My dem brother is turning a blind-eye to whats happening to OUR country!

[maveric]

He's a smart guy but told me that he cant be bothered and worried about politics anymore. "Things will work themselves out". He calls me paranoid and tells me that I'm wasting my time worrying about bu$h and fascism.

I told him that although your life might be going ok right now, actions and decisions being made by the BFEE WILL affect your life down the road

This is very disturbing to me. He said that I waste my time on sites like DU and dismissed us as "leftist loonies", who are blowing things out of proportion. He wont even listen to what I present him and calls it "leftist propaganda".

He's always been a progressive/dem, claims he still is but is just not taking this seriously.

This is very disturbing to me and I fear that more normally intelligent and sensible dems will follow this trend.

My liberal, dem, news-journalist father is rolling in his grave about now.

[davidinalameda]

1. sounds like he's playing follow the "leader"

so many other Democrats are ignoring what's going on as well

it's going to take something big to wake this country up

[okieinpain]

2. well you know some of this stuff is too deep for some to handle

my wife can be like that sometimes.

[Mythsaje]

7. My wife gets it

for the most part. Even though she's more of a Libertarian. She despises the Bush regime as much as I do, though, occasionally, for different reasons.

[shance]

15. No excuse Okie. We all have to become a grown up and face reality.

It boils down to taking responsibility for what was given to us by those who fought and died for what we have now.

I have a few family members that I would put in this category too. They are fantastic, creative, wonderful individuals in many ways. However in this category, I am left numb at times.

And it breaks my heart. I know they as well have their perceptions of me.

The biggest issue I have with anyone turning their head on others suffering and tragedy is they are refusing to acknowledge the truth, which in a way is the ultimate act of selfishness.

I know we all need a dose of denial, and/or a break from this now and then, but I hope that individuals who cant be bothered with over 250,000 deaths in Iraq, 2000 of our troops dead and this Administration destroying our environment will go live on another planet, because they are skirting their responsibility and leaving everyone else vulnerable and potentially in harms way because of their conscious and very selfish choice to neglect their responsibility as a citizen and as a human being. This goes for every one of us, be it Democrat, Republican, Hindu or Eskimo.

a great quote:

"If you dont get involved in politics (and your government), why should you expect those of us who do, to look out for you?

What these individuals are doing, is reaping the benefits of what people died for and often fought most of their lives for, without doing a thing and in some cases they are doing great harm to the work and tireless effort so many before us did.

[okieinpain]

34. great post.

[earthboundmisfit]

3. I'm afraid his attitude is one of the ways we got where we are now

And things did NOT balance out - the negative faction took advantage of our apathy and got STRONGER.

[Zuni]

burn him

[Richard Steele]

9. LOL! I'm a sucker for a good Grandpa Simpson quote.

[Mythsaje]

4. He's an enabler

just like the people that allowed Hitler to go unchecked until the rest of the world had to smack him down.

Those who aren't incensed are either complacent...or complicit. Or both.

[DireStrike]

5. The worst part is, it's contagious

It's affecting me too. After the stolen/bungled election/campaign, I find it very hard to care. There's nothing I can do, anyway. I keep writing letters now and then.

[UdoKier]

38. I'm there too. Why should I give a damn?

Most of America doesn't care. I'm too damn exhausted with a long work week and childrearing to keep up that level of outrage.

I despise this administration as much as anyone, but have resigned myself to the fact that we have a permanent fascist government in place, and most of the elected democrats are COMPLICIT in it with the repukes.

It's just a matter of waiting until the twin ballooning trade and budget deficits, paired with outsourcing , the destruction of the middle class, and the impending housing bubble's burst converge to create an economic catastrophe unlike anything seen since the 30s.

And then there will probably be all kinds of violent uprisings - or maybe mass suicides - who knows how a populace that's been TV-addled this long will react to REAL hardship?

I hope we will have completed our move to Japan by then. Japan will not be immune to the economic train wreck, but at least there is a culture of cooperation there. People here will kill their mother for a few bucks (especially republicans).


