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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Romneybots are rabbid
I talked to my 89 year old dad last night. Wanted to talk to him in the event Sandy took our power for several days. H lives in Iowa and is a life long Democrat and retired AFL-CIO member.
He was all excited because the local football team was one win away from the championship. But then he went on about a phone call he had received a few days before. It was from my youngest brother who has become the most extreme right wing wackjob.
My dad was upset about this phone call because my brother was harrasing him about his vote and his religion. Dad told me that he was going to hell according to my brother because he is voting for Obama and is Catholic.
Now first of all, we were raised Catholic and now my brother is ridiculing it like it is a cult or something, this really made my dad angry.
Second, my brother knows well where my parents always stood politically, my mother always worked for one campaign or another, we always had big parties in the back yard with some big name Democrats of the day attending. And with dad being in a union, he knew where to put his support.
So my brother is so rabid, that he calls his father and harassed him over his vote. He made the mistake of telling my dad that Romney was like Reagan. I am sure dad went ballistic on that one, it was during the Reagan's union busting that my father was forced to retire early.
Dad indicated that this was not the first such call from my brother. What is wrong with someone who can't accept that their own father has different views than they do?
I don't even talk with my brother any more because he is so radical.
marezdotes
(110 posts)He's the only one in the family that votes Republican. He likes to call us Communists and that includes our Dad. I believe Republicanism is a mental disorder, especially the visious Thugs like our bro's. I don't talk to him much anymore.
Wait Wut
(8,492 posts)I hope your dad didn't take it to heart. Your brother needs to back the fuck off and realize that your father has been around long enough to make his own decisions.
PDJane
(10,103 posts)I've no idea what causes people to do this, and considering the number of great people who are, apparently, going to hell, I'd rather be there.
Auntie Bush
(17,528 posts)They're ReThugs...accent on THUGS. Too many of them are rabid like this.
I and my Republican brothers email back and forth...each trying to convert the other. I've given up...they're hopeless! However, It would never change my feelings toward them. My sister is also Republican and I love all my siblings dearly. I would never let politics come between me and my family. If it's getting ugly between loved ones...Just refuse to discuss politics and hang up on them if they insist. After the election...hopefully things will get back to normal. Everyone is so stressed out right now...but, fear is running ramped among the Thugs.
Sorry, I think this is also an answer to the OP.
Lucinda
(31,170 posts)I hope your brother figures it out soon.
TwilightGardener
(46,416 posts)he treats your dad--doesn't sound like he's being especially kind to a guy who's almost 90.
AtomicKitten
(46,585 posts)Just tell him politics and religion are too volatile a conversation to have with your elderly father and that you would appreciate it if he considered your father's well-being and shut his pie hole.
My 2-centsworth. Good luck.
liberal N proud
(60,362 posts)If he isn't listening to her, there is no hope. He came across the table at me once.
At my mothers funeral, he was an ass, he and two other brothers squatted at the house and scowled at us when we visited dad. It took every bone in my body to not take him out then.
I just avoid the ass.
AtomicKitten
(46,585 posts)I sympathize because my family is a mess and I too just stay clear of the loons.
Window
(7,265 posts)n/t
kelliekat44
(7,759 posts)reflection
(6,286 posts)if he doesn't respect your dad's politics, he should at least damn sure respect your DAD.
Tell him your dad was in the real world experiencing shit and voting when your brother was just a gleam in your Dad's eye while looking at your mother.
(I realize that last sentence is poorly constructed, but I don't care)
liberal N proud
(60,362 posts)He thinks he knows more then everyone and is going to beat it out of if you challenge him. He can across the table at once because I didn't agree with him.
We don't talk.
reflection
(6,286 posts)Thanksgivings must be real pleasant.
liberal N proud
(60,362 posts)MFM008
(19,850 posts)For our side. He wont even talk to republicans. My mom and son and sister to. The family that loathes gOP together stays together.
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)Is myour brother a romneybot? Or, an anti-(President) Obamabot.
If he's a romneybot ... I suspect he's the only one in the entire gop.
liberal N proud
(60,362 posts)He thought bu$h was a great leader. I think he drank the tea.
PearliePoo2
(7,768 posts)Both of my parents are now deceased, but when they were alive, my older brother did the SAME thing. He would call them and rant on and on. It was particularly stressful for my Mom.
I come from a long line of Union, Democratic households. I'm a 3rd generation Union member.
My (union member) older brother turned "right-wing whacko" after years of driving his Teamster truck in Eastern Washington with NOTHING on the am radio but poisonous Rush. My sister (Operating Engineers) called me and said, "It's like we need an intervention!"
