To be more specific, my parents raised my siblings and me to “respect” them, saying "yes sir, and “no ma’am” to everything they said. Spankings, all of that. Typical super conservative evangelical parents. Before I learned better, I was that way too. I went to college and since then have embraced the left more and more.
They’ll say things now and then that are really distasteful politically. Today I made an Instagram post about DeSantis lying about liberal states allowing post-birth abortions and I got several family members railing against me. I’m tired of staying quiet when this happens. I think that, because how my parents raised me, I’m afraid to speak my mind to older family members. Fuck that though.
Has anyone else had this experience? I wonder if therapy would help. I just don’t know how to explain it.
I wish I could find it easier to simply ignore my aging parents’ political views like I do with most acquaintances in the deep red state I live in, but I can’t.
The people who raised me to be kind and emphasize with others now base their worldview in fear and hatred. As far as I’m concerned my parents died sometime around 2016 (or perhaps before then), and there are some kind of racist pod people in their place.