Your Radicalized Family Members

I presume I'm one of many to have a family member that has become self-radicalized. In my case, it isn't an elderly family member watching fox news or listening to talk radio. It probably took place over a 4-5 year period, from an apolitical starting position to saying things like "the tyranny of the minority".

It started with a kind of business conservatism based around wanting to pay less in tax, which morphed into a form of libertarianism and then nationalism via brexit.

At this point still sounded like an actual person, but then the radicalization started to kick in around here, statues in america, how many genders?, they want to tear down nelsons column now, they want us all to be the same, the tyranny of the minority, virtue sgnalling, snowflakes., the google guy. No longer sounding like a person but a campaigner. This stuff comes out apropros of nothing

Them and us. everything is them and us

Things in the playbook that haven't happened (yet)

Racism
Climate-change denial
Pro-gun (but in UK so unlikely, though may sign up to the idea hypothetically)

But i think its only a matter of time

Whats stuck me is the rigidity, conversations have a winner and a loser.The impossibility of a normal conversation when its set up to be adversarial. When it feels like its no longer the person speaking, Even to respond or engage feels like a trap

mine are former or current government employees with an ailing mother who don't seem to understand that any GOP health proposal will likely bankrupt the family. they're the type to never engage in conversation in good faith also. been kind of estranged from them for years

Guessing the risk factors are

*Moderately intelligent but thinks he's smarter than everyone else
*Poor social skills and lack of empathy
*Has difficulty with relationships with women
*"Geeky" interest in something which he feels he has some sort of ownership over due to time dedicated to it

Nobody in my family has become one of these people, but the risk factors are clearly present. I'm making special efforts to improve the empathy bit with my sons as that is obviously key.

Mine has none of those things, other than the lack of empathy to a degree.

The gateway drug in my case was high earning, and high earning colleagues

The good faith thing is weird, I think from their perspective they are engaging in good faith, the problem is that they're not really engaging with what I'm saying but what they've decided I (or more accurately 'someone like me') I'm going to say. So the conversation is kind of all mapped out before it even starts, and you find yourself dancing to somebody else's tune.

What will be interesting is the internal contradictions and how that will play out (Historically has been pro-environment but I think this will come under increasing pressure as doesn't 'fit')

there's one relative i'm thinking of. bernie guy. extremely disaffected. been out of work since the recession, will probably never work again. care about him, love him, can't talk to him, can't help him.

have a scots friend. good guy. bus driver. hates the tories. posts a lot of memes. sometimes they're from david icke. what the fuck am i supposed to say to that?

but truthfully i don't think it's either of them. truthfully i think i'm the most radicalized member of my family. truthfully i think the political discussion on this board tends towards the radical.

Camaraderie just described my father-in-law with scary accuracy - we're not related, are we?

what if he's right

*Moderately intelligent but thinks he's smarter than everyone else
*"Geeky" interest in something which he feels he has some sort of ownership over due to time dedicated to it

― mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 6 October 2017 18:20

I wouldn't have thought these were important at all. I think some are painfully aware that they're not smart and don't have any geeky interests.