Nope...too late, we have lost him...he's gone to the dark side.
Not only that, my brother used to be a nice guy...now he is angry, really angry and full of hate. I have talked to him once in the 14 years since my Dad's funeral, but I get updates from my other brother and sister.
I miss the brother I used to know, love and was so close to. Now he is a stranger.
yardwork
(61,860 posts)I believe that decades worth of psychological research has gone into writing the scripts that people like Rush read on hate radio. It's designed to brainwash people who are vulnerable. I'm not sure why it works with some people and not others, but I have a bad feeling that if I didn't read DU and other political sites and I got all my information from Fox News and hate radio, I might succumb too. I think that the Republicans figured out how to prey on people's fears, resentments, and other weaknesses, exploiting their emotions and making them angry.
I've seen this happen to a couple of family members.
TwilightGardener
(46,416 posts)and having gotten the shaft (real or perceived) at some point in life that makes people responsive to RW hate radio. Rush speaks to them and they feel that THIS guy understands what they've been through, THIS guy knows it's all bullshit out there, THIS guy knows what the real score is. Like a little club for the disgruntled, lonely, and misunderstood--angry at women in general, the well-educated, all those of other races who keep getting speshul treatment or goodies from the government... An interesting psychological phenomenon, for sure.
BlancheSplanchnik
(20,219 posts)I'm thinking of someone who seems to fit your breakdown here, particularly with regard to getting the shaft. He doesn't really listen to hate radio or fux, but I believe he gets the script from his RW christofascist brother, who HAS treated siblings and elderly parents the same way that the OP describes.
I wonder how his brain processes work, since he didn't experience the kind of screw overs. At least I don't think so....also, he was a judgmental, conservative dick early on, from what I understand.
Well...anyway...I guess there's probably more here I could say, but not worth it right now.
I just wonder, how do people hang on to such misguided ideas and false idols, even when it's clear that they've gone wayyyy down the wrong path?
TwilightGardener
(46,416 posts)distinguish their personal beliefs from objective fact. You can show them statistics, documents, quotes and credible sources to dispute them, and conservative nutjobs will believe what they want to believe, no matter how obviously untrue it may be. They are not tethered to reality. I have some extended family members like this (though they hate Obama more than they love the Republican party)--there's no point in arguing with them, because I will never change their minds. It's like trying to convince someone their religious beliefs are wrong.
Auntie Bush
(17,528 posts)It destroys the empathy area of the brain and makes people selfish and angry. A most horrible disease for which there doesn't seem to have a cure...not even a vaccine.
Mariana
(14,864 posts)and Fox News, and in some cases, their churches. Those assholes are SO hateful and disrespectful toward anyone who disagrees with them. It's not hard to imagine how someone who listens to that shit all day, every day can come to believe that such behavior is socially acceptable.
joeybee12
(56,177 posts)You just don't harrass an 89-year-old man.
madaboutharry
(40,252 posts)Religion, politics, culture, really anything for that matter, can turn into cult like fervor when it is pushed to the extreme. I think it is a sign of mental instability when it gets to that point.
AverageJoe90
(10,745 posts)Can't help but think that the Teabagger propaganda must've ruined your little bro's brain.
dorksied
(348 posts)Sorry to hear it has caused you so much pain.
Motown_Johnny
(22,308 posts)opinions to himself when calling his/your parents.
lexw
(804 posts)...we just learned to never discuss politics. Period.
txrose
(5 posts)I, too, have family members who act that way, but I'd like to add that there is hope. My 85 yr old mom wanted to vote for Hillary in '08. She grew up in the south & had concerns of what might happen, should Obama take office. After I reassured her, she did vote for him. You should see her now! She donated to his campaign - twice! I believe she'd adopt him if she could!! lol! My 87 yr old step dad is a staunch Republican, but cannot stand Romney. This year, he, too, is voting Obama!
renate
(13,776 posts)All great news!
Welcome to DU!
PearliePoo2
(7,768 posts)I love these stories.
Welcome to DU txrose!!
Swede Atlanta
(3,596 posts)Unfortunately the topics of religion and politics often divide and even, as in your case, estrange families.
I never really knew how my parents voted. I was raised in one of those conservative inter-mountain states but their conservatism was not driven by religion but rather their resentment of Washington meddling too much in their affairs. But we never discussed politics at home.
I know my paternal grandfather was a staunch Democrat and have since come to understand that all my father's siblings except for the one brother who "defected" to marry a Mormon and then embrace Mormonism, are Democrats.
