i may have just poisoned relations with mah kin....

[dionysus]

I have some southern relatives, who can't resist posting dumb ass shit on face book.

the article and comments posted were;

"This is the first I have heard of this. The main stream media needs to report the news even if it shows how lousy of a job the President is doing. The cover ups, the vacations, the lies. When will America wake up???"

Article Headline: Mexican Soldiers Invade Arizona, Hold U.S. Border Control Agents Captive

Armed Mexican soldiers are holding U.S. Border Control agents captive at the U.S.-Mexican border, and President Obama isn’t doing anything about it.

On January 26, two armed Mexican soldiers entered Arizona and held Border Control agents at gunpoint for 35 minutes. But you probably never heard about it in the mainstream media because Obama told reporters to ignore the incident.

I usually ignore this, but after a while you just gotta respond...

Teabagger 1 "What is the country coming to?????"

ME: "are any of you really daft enough to believe this crap? seriously? If someone wrote an article saying Obama sold crack to Jesus, you guys would buy it hook, line, and sinker. ROFL"

ME: "vacations? (my brothers name) 323 days for bush, 93 for Obama."

I might have a ferflunkle when I wake up tomorrow!

[seabeyond]

1. Let us know the reply. Nt

[dionysus]

6. i will :)

[cui bono]

2. I'm lucky that my relatives are all reasonable and I would think Dems.

Well the ones I'm in contact with. I have some cousins on my dad's side that I was never close with and don't correspond with who may be right wingers.

I don't know what I would do if I knew my relatives thought that sort of thing. I'm certain I wouldn't hold my tongue if they were posting that sort of nonsense.

I'm glad you spoke up. People need to hear the truth and stop with that nonsense.

[dionysus]

3. i have a republican friend who used to be my boss (NY repub).. we could banter on politics, politely

he wasn't a rich guy,gun nut, anti-choice, racist douchebag of any kind. I consider him a close friend. he couldn't admit he voted Obama to me, directly, he was like "yeah I uh .. I uh.. uh
didn't vote straight ticket GOP ok, alright?"

great dude.

my Dad and his Brothers were all staunch (real) FDR Dems, cause they lived it, they all grew up in the Depression. (my oldest Uncle, pushing 90, was a signalman on the ship where the Japanese signed the treaty) my dads 3 other sons went south to become brainwashed rubes, but at least I stayed in Maine and got taught real values.

But not to be a south-disser, some of my uncles kids also live down there, and are good liberals.

[cui bono]

4. Yeah, as long as they're reasonable about it, it's okay to disagree.

But if they are the type who spout the Faux News or Limbaugh propaganda and nonsense then fugheddaboutit.

I do have to learn to be more careful in my work environment. I work job to job so I never know what people's politics are if I haven't worked with them before. I tend to assume that people are liberal, because, well, that's the reasonable thing to be! And I live in Los Angeles and it seems most people I have worked with are at the very least Dems/reasonable people.

I am able to listen to things at work a lot of the time so I usually play MSNBC/Thom Hartmann/Majority Report/Ian Masters on my laptop while working, never worrying about if it will offend the higher ups who come through my room. So far so good!

[dionysus]

5. yeah, i am close friends with this guy.. which is rare if the dude was your boss at work...

only reason I see he was a repug because his parents did great in Reagan's heyday, but by now (strictly stock market shit)... he realized that day was gone, and the assault on womens rights, and fair pay and racism and all of that was not what he liked. this man went to bat to get me raises for years... he sides with management by default because he used to be plant manager at manufacturing plants, but at the same time he knew if he treated the workers right they'd be productive and shit would work out

( IOW he's pretty much a liberal, but won't admit it out of pride

[dionysus]

9. my fam who grew up in Maine in the 30s are FDR Dems, the folks that moved south...

rush and Hannity fools..


but not 100%, I got a few in FlA that fight back also, my uncles sons...

[Skittles]

7. because reporters would ignore something because Obama said so

[dionysus]

8. i've argued in the past with you Skittles, but jeebus, this shit is funny.

various types of Dems arguing on DU can evoke such, wild vitriol, amongst people who most agree on everything...

but these mongoloid Repub voters.... is it even possible to get through to them?

a niece has rotten wisdom teeth. a liberal org made it possible she didn't have to pay 700 up front to yank em.

