What do you say to family/friends who are right wing?

[ChocolateRaisin09]

It gets me down. I don't feel like I can discuss with my parents, in laws etc because I get too emotional, and they get defensive, but when I hear them say things like "Trump is what we need", and some frankly racist comments, I feel so helpless. They're not going to change. But I want to challenge them. It's no excuse that they're from another generation, there ARE older people who are not racist!

I wish I could stop them reading the Daily Fail (have wondered about gifting a subscription to a different paper) and broaden their minds somehow.

I am still so bitter that my parents, my in laws and people I work closely with all voted for Brexit. How do I stop hating them all?!

Sorry, bit of a rant. Wish I could let it wash over me, but honestly I don't want to be around these people sometimes and would consider limiting my daughter's time with them.

I think maybe you should grow up. You sound really judgmental and very keen to put people in their place. You haven’t had their life experience and they haven’t had yours, nor probably had your opportunities in life. Racism is inexcusable but the UK is a small island that cannot possibly Home all the refugees or economic migrants.

nobody votes for appalling things though, that's typical confusion of politics and morality

You don't think there's any relationship between politics and morality? The what now?

And I don't imagine anyone votes for things they think are appalling. That's why I spoke about people voting for things I think are appalling. I think it was quite clear from my post that I'm aware that people will disagree with me?

"but the UK is a small island that cannot possibly Home all the refugees or economic migrants."

No one has asked us to.

What we should be doing is helping other countries who are bearing the brunt of the crisis.

The UK actually has significantly fewer immigrants per capita, and has taken fewer refugees than most other developed countries.

I tend to avoid political chit-chat with friends and relatives unless I already know we are on the same wavelength.

Oh, and OP - if I had a relationship with my family like you have with yours, I'd probably steer clear of them altogether.

I tend to think calling out racism is very important

however, I do accept sometimes it is very difficult in family situations. That is the once occasion where I fudge the issue slightly and say something about 'you cant stay stuff like that in front of child - they admires you a lot and will repeat it at school where it will be recorded on their record until they are 18 as a racist incident and held against her, its just how it is these days.

I then don't have to agree or disagree, its pointed out its racist and there a solid reason to end discussion

no most, I don't think there's a clear, linear connection where RW = bad and LW = good. Most people vote for things to get better, most people are well-intentioned but some of us have different views on that.

Yes, it's obvious that you believe that anyone that votes for any non-LW party is some sort of scum, just like all the friends I have of that persuasion who love bombarding my fb feed around elections.

Good, moral people to be found in all normal political discourse (I exclude the extreme left & extreme right), left or right is only a statement of how much you trust market solutions or not to deliver better outcomes for people in general, for a lot of us. Not much to do with morality.

He’s more intelligent as a cat

I've got corbyn supporting friends who see no problem in dropping out of degrees where they've rounded up many thousands of pounds of debt they've got no intention of paying back, friends who've got degrees and then done the bare minimum to pay tax because they didn't want to work many hours and don't believe they should have to pay tax as they earn less than £40k+, friends who are left wing who fiddle taxes constantly.

I'm not sure I really do understand who think they way they vote is a good enough sign of whether they're decent or not.

last bit 'I don't understand people who think the way they vote is a good enough sign of...' mangled that.

I'm just here for the cats mostly :) Huge cat fan. But I'd really rather the left (my party pre Corbyn) would defeat the right on the arguments and not the emotions.

If voting one way was a sign of decency

Na bigots racists mysogynistic people dig deep and you find them either very right wing or very left wing. And generally quite childish.

Best avoided

Having read further, the OP sounds immature and has seemingly not yet mastered the art of critical thinking; let's hope she will do so when she grows up.

As for:

ChocolateRaisin09
Even though they call me "soft" to my face because I don't like seeing refugees die!

You're missing a treat, my Tory friends and I grab deckchairs on the beach to watch refugee filled boats sink, whilst snacking on the babies of labour voters, of course

@dupainduvin I'm not quite sure what you are reading, but it sure as hell isn't my posts!

The narrative on Mumsnet that Tories are uncaring, evil, thick, selfish people is very wearing. It's bordering on conspiracy theory.

Maybe i'm idealistic but I tend to think that the vast majority of MPs and voters want to make the country better for all concerned but simply have different ideas of how to approach it. It would be nice to have a proper discussion some times.

FWIW i've voted for all three parties in the past so i'm not a 'die-hard' anything. If anything i'm more of a natural Labour voter but do not like the current crop.