BTW - that's not to agree with the statement that all this stuff is "Leftie loon" stuff or "propaganda" - Quite the contrary. I just don't have it in me to obsess on it all the time. I want to live my own life, too.

[leftofthedial]

6. ostrich

keep telling him, especially the daily "I told you so" revelations.

[maveric]

10. I actually called him that!

As long as he has a job, cellphone, wireless internet and ESPN he's content to turn a blind eye to what is in motion.

Whats it going to take?

[leftofthedial]

19. he'll eventually lose his job (more than likely)

with wireless internet, how can he remain so ignorant

at some point, he crosses the line to accomplice of the fascists.

[maveric]

22. He says it a "waste of energy" to let these things bother me.

He will lose his job and his Buddhist, Vietnamese wife may get dragged off someday.

[CrispyQ]

8. Several of my dem friends,

people who were out campaigning, donating, volunteering last year are doing nothing this year. In fact, two have asked me not to forward anymore political stuff to them. One was the person who lit a fire under my butt last year!

:wtf:

[maveric]

16. I told him that I would do the dirty work to stand up for his freedom.

He says that I should be focusing on my own self improvement and not trying to "solve the problems of the world".

This very disturbing to me.

[converted_democrat]

11. Read him my sig line.........

[Lars39]

12. He's scared.

Sometimes problem solving people freak out a bit when faced with the enormity of getting the country out of the hole it's in right now.

[maveric]

18. He's in DENIAL!

[Lars39]

24. You sure he was all that progressive to begin with?

After re-reading your OP, it sounds like he's hovering closer to the dark side.

[maveric]

25. He is/was. An artist too.

He hates bu$h cant be bothered by the war, torture and the disregard for the Constitution.

He also claims that the Koran flushing story was bogus. "You cant flush the whole Koran down the toilet. It wont even fit down the drain".

AARRRGGGHH!!

[Lars39]

28. That's gotta be frustrating for you to see him "get" some things,

but have him choose inaction.

[Don Claybrook]

30. He might have a point

Hear me out, please. I'm making some guesses here, so tell me if I'm wrong. You mentioned that his wife is Buddhist. Is he Buddhist, or does he subscribe to some of Buddhism's tenets? (that's me, by the way. I'm not a member of any particular religion, but I resonate more with Buddhism than with any other religion I've heard about).

So ok, if he has some Buddhist thinking going, then maybe he's saying to concentrate on oneself in an attempt to work at selflessness, desirelessness, and so on. In the end, it won't matter what George Bush or Richard Simmons or the lady down the street do or say. The fact that you will have experienced life in a rich and vibrant way is what ultimately matters.

Maybe that's what he's thinking (??). If so, I still part ways with him. I believe that, even if it doesn't ultimately matter, we are to play our parts to the hilt while we're here. And if our conscience tells us that the Bush Administration is harmful to humanity (and my conscience certainly tells me that), then it's our duty (Dharma?) to oppose him with everything we've got. Even if he wins in the end. Even if it doesn't ultimately matter. It matters that you were in the right form, the right mode.

Since we're all guessing about your brother's motivations, I thought I'd toss in my long shot.

[MisterP]

35. why, then what better example then for bro than Aung San Suu Kyi?

[TahitiNut]

13. Democracy means PARTICIPATION.

Without participation, democracy is a meaningless label, without either truth or substance. I can think of no more apt a term than "sheeple" to describe those who don't participate in both our poltical processes and our own governance.

[BlueIris]

21. Respectfully, I couldn't post it better and will not try to.

And also, respectfully, the people from my life who have this attitude...not in my life, anymore. Because that attitude digusts me.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

14. Alas, he has a whole lot of company. About 80% of the population.

As a conservative estimate.

[catzies]

17. Tell him that's what the "Good Germans" thought too.

n/t

[maveric]

23. He calls that "propaganda".

But I know that deep down inside he knows what is going down.
Its denial. Plain and simple.

[chalky]

20. What's going on in his life that he's not telling you about?

Maybe your dem brother is worried about what he thinks are personal issues:

-He tried like hell to get a car with great fuel economy, but the cost of fuel is killing him.
-The company he works for is ramping up the rates on his medical insurance or, worse yet, getting rid of it completely.
-The interest rates on his credit cards are spiraling upward, making it difficult to keep up.
-Insurance and interest rates are pushing his house payments through the roof.
-If he's of draft age, well....

