okay, but my parents are going libshit when it comes to any history. I hardline too much apparently and it leads to massive arguments with me trying to combat the liberalism, and them trying to subvert the communism. Its all very tiring. Otherwise im mostly okay.
Comrade, have you read up much on mass work from Mao or Pedagogy of the Oppressed?
You might find that starting from a place of going to the massesparents and sincerely listening to their concerns and their issues then linking these individual or familial concerns to larger trends in society and situating them in a historical context would be less antagonistic and it might prove to be more productive.
I’d avoid labels and commie “dogwhistle” style terms and just work on developing a dialog and a mutually deepened understanding of one another.
Think about it like this: you aren’t trying to convert your parents to communism, this is a perfectly laboratory for you to hone your skills at raising class consciousness and building solidarity. If you can practice it now and develop your skills then when you do future work in community organizations, when you are unionizing your workplace, when you are doing any sort of mass work then you’ll be ready for it from all the practice you got in working with your parents.
Good point. I’ve definitely tried to lay off the buzzwords but it’s hard sometimes, they’re just such easy shorthands. But yes looking at these scenarios as practice for bigger works is a good idea. I especially should do as you say in the second paragraph, I react to people’s grievances but should be more proactive with addressing them.
Very fair, depends on the exact parent I suppose. I know I have some family members that the cost/potential benefit ratio is staggeringly bad and I all but completely avoid trying to engage with them. And then some “yellow lights” that I engage but very gently and on eggshells and never showing my whole ass.
It’s definitely hard, I have been in much the same place with parents, other family, coworkers etc. I managed to move my mom from a socially progressive centrist to a Bernie Sanders lib but when I started being like “wait the USSR was pretty awesome” it became a little tougher. She’s also not one for politics and readily admits that. She has good core values though and I am blessed that she to an extent takes my word for a lot of things. I definitely had to lighten off for a while though, for a while I laid it on heavy and incessantly as it was all new to me and I just desperately wanted to share with anybody I could get my hands on. When I quit grandstanding so much that’s when things slowly shifted for the better because I wasn’t making it some big conflict. I think parents probably (not a parent so can’t say) just have a hard time wanting their kids to be more knowledgeable than them, especially about something that feels very intuitive and personal to most people love politics.
Hope you can catch a break! I also know the types that even when I lay off still try and instigate arguments with me, are they more like this or would they lay off too in a ceasefire?
It’s hard, I understand. It feels like it’s just “the plain truth” and that you’re supposed to just let it slide. As if someone saying something equally wild and, in the long term, frankly dangerous to normalize wouldn’t be challenged. But yes, even if just for my own sake I’ve resolved to be more picky with my battles, although biting my tongue can hurt just as much.
okay, but my parents are going libshit when it comes to any history. I hardline too much apparently and it leads to massive arguments with me trying to combat the liberalism, and them trying to subvert the communism. Its all very tiring. Otherwise im mostly okay.
Comrade, have you read up much on mass work from Mao or Pedagogy of the Oppressed?
You might find that starting from a place of going to the
massesparents and sincerely listening to their concerns and their issues then linking these individual or familial concerns to larger trends in society and situating them in a historical context would be less antagonistic and it might prove to be more productive.I’d avoid labels and commie “dogwhistle” style terms and just work on developing a dialog and a mutually deepened understanding of one another.
Think about it like this: you aren’t trying to convert your parents to communism, this is a perfectly laboratory for you to hone your skills at raising class consciousness and building solidarity. If you can practice it now and develop your skills then when you do future work in community organizations, when you are unionizing your workplace, when you are doing any sort of mass work then you’ll be ready for it from all the practice you got in working with your parents.
Good point. I’ve definitely tried to lay off the buzzwords but it’s hard sometimes, they’re just such easy shorthands. But yes looking at these scenarios as practice for bigger works is a good idea. I especially should do as you say in the second paragraph, I react to people’s grievances but should be more proactive with addressing them.
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Very fair, depends on the exact parent I suppose. I know I have some family members that the cost/potential benefit ratio is staggeringly bad and I all but completely avoid trying to engage with them. And then some “yellow lights” that I engage but very gently and on eggshells and never showing my whole ass.
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It’s definitely hard, I have been in much the same place with parents, other family, coworkers etc. I managed to move my mom from a socially progressive centrist to a Bernie Sanders lib but when I started being like “wait the USSR was pretty awesome” it became a little tougher. She’s also not one for politics and readily admits that. She has good core values though and I am blessed that she to an extent takes my word for a lot of things. I definitely had to lighten off for a while though, for a while I laid it on heavy and incessantly as it was all new to me and I just desperately wanted to share with anybody I could get my hands on. When I quit grandstanding so much that’s when things slowly shifted for the better because I wasn’t making it some big conflict. I think parents probably (not a parent so can’t say) just have a hard time wanting their kids to be more knowledgeable than them, especially about something that feels very intuitive and personal to most people love politics.
Hope you can catch a break! I also know the types that even when I lay off still try and instigate arguments with me, are they more like this or would they lay off too in a ceasefire?
Nah, I jump the gun a lot, but they reference it so goddamn much. I need to de-escalate more often, but they are so goddamn frustrating.
It’s hard, I understand. It feels like it’s just “the plain truth” and that you’re supposed to just let it slide. As if someone saying something equally wild and, in the long term, frankly dangerous to normalize wouldn’t be challenged. But yes, even if just for my own sake I’ve resolved to be more picky with my battles, although biting my tongue can hurt just as much.
I’m learning to bite my tongue, but they are sooooooooo libshit in their politics and I am dying here. I can do it though, they’re still my family.