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My family wants me to be a Republican
I'm going to start off by saying that I pay very little attention to politics. I try not to concern myself with things that I'd rather not bother getting into, so I really don't know much about the current election aside from the candidates. For the most part, I'm pretty much clueless. However, if I had to say I leaned anywhere, I'd say that I'm closer to being liberal than conservative.
My entire family is Republican, as far as I can tell. My mom isn't too bad about it- she makes the occasional comments about how she dislikes Barack Obama, but that's about the extent of it. My brother doesn't seem to pay any attention to politics and just agrees with whatever his parents think like a good child. My sister doesn't give a rat's ass, but I'd guess that if she had to vote she'd also just go with whatever the rest of the family chooses. None of them are the problem because none of them bother me about my political affiliations. The problem is my dad.
My dad is a die-hard conservative. He listens to Rush Limbaugh frequently, to the point where he never listens to music when driving anymore, so I don't look forward to driving anywhere with him unless I have my iPod with me. He audibly complains about the Democratic party often, and sometimes he calls me over to his computer so he can impart some wisdom on why liberals are morons. He is convinced that global warming is a conspiracy started by liberals so they can raise taxes. He believes George W. Bush has done no wrong and that Obama will ruin the country and potentially bring about the apocalypse or something silly like that.
I'm not a confrontational person, and I really dislike talking about my personal beliefs- especially in front of my family. I've been a closet atheist for at least three years now simply because I expect my family to react negatively since they're all somewhat religious (though we don't attend church). As such I am unsure about what I should do so my dad will stop bothering me about this. So I suppose I'll turn to the intelligent folk here for some suggestions.
My entire family is Republican, as far as I can tell. My mom isn't too bad about it- she makes the occasional comments about how she dislikes Barack Obama, but that's about the extent of it. My brother doesn't seem to pay any attention to politics and just agrees with whatever his parents think like a good child. My sister doesn't give a rat's ass, but I'd guess that if she had to vote she'd also just go with whatever the rest of the family chooses. None of them are the problem because none of them bother me about my political affiliations. The problem is my dad.
My dad is a die-hard conservative. He listens to Rush Limbaugh frequently, to the point where he never listens to music when driving anymore, so I don't look forward to driving anywhere with him unless I have my iPod with me. He audibly complains about the Democratic party often, and sometimes he calls me over to his computer so he can impart some wisdom on why liberals are morons. He is convinced that global warming is a conspiracy started by liberals so they can raise taxes. He believes George W. Bush has done no wrong and that Obama will ruin the country and potentially bring about the apocalypse or something silly like that.
I'm not a confrontational person, and I really dislike talking about my personal beliefs- especially in front of my family. I've been a closet atheist for at least three years now simply because I expect my family to react negatively since they're all somewhat religious (though we don't attend church). As such I am unsure about what I should do so my dad will stop bothering me about this. So I suppose I'll turn to the intelligent folk here for some suggestions.
Comments
Either that, or just keep quiet until you get yourself off to college on their dime.
b) Attempt quiet and rational discussion.
c) Confrontations!
Maybe just be like "Look, dad. I really don't care. You don't care about my anime, technology, and video games. I don't care about your political stuff. I really would like it if you didn't bother me about it anymore, unless of course you want to start playing video games."
Doesn't stop me from taking their gifts, though. The way I see it, they give me money in the vain hopes that I'll one day be a Republican and a Christian; I'll just take whatever they give and use it to keep being an educated, well-informed atheist.
So, basically, just suck it up. You're not going to change your dad's mind. An incredibly well-worded argument will fall on deaf ears. Just keep the satisfaction of knowing that you're right, and let him spout his nonsense.
You may disagree with them on this and agree with them on other things, but you should still respect them and hope they still respect you.
People have different opinions. Some accept that other people might have different, equally valid opinions. Others think that no other opinion is valid, and the worst are very vocal about it. You just have to learn to deal with it. There are times and ways to confront people and almost times you just have to leave things alone and bite your tongue.
Inane responses to what an opinion is aside, there are lots of different, but equally good ways to run our government.