My sister and I don't discuss politics either. Her husband is a bit of an aging redneck. He was all up in arms about the efforts taken during the Clinton administration to protect the Spotted Owl. My BIL is a log truck driver. But other than that we really haven't had any of those discussions.
My Aunt, my mother's sister, and her husband are staunch Republicans. I have several times taken a hiatus from talking with her because we can't agree. So on a recent visit to see her along with my sister, my aunt and I had agreed in advance to avoid politics. But my sister wasn't in on our agreement so my sister asked very openly, "so what do you think about the election" or something like that. My Aunt and I both just looked at one another. My sister made some comment that she wasn't very happy with the rich continuing to get richer while she sees her two sons struggling to make ends meet. Then she said (and she isn't an overly religious person) she was concerned that there is never any footage of Obama going to church.
I ventured a query to my sister....was she inferring that he wasn't a religious person, that he wasn't Christian (I don't care if he is an atheist, Muslim, Buddhist, etc.) or exactly what? She replied no just that she remembered with previous presidents there seemed to be a lot of footage of them going to church. I replied I have no factual basis to comment on whether the first family goes to church regularly or not or if they worship at home in the White House. But I said, I don't look to the outward shows of religious faith or piety. In fact in Matthew 6:6 we learn "But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." This is in fact a direct admonition against public displays of prayer or faith. I said I actually look at a candidate's policies and whether or not they are Christian or moral. I said for me in this election that choice is very clear.
I saw my Uncle, who has some dementia, ready to bash Obama and watched as my Aunt squeezed his hand and I quickly moved onto another topic.
Drunken Irishman
(34,857 posts)liberal N proud
(60,362 posts)magical thyme
(14,881 posts)She threatened me a few months ago, that if I continued to believe the way I do (in climate change) that I will "lose everything and never have a nice life." For the first time in over 58 years of being screamed at, I screamed back. We no longer speak. I'd avoided her for decades because she's a screaming, abusive bitch. Then recontacted when I heard she way dying of cancer and wanted to speak to me. We got along all the way through her chemo and radiation. In remission and recovered from the treatment, she reverted to being a screaming, abusive nutcase.
In fairness, a couple years back my GOP father wrote to her that he's sorry he ever adopted her (she's my half sister). She cut that sentence out of his letter, wrote ditto on it and mailed it back.
They're both hateful nuts, but the teaparty has made her more rabid than ever. Meh.
WiffenPoof
(2,404 posts)...it is an indication of where the far Right has gone. It is almost like there is a slow progression in Right-Wing thought...indoctrination, really. Over time, they cross over some threshold where "obsession" is the word of the day. Everything stems from their political thought. It over-rides EVERYTHING! This includes relationships.
Honestly...I have tried to figure it out...this crossing of the threshold. I can only conclude that many of these people really don't want to vote Romney in....they want to vote Obama out. The hate is intense and I honestly believe that it stems from some sort of racism.
It would be interesting to ask your brother if he agrees with the sign recently seen at a Tea Party rally that said..."Get the white back in the White House." He may very well disagree with the sign (not carry it himself)....but I believe he would not protest the content of the sign to the same level we here at DU would. This indicates a spectrum. Your brother would fall to the right of the spectrum and probably protest the sign...but not nearly with the disgust that we might.
Sorry...just rambling.
-Paige
lindysalsagal
(20,843 posts)The GOP makes ignorant bigots feel good about themselves. Obama shames them. Very simple.
Marmitist
(64 posts)Sorry to put it so bluntly, but there it is. You, and the rest of the family should ostracize him and let him know why in no uncertain terms. These fucking dickhead asshole Republicans think that they're so goddamned self-sufficient? Then let them work their way through their lives completely, utterly alone.
Maybe one day your brother will realize what an asshole he is/has been, but I wouldn't hold my breath...
Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)peasant one
(150 posts)I have almost the same scenario with my sister and 87 year-old mother. My sister called repeatedly and yelled at my mother about Obama--I intervened and now my sister is not speaking to mom or me. My family has always been democratic and my sister was too---she was a Hillary supporter---I really cannot for the life of me explain this. We grew up in a very liberal, non-racist family. But I have to believe my sister has become a racist -- there is really no other explanation that makes sense --she now spouts fox "news" "facts" and is very bitter, angry and irrational. I really think that it is brainwashing and my sister was susceptible to these nefarious tactics for some reason that I cannot even begin to fathom. I feel fear when I know she will be around and am just glad she lives out of state--it would be miserable to perchance meet her in a store or at a family gathering. I wish there was a solution but maybe there isn't a real solution except avoidance.