I had to institute a no-politics rule with certain family members during the pan. It's saved relationships.
I have zero friends who are intolerant or hateful or shitty to others. If I found out someone I hadn't spoken to in a long time had become like the right wing nuts in my family I'd first try to talk to them about why that happened with hope of saving them, but if not: get out of my life.
As some guy who grew up in a Mormon community…this shit sucks and I don’t hear from anyone anymore after making it clear where I stood. (Really fucking weird how many of my uniformed family that trained to fight USSR is now pro Moscow but ok)
But, that’s kind of the point and how they get ya, a lot of these wannabe revolutionaries are just looking for a friend group. We need more board game cafes and places to make proper friends
If I found out someone I hadn't spoken to in a long time had become like the right wing nuts in my family I'd first try to talk to them about why that happened with hope of saving them, but if not: get out of my life.
I had to institute a no-politics rule with certain family members
Typical moderate: full of principles until they require sacrifice.
Yeah that’s genuinely a tough one. If my family were a part of the cult (thankfully they’re not) I don’t think I’d be able to cut them out outright. They’re misguided, brainwashed, but maybe those words are just my excuses to downplay the horrors they condone/believe, that they’re just my way of justifying keeping them in my life.
And then when I try to picture a nazi family back in Nazi germany, and the one member of that family realizing the horror of it all, instinctually I want them to cut ties or fight against their family, not turn a blind eye simply because they’re related. That feels gross, until suddenly I try to imagine myself in the same situation, with my loved ones, and suddenly it’s infinitely harder.
I hate this, and am forever grateful that I don’t personally have to deal with it. My heart goes out to those with family members that have been sucked in.
I am glad my immediate family, and the family I had a relationship, with didn't fall for this shit. Though I didn't worry that they might. The parts of my family that did were already the parts I avoided, because they have a long history of other similar behaviors, over other shit.
I don't presume to know your situation or the people you've dealt with so I'll be charitable and imagine you cut your losses and quit similar situations in good faith, but you and I are both ignorant about the lives of others. It seems to me like the behavior you label an abandonment of principle leaves the door open to future redemption of a loved one. That's worth fighting for. On that ground, I think you should stop sharing this opinion even if it's true for you. If they don't want to damn their own mother to a propoganda echo chamber full of malice then I'm rooting for them.