He's so worried about these things that he thinks he can't be bothered with the distant happenings in D.C.

I think you're going to have to take him by the hand and connect the dots for him. Everything that might be going to crap in his life can be probably be directly traced to those politics that he can't be bothered with right now. If he wants things to get better, he's going to have to get involved.

Unless he's having chick problems. Then he's on his own.

[Spinzonner]

26. Maybe he's just feeling burnt out and helpless about it

Give him some time to recharge and stop beating him up on it. That's just likely to make him defensive.

[many a good man]

27. Take Rummy's advice: don't be a Henny-Penny!

Read MY sigline.

If you want to be effective you have to be able to read people and use tact. People will usually respond if you approach them the right way. You have an obligation to dig deep and separate known fact from speculation. A lot gets posted here that doesn't quite bear careful scrutiny. Be discerning. Only tell him what he can handle and only tell him stuff that can be backed up by "legitimate" sources. Luckily you can find a lot of that here as well.

Just what "stuff" isn't he "taking seriously"?

Unfortunately as **'s ratings slip his capacity to do evil diminishes. It will seem that things are "working themselves out" but this country is far from being a healthy democracy. And the consequences of this reign of error will be with us for a long time to come.

The truth as we see it is too damn negative and depressing for most people to handle. Most people don't want to deal with it. Ignorance is bliss. Sometimes I wish I were ignorant, too.

[Ysolde]

29. You know...

that describes my RW sister-in-law, too. And, my husband and I have gotten into it more than a few times over responsibility and accountability. Like others have posted, ignoring the problem allows it to continue and fester and get worse. Those who ignored Hitler and pretended the Holocaust did not happen are responsible for it. Just as I hold them responsible I hold those who supported * or didn't bother to vote, responsible for the plight of the Iraqis, our military, our poor, our hungry, etc. From an old song: if you do not make a choice, you have still chosen to decide (I think).

Sorry for the rant, but it's one of my pet peeves. Sad thing is, I think so many people just cannot believe that propaganda can happen here that they won't believe what is in front of their faces. And, since the LMSM (L is for Lying) won't report the truth, the word will not get out.

[stevans_41902]

31. I agree - start using examples that mean something to his daily

life. My bf frustrated me so much when we first started dating b/c he thought we should just trust the president...basically he was just totally naive and ignorant when it came to politics. I started to change his mind about Bush by telling him things like how Bush cut funding for firefighters across the country (he is a volunteer firefighter, and he takes it very seriously.) Too much of the population is just lost in their own little world and refuse to acknowledge how much politics impacts them. It pisses me off when someone says something like "people would complain no matter who was president" or "things would be just as bad if gore/kerry had been elected" :mad:

[Ysolde]

32. Welcome Aboard!

:hi:

[lotusblossom]

33. Sounds like my husband

Most of the time when I try to bring up the issues and explain what I see happening to this country, he says that I am too far to the left and only hear what I want to hear and then cuts off the conversation. It is so frustrating! He has always voted dem but sometimes it feels like I'm trying to make my case to a freeper.

I have been lurking for a year now but feel it is time for me to come out of the shadows and begin posting so at least I can express my utter outrage with what is happening to others who share my views and understand how evil this administration truly is.

[chalky]

37. Welcome, lotusblossom!

:hi:

[Ladyhawk]

36. My now ex-counselor basically told me the same thing the other day.

He said I was being negative. He also thinks the news media is liberal. Jesus, noticing that the news media was anything but liberal is what woke me up!

He's a Democrat, but I got the distinct impression he doesn't want to be bothered with the facts. Sigh. He isn't even keeping abreast of modern psychology, which is why I finally decided to replace him.

At what point do you decide that it's upt to others to educate themselves? Should I make copies of the CSPAN media hearings and give them to him? Or should I just let it be? He just turned 70. His life is nearing its end, so why should he care about those of us who may have another 20, 30, 40 years? :(