re: #180 thedopefishlives

I think my main concern is that I don’t want to get into it with any of my family. I get to see them so rarely and I’d rather just keep the peace and not drop a nuclear bomb on family relations by revealing that I don’t think Obama is a sooper-sekrit Kenyan Muslim bent on taking over the US.

My family’s all well educated. I’ve taken to bluntness with them for the sake of my nieces and nephews. I’ll say, “You’re not doing your kids any favors by teaching them to be closed-minded. You want them to survive when they get to college, right?” That usually gets their attention…most of their anti-Obama rhetoric is just political grandstanding and Fox News parroting and they don’t actually beieve it if they think about it for a minute.

We were having a family brunch over Mother’s Day and my uber-conservative brother’s kid said he didn’t know why he had to learn about Muslims in school. Before my brother could make a joke about liberal education being a waste I shot across the table with, “Because you don’t want people to think you’re a fucking retard when you get to college.” A brief pause in eating and conversation, then nods of agreement all around. My brother got the message I was really trying to deliver.