should be part of a Marxist education, at least before jumping to dialectical logic.

[Камо́ Зэд]

My grandmother seems to think a Communist is "a kind of turnip" or some kind of folkloric Irish creature.

[barbelo]

Threads like these make me see how much revleft and stormfront are similar.

[Philosophos]

well I read all these things that everyone wrote and I have to say that I have pretty much the same problems.

My father is a nationalist and he believes communists are something like the destruction of the world because of the things he heard about Stalin (he also thinks Lenin, Marx and all the other guys did EXACTLY what Stalin did because "all the people say it"). He also thinks that communism is all about being an atheist (then you have no morals and suddenly your virtues go flyin' by the window), they don't protect their country because they simply don't care and that communists are traitors that I are going to sell the country to all our "opponents".

Anyway whenever I talk with him about politics he can't get a break because I show him facts that can't be invalid but he keeps believing all this shit that he was raised with.

If your family doesn't have an open mind don't even bother on talking to them they just won't change no matter what. If you are "burning up" to show them what really communism is all about buy a book or find some videos on the internet and make them see them. In addition show them that you can actually think! If you can prove it then they might understand that their kid isn't stupid enough to fall for the "communist propaganda".

Hope I helped somehow

[Arlekino]

Sometimes I have trouble with my partner, when he agree with some capitalism issues, the one thing is good my stepson are getting better and more understandings the crisis of capitalism. Hm my own son well his is capitalist and is nothing I could do he just smiling sarcastic of my ideas.

[Arlekino]

Apologies for double post, this should be interesting about my mother she is resting in peace now, but in past she was member of communist party in Soviet Lithuania, at house she was capitalist trading black market, kind of religious person, she told me she joined because she could get something from party, when she was ill of course the times of collapse of Soviet Union she told me I wish to back comrade Stalin so she was interesting personality never happy with any system.

[Questionable]

Am I the only one that doesn't see the point in antagonizing these people? They're workers, they're the people we're trying to target. If my family says something about hating unions, I don't dismiss them as being stupid petty-bourgeois, I try to figure out the reasons they hate leftist policies and analyze them.

[Ostrinski]

Am I the only one that doesn't see the point in antagonizing these people? They're workers, they're the people we're trying to target. If my family says something about hating unions, I don't dismiss them as being stupid petty-bourgeois, I try to figure out the reasons they hate leftist policies and analyze them.I don't think is meant to be a liberal-family-bashing thread as much as it is meant to be a discussion on how to cope with being party of a family that doesn't share or understand your politics.

[Ocean Seal]

you overall don't want to be That Commie Kid because those kids are annoying as fuck and most people actually don't care about your views that much. be chill about stuff and don't people to think of you as you probably think of the maoist rebel news guy. it's not a happy place.
I didn't choose the commie life, the commie life chose me.

[Rugged Collectivist]

Threads like these make me see how much revleft and stormfront are similar.

In which ways? I'm not questioning you, I'm genuinely curious.

[leftistman]

My family knows that I am leftist, anti-war, and not supportive of Israel but that is as much as they know about my politics. I like things that way because I come from a capitalist/bourgeois family of businessmen, property owners, etc. Everyone in my family is either an ignorant conservative/Jewish nationalist or a liberal.

[Ostrinski]

My grandfather is a very successful businessman and we manage to talk about politics very civily.

[Rugged Collectivist]

My grandfather is a very successful businessman and we manage to talk about politics very civily.

How do you pull this off? My dad is a businessman and I'm afraid him knowing I'm a commie would damage our relationship.

[PC LOAD LETTER]

The first rule of communism is you don't talk about communism! Or, at least, I don't. Not normally. Occasionally I'll talk about current events with family members and offer a very critical viewpoint of, well, everything. But that's about as far as I get. Nobody wants to hear about Marx, and I don't wanna be "that guy".

[#FF0000]

i just deal with lame dad jokes

[Ostrinski]

How do you pull this off? My dad is a businessman and I'm afraid him knowing I'm a commie would damage our relationship.Depends on how close you are probably. My grandfather and I are quite close.

[Os Cangaceiros]

The only time I really rage about politics is when I'm in my parent's house and something comes on the TV news that's just total propaganda. I can't help but challenge it.

