My parents have become insufferable.

[PleasePleasePleaseDontProve]

I am really struggling with my parents. Both are mid-sixties, retired. It seems since retirement they have become quite bigoted, insufferable and insular in their viewpoints. Every time I meet up with them conversations revolve around:

• Illegal immigration / people on benefits / Reform and Nigel Farage. Essentially focussing around the latest GB news story (which they watch religiously).
• Their latest or ongoing health ailments and how poor, in their view, the NHS is.
• Unnecessary and rude descriptions to describe other people (could be random strangers) or people they know. For example, ‘our fat neighbour has put on tons of weight.’

I used to have a fantastic relationship with my parents, particularly my father, and I’m sure he wasn’t always like this. I’m starting to dislike meeting up with them as their attitudes seem to have changed towards life and people in general, and they constantly want to discuss the latest GB News story.

Has anybody else found this has happened to their parents?

Yeah join the club. I don’t think Covid helped.

me too to all of this.

I’m around your parents’ age OP. I know lots of people with similar views and three of them have dumped me because I call them out on their factually incorrect nonsence. They insist the MMR causes autism (no - that was disproven 20 years ago but scientific fact holds no weight for them); or when they announce that ‘England is no longer England’ ….. (think they want us to somehow be magically transported into a 1950s-style utopia and they do not accept that Brexit can’t do that), immigrants have made the NHS waiting lists even longer (no - they are mostly young and the NHS relies on clinical staff from abroad).

I feel your pain Op. I’m do glad my DM can see straight through Farage although she does like to ramble on at great length about what her neigbours have said to her …… and they are similar to your parents. GAHHH! I just cannot get her to stop. I have asked.

Same. I was thinking the other day I can’t remember when but at some point I started trying to think 5 or 6 steps ahead in a conversation to always try to avoid straying into those sorts of topics. Is exhausting and it didn’t use to be like this.

They sound awful!

Lots of people in their 60s are of course not like that. But I imagine something like GB News can reallt poison someone’s thinking.

Do other masked, black-clad protests give you the horrors? Or just that particular one?

Why is it that every single thread asking about an issue now has some muppet popping up crying ageism? It’s really bloody tiresome.

My lovely, gentle, used to be fun parents watch GB News constantly.

I don’t have an issue with their views as such, I love a debate and listening to other perspectives, broadening my mind etc. It’s more that every time I meet them, the conversation inevitably centres around ‘did you see GB news last night and all the illegal immigrants coming over from Calais?’ It’s like they only have a few talking points that they cycle through.

If they're watching GB News, they're getting regularly hypnotised by angry, polarised un-facts, stitched together with soundbites of truth

GB News is essentially having a LLM on audio, coded to present as an angry, right-wing coke head, that does its own search of the internet, unbidden and peppers you with a confusing mix of facts and lies, falsely linked together with hallucination in an aggressive, convincing way

At the same time, immigration is out of hand

The NHS, in many parts is self-serving monolith that descended further into shambles from 2010 onwards... gotta keep Canary Wharf happy, right?

Privatisation would just mean many people would be paying upfront for a shite offering and at much higher costs than taxation and NIC

The biggest issue with the UK isn't those 3 issues flagged by GPT,

Its the complete moral/social decay and dissolution of any social contract still in place after the 2008 crunch

And while genes do drive survival of the fittest, the last 5-10 years have taken "I'm alright Jack" to the next level

Brexit was the tipping point and lockdowns/post-Covid was the accelerator

I'm sure we had the same post about a month ago, with the poster moaning about their parents and GB news.

We are late 60s and thankfully bear no resemblance to OPs parents.
We do despise the Royal Family

Me too, avoid drama, hate Reform, appreciate the NHS and I am chilled

This is a public forum, people can post what they want.

As others have said, it sounds as if they need to get more involved in other activities, their lives sound narrow. Are their health conditions preventing them from getting out and about?

Yep.

And for the record, I drift more to the left, the older I get. In ten years I'll be 80 and probably a communist!

It sounds like they probably spend a lot of time watching TV and it is now always on their mind and all they have to talk about.

Negativity feeds negativity too, and once you get into that mindset it is hard to break it, especially if they are reinforcing each other. They likely need someone (you) to say something to make them realize how they are coming across.

If you had a better relationship in the past, then I would say that you find these kinds of conversations to be a downer and would rather talk about x, y, z like you used to.

They are not very old. Hopefully they can find some social skills and self-reflection so that they can be more pleasant company.

Another lovely ageist thread. The acceptable prejudice.

This is my dad. He is the definition of a grumpy old man. He thinks GB News is the gospel and has no ability to think critically about anything Farage and co have to say. Up in arms about Starmer taking glasses for free but sees nothing wrong with Farage taking £5 million and not declaring it - that kind of thing.

In addition to that, he thinks everyone should do things on his time and has absolutely no patience for the fact we all work and have young families. Both of them struggle to make conversation, they won’t ask me any questions so it is constantly me trying to come up with things to say. Exhausting.

My dads the same.

The trouble is, they’re spending more time on social media and reading fake news and being brainwashed by the algorithm.

It is not just the older generation being brainwashed but unfortunately they are more susceptible to it (along with the younger generations) because many think just because it’s on social media then it must be true.

And now with AI getting more realistic it’s going to get even worse.

Because they are ageist. HTH.

How is it ageist to describe what your ageing parents are like? I don’t see it as ageist at all.

Are they getting out enough ? I mean socially and they're not stuck in a place they're not happy living in are they ? It could also be because something else is going on...🤔

@Contain4 Good point. It's no different to younger people getting brainwashed by fake news and bizarre (sometimes dangerous) ideas on SM.

They need to get out in the real world more.

You probably have family and friends and an active life.

Unlike my dad who just sits at home all day being more miserable and blaming everyone else for his problems (many of which are not even relevant to him).