Are the people in your life informed?

[linazelle]

It is hard work keeping up with Bush's crimes. I've all but given up trying to keep my family updated--especially because I'm too busy and struggle to keep up myself.

Just today, I asked a friend if they'd heard about Bush spying on Americans. "No", he said.

Had a friend from out of town visit for the weekend. She wanted to go to Walmart and told me how her mother, usually a Saks/Bloomingdales shopper, also likes Walmart now. I sighed at the thought of beginning a conversation about Walmart--something I've done many many times, and probably with her at some point in the past.

So I find it frustrating that so many people are so uninformed. My friends and family are busy or busier than I am and they aren't computer people either.

I have kind of begun to turn my attention to other things besides politics--and go along with everybody else. It's easier. It is extremely difficult to find like minded politically aware people to talk to these days which is why I do DU.

Anybody else have the same experience?

[niyad]

1. fortunately for me, even here in fundieville, I have wonderfully open,

informed and aware friends, very progressive. I don't associate much with the fundy types, other than to excoriate dobson, haggard and our various idiot pols each day.

[helderheid]

2. ditto

[Marr]

3. I have the same experience all the time. Most of the people I know

don't have any idea what's going on. But who can blame them? Where the hell can you get actual news in this country if you don't have a computer?

[GrumpyGreg]

4. Some are,some aren't ,and the ones that aren't seem much more mellow

and calm. Maybe they have the right idea.

[newspeak]

15. yeah, nothing like

Wal-mart sending back union made US flags after 9/11 because they were union made. Those "Made in China" ones are much better.

[Mind_your_head]

5. My friends/family are semi-informed.....

....and my strong stance against Wal-mart does alot. (for instance, my recently relocated (closer to me) mother LOVES Walmart but I refuse to take her there ~ and told her why ~ I'll take her to most any where else she wants to shop/go.....but WallyMart is just a 'bad decision' that I protect us all from).

Walmart is just a 'junk-shop' anywayz....why go there in the first place.

[CoffeeCat]

6. I sometimes feel that...

I'm leading a double life.

I speak freely at DU about my anti-Bush sentiments. It is refreshing to come here and converse with like-minded individuals.

In real life, I don't discuss politics that often with friends and acquaintances. We recently moved to a upper-mid class suburb
and we're still making friends. Most of my new friends are members of book clubs and playgroups. Of these people, I know
one person agrees that Bush is a scary fascist. The rest, I have no idea how they land politically.

My husband and I agree about everything---except stolen elections. He doesn't think 04 was stolen and he thinks anyone who does
is wearing tin foil. I'm working on him!

As far as family---I hail from an uber-conservative, dysfunctional family. One of my 5 siblings is a liberal. The rest are
Bush lemmings.

In my neighborhood, I imagine most are Republicans. I guess I'll know more, as the 06 and 08 elections draw near. I'll be able
to tell from the yard signs! I still have my John Kerry bumper sticker on....so they certainly know my feelings.

Yes, it's easier to put politics on the back burner and turn to other things. Most people are not plugged in. They're working, taking
care of their kids, going to school, paying their bills and busy with their lives. It's unfortunate. In a way, the political system has lulled
people into apathy--while they destroy the Constitution. It's really sad. Sometimes I feel like I need a support group that can help me
get through the daily Bush evil. I guess that's why I like DU.

[linazelle]

12. I feel the same way, double life and all. If I see another damned

flag at work, I'll scream aloud.

Just Friday I saw a big flag on a bulletin board in the hallway at work, printed on one of those plotters on really large paper. During a meeting, I announced that we would change our phone greeting to the same thing we've said for the past ten years: "happy holidays." One guy rolls his eyes and says "that's a shame." I SO quickly moved on to another topic.

Two guys have Bush's pix posted at their workstations. Another, wearing a baseball cap one day, bent down at the desk and the lettering said: "Bush Inaugural 2000" or something like that. I see flags hanging on houses in my neighborhood like it's the fourth of July.

All of it is totally sickening when I know the lies that are behind all of the uber patriotism, uber religion and fear.

So, as I said earlier, I need to back away. At least dumb myself down so that I care about the minor things instead of things like the elections next year which will again be stolen.

<rant off>

[LibDemAlways]

17. I'm in the same boat pretty much.

My friends don't like to "talk politics," most likely because they are not terribly well informed. When I try to sneak in a bit of political information they generally look at me like I'm from another planet. I recently joined a book club with a friend and at the Christmas get-together the other night the talk was about Natalee Holloway - a subject they know well. And these are otherwise literate women. They just get their "news" from the corporate whores so they think missing co-ed stories are important.
My family are all liberal and despise the chimp, so no conflicts there. My brother is a fellow DUer, and I really feel that DUers in general are my support group. It's comforting knowing there are so many kindred spirits who haven't allowed the corporate whores to tell them what to think or lull them into complacency. Americans in general are uninformed, misinformed, or apathetic.

[CoffeeCat]

7. self delete--duplicate

---

[skids]

8. Opposite problem.

I'm frustrated because I don't have anyone to "work on." I guess I could try the otaku in my attic, but there's really no need -- he's pretty much on the right side when he's not oblivious and he at least votes and asks around beforehand. But don't tell any of his fellow otaku he votes. That might get his creds revoked.

My family is all pretty much on point. Some of the teens fell for Bush in 2004, but have come around since and they weren't old enough to vote back then anyway.

[chookie]

9. I am amazed at how people are catching on

No doubt -- I follow this stuff WAY more than anyone. But what has amazed me over the last few years is how people who don't read as deeply as I do, who do not follow things as closely as I do -- that they have caught on that this is the most corrupt administration in our history. They have long figured out they're being lied to. They see the players on the stage -- Condi, Rummy, His CHimperial Highness and of course Cheney, and know they are sick freaks. I get a lot of "Am I nuts, or did So-and-So really say something THAT NUTS?"

People wondered why my knickers were in a twist over Bush in 2000 -- NOW they understand that I was warning them about.

But what one encounters from time to time is someone who is afraid to face facts, and they're really hoping things aren't as messed up as they seem. But it's getting harder and harder for them to deny.

[tularetom]

10. Are you kidding me?

My friends are baiscally well informed and most if not all of them share my views of politics. It's my family I have problems with, except for my lovely wife. Daughter - hard working overachiever too busy for politics so gets her opinions from wingnut hubby. Son - working 2 jobs to "put food on his family", no interest in politics. Grandkids - kids even though 2 of them are old enough to vote. Brother - worships at the altar of the free market even when he's shown that no such thing exists. Uncle - WWII vet with a pathological fear/hatred of the "guvmint" even after a lifetime spent as a "guvmint" contractor. The only thread we all have in common is a strong belief in the 2nd amendment. We're scattered now geographically so we rarely all see each other on the holidays. But when we do get together there is a conscious if unspoken agreement not to discuss *, 9/11, or Clinton. Keeps the fistfights to a minimum.

[LSK]

13. will you brother get high heating bills this winter?

Be sure to tell him thats the "free market".

[LSK]

11. only my mother and brother in law seem informed

Everyone else is either too busy in their lives or dont care. I hate it.

[newspeak]

14. my family and most of my friends

are very well informed. I had one friend who shopped at Wal-Mart and I told her I'd just wait outside for her. My family always do jokes to me about shopping at Wal-Mart--Mother-in-law still shops there, but she knows I won't step into a Wal-Mart. And, most of my family are very politically savvy.

[LunaC]

16. Yes, because *I* make it a point to inform them!

I suspect they find me mildly annoying on occasion but my other redeeming qualities keep me safe from banishment.