My dad is in a weird place politically. If he wasn’t Palestinian and Muslim he would probably be a MAGA Christofascist. He is passively pro-capitalist, anti-fascist (because American fascists are very Islamophobic), anti-socialist. He, like many American boomer white men who might have had a hard past, is very emotionally stunted, alienated, classist, bigoted, “traditional values,” “life is hell and then you die.” However, he does try, sometimes. If he read this I would hope he knows that I love him and don’t blame him and know he easily has the capacity to birth a new understanding. Someone in our family is trans, and that was very hard for him and he still has his moments but for the most part he accepts them. He’s very pro-environment in the abstract. He has a weird mix of largely American conservative and liberal views mixed with Palestinian liberation and Arab/Islamic conservatism that all make sense considering his life. I know he’s smart and deep down has a heart, and is deeply unhappy with the life he has curated for himself with these values.

I’m not trying to radically change him in an instant, but he’s always been radically pro-Palestine, anti-Israel (yes bleeding into antisemitism quite a lot), and he’s always had a less-than-monstrous idea of AES (mainly in a “every country is shit equally” sort of way). However, when I tried to casually bring up China to him, he almost immediately dismissed the conversation with a vague gesture to “yeah have fun visiting there, they’ll disappear you and I,” obviously referencing the American-made Xinjiang myth.

He doesn’t really respect me much as an adult so it’s hard to try and have a conversation with me directly citing this stuff, I figured a reasonably professional-looking stranger was the route to go.

With that in mind, is this a good masterpost of information in your opinion? Do ya’all know of perhaps a better one, or something that would supplement it?

I’ve never “broke the ice” with most of my family members about my political views except those that I managed to pull to Bernie Sanders-esque liberalism. I’m trying to challenge myself to try and radicalize people close to me (without being a nuisance), figuring how am I going to convince strangers if I can’t convince my own blood. I figure as a fellow proud Palestinian and Muslim (I definitely have not been Muslim for ~8 years but I’m not trying to have that conversation), he might listen to me and this article on the basis of so many Muslims cosigning the Chinese approach to this American-made fiasco. I’m honestly not sure what other angle I could approach it from.

I purposefully didn’t wait til after Thanksgiving because he will be there and I was wondering if he might even bring it up after dinner, this Professional Adult Stranger maybe softening him up a bit for me to pull the I’m Your Family And Also Care Deeply About Palestine And My People card.

I also have an old friend from high school that I recently met up with. He’s white and very uhh…hangs out in VR with rich kids all day. So we had this exact same issue, and I’m wondering if just cold-linking this article would be a good idea for my dad, let alone my old friend.