Family Arguments Over Christmas

René wrote:I feel lucky having a normal Dutch family. Like the vast majority of people in the Netherlands, in US terms, I suppose they would basically range from democratic socialist to average Democrat.

Derek wrote:

René wrote:I feel lucky having a normal Dutch family. Like the vast majority of people in the Netherlands, in US terms, I suppose they would basically range from democratic socialist to average Democrat.

There's a strain of right-wing reactionary in the Netherlands, isn't there? Geert Wilders and shit?

Derek wrote:

Brenden wrote:My mom and stepdad kept saying stuff about BLM under the assumption that the phrase "Black Lives Matter" has an implicit only in front of it.

Do you think your parents respect you? This is something I've been struggling with. Since my mom became a Trump conservative, I lost all my trust in her. Her opinions on politics or morality or philosophy are worth as much to me as a toddler's. I don't think she feels the same way about me, though. She can simultaneously believe that leftists are insane and stupid, know that I'm a leftist, and not believe I'm insane and stupid. I just can't make the same leap. Not that I think she's stupid, exactly - she's a gifted programmer with deep professional knowledge. Yet, for example, she believes a report about election fraud that was so stupid and bad that it should genuinely insult the people it was made for. I don't know how to reconcile that.

Derek wrote:Not that I think she's stupid, exactly - she's a gifted programmer with deep professional knowledge.

René wrote:I feel lucky having a normal Dutch family. Like the vast majority of people in the Netherlands, in US terms, I suppose they would basically range from democratic socialist to average Democrat.

Brenden wrote:(though, his mind has been addled by, e.g., Ancient Aliens on the History Channel, ugh)

poolerboy0077 wrote:What can we ascribe to this phenomenon of otherwise intelligent people believing stupid things? Epistemological ignorance? Erratic emotionality? Cuckoldry?

Marmaduke wrote:For instance, my mother genuinely believes that chocolate is best kept in the fridge. I’m not going to argue with her about it. I’m just going to dismiss the achievements of her life as a series of flukes and dismiss her has being obviously mentally bereft.

acpro wrote:We used to have arguments in my family. But it was mostly my dad being drunk and saying shit out of no where like, "we gave you $5,000" when you were 18--you should pay that back". I don't disagree but I mean, they gave my sister $5k and she never had to pay it back. Those are hypothetical numbers btw.

At this point, he's so gone from drinking and maybe genetics too as well as a heart condition that most of our holiday was just trying to get him to be involved, do normal things like drink water instead of alcohol, stuff like that. His new thing is sleeping 18 hours a day. We've tried so hard to get him into a detox and rehab so we could then rule out other medical issues, to no avail. After the pandemic there won't be an excuse though.

René wrote:

Marmaduke wrote:For instance, my mother genuinely believes that chocolate is best kept in the fridge. I’m not going to argue with her about it. I’m just going to dismiss the achievements of her life as a series of flukes and dismiss her has being obviously mentally bereft.

In your mother's defence, some chocolates are actually very nice cold IMO, and chocolate will eventually degrade outwith the fridge, becoming discoloured and losing its flavour.

Brenden wrote:Above I already mentioned hyper-specialisation. More and more people are getting highly specific tertiary education, and even secondary education is becoming more specific.

Marmaduke wrote:Not to besmirch all of your mothers, but would Ockham’s razor not force us to determine that you’ve simply misattributed intelligence?