(she thanked Jesus for it)

the very next day they will go on an anti-entitlement warpath (despite the fact they get WIC)

[Skittles]

12. I remember Pravda from decades ago

I never thought I'd see it in America but here it is - and people WILLINGLY lap it up. What kills me is coworkers who I KNOW are intelligent will send me the most ridiculous claims regarding Obama - stuff that could easily be disproved with a few SECONDS research on the web - it is mind-boggling

[dionysus]

21. Skittles, after spending 10 seconds to prove right wingers wrong by one look at Snopes, i shit you

not! ... I have been countered with "w-w--w-why I don't care if that guy said it or not, it was TRUE!!11!!!!!!!"

and we sit here arguing over who is liberal enough, every day, while these fucking imbeciles are the foot soldiers for rich republicans who laugh at their very existence... I think true DUers agree on more things than we are willing to admit.

[Skittles]

22. oh I have never doubted all DUers have common things on which they agree

it's just that some DUers are able to recoginize bullshit when they see it and call our Dems out on it, and some DUers do not / will not

[dionysus]

24. i probably agree with you more than you will ever know, i just don't feel the need to add to

the drumbeat of criticism.

[dionysus]

29. and i don't want an ass kicking, so there :P

[Make7]

10. LA Times: Mexico confirms confrontation with Border Patrol agents

[div class="excerpt" style="margin-left:1em; border:1px solid #bfbfbf; border-radius:0.4615em; box-shadow:-1px -1px 3px #999999 inset;"][font size="+1"]Mexico confirms confrontation with Border Patrol agents[/font]

Two armed Mexican soldiers crossed into Arizona in January and faced off with the U.S. officers.

WASHINGTON — Two heavily armed, camouflaged Mexican soldiers crossed 50 yards inside Arizona in January and drew their guns against U.S. Border Patrol agents who confronted them in a tense standoff, according to documents obtained by The Times/Tribune Washington Bureau.

[font size="-2"]<-snip->

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-border-mexico-20140402,0,1137175,full.story[/font]

[dionysus]

11. but, did they "hold the US agents hostage" while Omaba didnt react?

RW: Mexicans invade AZ and Obama does nothing!!!!!
or
Two dipshits made a bad mistake.

it sure as hell wasn't planned by Obama or malfeasance.

[Make7]

14. And the LA Times didn't report on the story because Obama told them to ignore it!

Edit to add:

Maybe they'll believe Fox News (although I'd only show them the LA Times link to start with):

[font size="-2"]http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2014/04/02/us-officials-confirm-illegal-border-incursion-by-mexican-soldiers-allegedly/[/font]

[dionysus]

15. yeah it's pretty sad, but they have to try... sad thing is..

people on DU would laugh that shit out of the room while Teabaggers would be sobbing in prayer, believing it was true... and polishing their guns...

[Duppers]

13. I ended such friendships long ago.

Be they relatives or not, I cannot tolerate such ignorance and I tell them so.

[dionysus]

16. i know, i'm in a tough spot, my family is scattered.. after my Dad passes these rubes will be all i

have left.

and lest you think I may be a dick, I know what they believe, and never bother em on it, never even bring politics up... but they need to rub it in my face.

the year after my Mother died, my brother came up and had to instigate political bullshit while we were mourning her death. but the sad part is he doesn't know any better.. he makes 25k and preaches trickle down economics.... i'll always love him cause he's my bro, but if he gets too extreme, I'm fucking done, and he's close already.

[Shemp Howard]

17. Just let it go.

There is no violence or raw hate there, just bone-headed stupidity.

My advice is to let it go. Deflect all political discussions, and wish them well. Be pleasant. Life is too short. Help them when you can, and accept their help when offered.

It won't always be easy. But the correct choice is usually not the easiest choice.

And one more thing. Deflect all political discussions. Or did I mention that already?

[dionysus]

18. i mostly never respond when provoked. what i'm saying is, once my Dad is gone,

that's literally the only family I have left, and Dad is 80 and has cancer.

[Shemp Howard]

23. That's a difficult situation to be in.

I suppose you have to ask yourself this: Does the good in my family outweigh the bad? And if I keep my family connections, will it lead to mostly joy or mostly pain?

I might be wrong. But from what I'm seeing, you have a good, but very flawed, family. Think of this like a nice pet cat who occasionally scratches you. The cat doesn't mean to hurt you. It just doesn't know any better.

If the cat brings you happiness, it's worth putting up with the occasional scratch. On the other hand, if the cat is mostly trouble, get rid of the cat.

I'm sorry if this doesn't make perfect sense...it's late. But I wish you the very best of luck.