One time my parents said that I should watch some dumb news program with them because Condoleeza Rice was on and apparently they think she's some kind of inspirational figure or some nonsense. I managed to watch about five minutes of it before I heard her claim that the "Arab Spring" was a result of Bush's "freedom agenda" in Iraq. I fucking lost it at that, I went ballistic. Not only because the protests in 2011 were mostly against regimes that the USA supported, but also because, when the Arab Spring got to Iraq, it was brutally suppressed (http://www.revleft.com/vb/crackdown-journalists-iraq-t153635/index.html) by the al-Maliki regime. I launched into a political diatribe.

Normally we don't discuss politics, though. My parents are some of those people for whom politics and religion are distasteful subjects. Except for little things like how stupid the city sales tax is, etc. They complain about that shit constantly.

[Rugged Collectivist]

Nobody wants to hear about Marx, and I don't wanna be "that guy".

How can you discuss politics without mentioning Marx? Every time I try to discuss politics I come off as an idiot because I can't reference the class struggle to back up my assertions or provide solutions to problems I highlight.

[Solidarity]

Mainly families and people who say they cling to "Traditional" values.

[Collectorgeneral]

As an unspoken rule I try to avoid discussing politics with my family, things deteriorate fast if conversations head there.

[PC LOAD LETTER]

How can you discuss politics without mentioning Marx? Every time I try to discuss politics I come off as an idiot because I can't reference the class struggle to back up my assertions or provide solutions to problems I highlight.
I don't talk about politics with my family, just current events.

[Os Cangaceiros]

In which ways? I'm not questioning you, I'm genuinely curious.

In Stormfront you'll sometimes find threads where people discuss how to "reveal" their fascist beliefs to their family or friends or whatever.

It's probably more difficult to openly identify as a "fascist", though. In the public mind (in the USA where I live), fascism is viewed as a vile scourge that was exterminated back in the mid-1940's by the glorious forces of democracy and freedom. You can pretty much see that in the fact that, when any sort of government policy is intensely disliked by someone, sometimes the "fascist" adjective gets tossed around, even though the policy has nothing to do with fascism. Same with the police being described as "fascists" for their brutality, etc. People on Stormfront probably don't even identify as fascists, most of them probably don't anyway. "Oh no, I'm not a fascist, I just want to protect the white race from genocide by the Jews, and protect the white woman's virtue from evil negros!"

On the other hand, self-proclaimed communists are more often than not just looked at as eccentrics or weirdo political fetishists.

[Rugged Collectivist]

In Stormfront you'll sometimes find threads where people discuss how to "reveal" their fascist beliefs to their family or friends or whatever.

You can find this on a lot of forums though. It's a pretty meaningless similarity.



On the other hand, self-proclaimed communists are more often than not just looked at as eccentrics or weirdo political fetishists.

I guess. Sometimes I get the "You're a crazy murderer" shit.

[Lenin's Cat]

I gave up years ago. I still attend the family gatherings every year for the holidays, but for the last 4-5 years nobody discusses politics. My Fox News-listening sister is the loudmouth in the family anyway and she's going to spout off and run at the mouth no matter what but I no longer get into it, I just smile and say "sounds interesting" and move on to another topic.

It hasn't been worth the aggravation. The rest of the family is racist, except for my mom, who is now in her 80s, who was always a Democrat who verged on socialism (she grew up poor during the Depression). She seems to be getting more "radical" as conditions worsen in the U.S. My dad who died years ago was a Reagan Republican.

My Fox News sister, for what it's worth, is unemployed and on the verge of losing her home to foreclosure. Yet she loves the Republicans.

Other than talking to my mom on the phone about politics (she knows I'm a communist), I gave up on the rest of them years ago. :blushing:

[Os Cangaceiros]

You can find this on a lot of forums though. It's a pretty meaningless similarity.

It's in regards to politics, though, not "how should I reveal to my family that I'm a furry". You probably won't find much handwringing about revealing political beliefs on democratic underground or redstate.com

[Rugged Collectivist]

It's in regards to politics, though, not "how should I reveal to my family that I'm a furry".

I fail to see a meaningful difference.


You probably won't find much handwringing about revealing political beliefs on democratic underground or redstate.com

Of course not.

If the only similarity between revleft and stormfront is the fact that we're both hated political minorities, I fail to see the point in even bringing it up.

[Os Cangaceiros]

I fail to see a meaningful difference.



Of course not.

If the only similarity between revleft and stormfront is the fact that we're both hated political minorities, I fail to see the point in even bringing it up.

Nah, there are other similarities, too. Check out the "are we the left-wing Stormfront?" thread, I think it's in the non-political forum.

[Rugged Collectivist]

Nah, there are other similarities, too. Check out the "are we the left-wing Stormfront?" thread, I think it's in the non-political forum.

Thanks, I will.