Holiday Gatherings and Different Politics

[Murdoc's Mistress]

As a general rule, I have a "no politics or current events" when visiting with family. This means no political discussion & no discussions about any type of hot topics or current events. My dad loves this rule. Mom is ok with it but always tries to chime in with some type of commentary. Dad will often tell her to change the subject but she will just dig her heels in and continue.

So I started to abruptly change the subject and I make it something totally off the wall.

Example,

Mom: Did you hear Trump is running again? You need to vote for him.
Me (looks at her deadpan): Did you know a severed head can continue to see for 15-30 seconds? (dad chokes on his drink and laughs his ass off)

Mom: Why can't people just celebrate Thanksgiving and not try to demonize it with all this stupid talk of indian genocide...the indians helped the pilgrims!
Me: Did you know a platypus has 2 dicks? (more laughter from dad)

Mom: We're a christian nation!
Me: When Tim Burton was casting for the Batman movie, he wanted Brad Dourif to play The Joker but Warner Bros told him no.

This is my my go-to move from now on. It got her quiet and we were able to talk about other things.

[jas]

lol! Yes, I hate when family talks politics. My SIL is so far left and my dad is so far right I'm surprised they both don't fall over. It's never fun when they're both in the room.

[Murdoc's Mistress]

lol! Yes, I hate when family talks politics. My SIL is so far left and my dad is so far right I'm surprised they both don't fall over. It's never fun when they're both in the room.

Yeah, we've just had one too many holiday gatherings that derailed entirely into arguments and some type of drama and I am just done with it. I wanted a peaceful thanksgiving dinner with my parents and kiddo without a bunch of drama. Figured the best approach was not to take the bait and just change the subject entirely, but pick a subject that is totally off topic and off the wall.

[Anonymous 1]

Eh I was the opposite. My uncle still pretends like covid isn't real. As a healthcare worker in the Covid unit of my hospital there was no way I was going to just let that slide.

[WellPreserved]

I love your responses! May I use them?

[AZOldCoot]

Within our immediate family, we just don't bring it up.

On the rare occasion we're with extended family, since we're all a mixed bag of religious beliefs and political leanings, we avoid the subjects as much as possible and especially with my Mom (Evangelical, right-wing Republican).

[SouthernIslander]

All families argue about shit, mine is no exception. But luckily, both sides of my family have similar views so it’s not a topic that we really have to stay away from.


I’m glad you were able to redirect the conversation and I had no idea that a platypus has 2 dicks.

[Quorra2.0]

Holiday gatherings with my side of the family, there’s an unspoken rule of no politics, no religion, because my parents respect the fact that not all opinions and beliefs are the same. My uncle is very opinionated on both his political and religious beliefs so my mom usually spends a lot of time changing the subject when he’s attending the gatherings.

[Deleted User 2088]

My dad was the one who always brought up politics. And always argued about it. I feel guilty for having one thing I don't miss.