[dionysus]

28. thank you. my georgia relatives, i met them in person last when i was 3 (except when mom passed,

my oldest bro made it down)they're family, but I don't really know them. i'll eventually go down there, even if I have to go undercover and bring a rifle and king james bible (they're simple enough I could bullshit the fuck out of them and make them think im a good ol boy)

[xfundy]

19. Totally worth it.

I don't talk with most family anymore, mostly because of my political convictions, being "unchurched," and partly because I moved to SF, CA some years ago (Sodom!).

Armistead Maupin put it well:

"There's biological family, and then there's logical family." (Chosen family.) I greatly prefer the latter.

[treestar]

20. I responded to a cousin who posted

one of those snotty little diatribes about how "I work to pay for your" food stamps, etc. I said something to the effect of how others paid into it before they fell on hard times and it is there for her in case she needs it.

It didn't have any bad fallback. These people bring this shit up and can't complain if they get pushback.

[dionysus]

25. true.. if they spam me with their shit, one good burn from me shouldn't ruin things :)

[The CCC]

26. i may have just poisoned relations with mah kin....

We don't have much control over whom our relatives are. My condolences.

[dionysus]

27. yes, but if you are born when your parents are in their forties and they are elderly a few decades

before the parents of the people in your own age range are... it makes things more difficult.

most of my friends my age, their grandparents are my parents age. I'm not a young man, I'm in my 30s, but I still feel too young to be dealing with this stuff.. my brothers are 15+ years older, and dreaded teabaggers.

if they didn't bring up politics, I truly wouldn't give a damn, I'd love to see them, but they always start shit unprovoked.it's no major deal, i'll live

[Martin Eden]

30. Your response did not have to be so poisonous.

You ridiculed them from the very start. Their eager swallowing of such propaganda is indeed ridulous and illustrates their ignorance, but I would characterize them (and most gullible rightwingers) as victims of propaganda fooled into voting against their own best interests.

Laughing at them may give you some temporary satisfaction, but what else does it accomplish? More bad than good, I'd wager. Setting aside poisoned family relations, ridicule is more likely to drive them further into the batguano crazy rightwing base than to open their eyes to how they've been deceived.

A better response would be to politely and straightforwardly cite the facts of the case, with sources confirming those facts. Make it easy to understand, with no snark thrown in for bad measure.

Yes, I know how rare it is to get these people to actually open their eyes, but if you consistently set the record straight you will at least have exposed them to the real world beyond the rightwing propaganda machine. A rational person with a modicum of intelligence may eventually begin to realize they are consistently being lied to by sources they've come to trust.

[dionysus]

32. i've tried for years to calmly explain the truth, and got called communist for it.

I can debunk 100% of there crap with snopes alone, and they reply with either "snopes has a liberal bias" or "even if he didn't say that, it's still true!"

yo know how many times they called the dude the antichrist(literally)?


sometimes you just realize you've had enough, and bring out the cannons. I wish it did not have to be that way, but hey.. I don't push my politics on them, but they can't help pushing theirs on me..

when my brother came down to visit Dad on the anniversary of Mom's passing, he still couldn't stop with the RW shit.

I guess I finally lost my temper after two years of trying to avoid arguments...

[Martin Eden]

33. If you have indeed for years politely tried to debunk the propaganda, you are to be commended.

And if you have no desire to ever associate with those relatives, there is nothing to lose by poisoning the relationship.

But, of course, posting on facebook isn't the same as getting emails. You can refrain from posting on their pages, or unfriend them if they spam yours with BS.

Regardless, I understand your frustration at all your honest efforts gaining zero ground on such ignorance.

[dionysus]

34. and my dad is 80 and has cancer.. when he goes.. they will be my remaining family.

so I don't want to cause a life long falling out...

I don't want to poison the well but if they can't help themselves for instigating politic arguments I want no part in... i'll eventually have enough and push back....

it's gonna be tough for me to visit the deep south to see them...

they're not bad people, they've just been brainwashed by the RW radio and racial bullshit, and their born again church.

it's drummed into their heads that the US is broke because of entitlements like SS, medicare, and welfare cheats. they can't acknowledge the contractors in the MIC are why we are broke.... you can't even fight them with facts because they just won't believe the truth!

I gained a lot of respect for libs in southern\red states.. I don't know how I could deal with it! red state libs must be tough-ass mofos!

[JaneyVee]

31. Actually, Bush took 1096 vacation days.

Google it.

[dionysus]

35. i found my number on google too, but it probably was old data.. i updated my FB post with 1096 :)