trying to convert family members without insulting them

proudstatist

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday November 26, 2012 · 6:43 PM PST

2012/11/26 · 18:43

I'm trying to convert some of my conservative family members to the light of liberalism. While I'm generally able to discuss issues calmly and rationally, at times I get serious and passionate and end up insulting them, albeit not necessarily intentionally. For example, it a recent email to one of my "righty" cousins, we were discussing how (I believe) the Republican Party was involved in a "war on women" in the last campaign. When I typed the following in the email, he took it very personally:

"I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say that all Republicans (and I mean ALL) have major tendencies towards racism, homophobia, misogyny, anger and greed. While they do have wives, girlfriends, mothers and sisters, they generally believe women are second class citizens who should be at home. While many Republicans express these views freely, even the ones that don’t have it boiling under the surface or hidden from view. But make no mistake, even if they suppress these views, they ALL wholeheartedly support leaders that espouse them, hence, they are all bigots and guilty by association."

I realize now how these comments would make him mad, but I just generally believe that he has been duped and thus to some extent, as guilty as the leaders he follows. I guess I'll just have to keep trying.

RSS