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I had an uncle unfriend me after I called out some of the racist, misinformed crap he was spouting in response to Prince's death. It's unfortunate, because I re

by rosser 11y ago

I had an uncle unfriend me after I called out some of the racist, misinformed crap he was spouting in response to Prince's death. It's unfortunate, because I really want to like the guy, but his posts had really boiled down to one (or, rarely, more) of: sportsball fanaticism, "Immigrants are scary!", or "Why doesn't anyone care about Vietnam Veterans?!" My feed is a lot less unpleasant now, but we're both that much more isolated in our echo chambers. Granted, I think the acoustics are much nicer in mine, but a breadth of discourse does, one hopes, help to keep one's mind ... if not more open, at least more aware of what other people are thinking.

Kequc 11y ago
Calling someone a racist is a quick way to get unfriended, yes. I've been blocking people who use that kind of personal attack on me and my life is better for it. His perception of your feed and your perception of your feed are likely very different. Since he is your uncle, you have an inroad available of meeting him to hopefully patch things up. But be aware that you might have to try and understand his point of view rather than labelling it, and writing him off as a bigot. I don't know the full story, but I've become somewhat skeptical when I hear things like this.
- rosser 11y ago
  I didn't call him a racist, though I can see how my phrasing of what went down might imply that. I pointed out places where his beliefs about Prince were based on factually false ideas about the man and his life, and supplied information he was clearly lacking that gave context to the things he'd heard about him that inspired those mistaken beliefs. E.g., "He was a druggie!" Yeah, no. It was Percocet, because his hip was profoundly fucked up from all the jumping around on stage he'd done for decades. As a Jehovah's Witness, drug abuse was strictly against his faith, and he didn't even allow guests at Paisley Park to drink or smoke tobacco. That kind of thing. See how making an assumption about someone and proceeding with that as a premise leads to mistaken beliefs about the events in their lives?
  - Kequc 11y ago
    Well... he did take a lot of drugs. Prescription pills are a hell of a thing, much stronger than street drugs, and he was taking them in excess. Not just doctor's prescription if you know what I mean. I don't want to talk about prince. In your post you suggested that your uncle was saying racist things. You imply his racism and I bet it comes across quite strongly when you speak/type. Worse than passing judgement on someone is passing judgement and then communicating it passive aggressively. Word games, used so that the other person can't properly address what was said.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]

by rosser 11y ago

Kequc 11y ago

Calling someone a racist is a quick way to get unfriended, yes. I've been blocking people who use that kind of personal attack on me and my life is better for it. His perception of your feed and your perception of your feed are likely very different. Since he is your uncle, you have an inroad available of meeting him to hopefully patch things up. But be aware that you might have to try and understand his point of view rather than labelling it, and writing him off as a bigot. I don't know the full story, but I've become somewhat skeptical when I hear things like this.

rosser 11y ago
I didn't call him a racist, though I can see how my phrasing of what went down might imply that. I pointed out places where his beliefs about Prince were based on factually false ideas about the man and his life, and supplied information he was clearly lacking that gave context to the things he'd heard about him that inspired those mistaken beliefs. E.g., "He was a druggie!" Yeah, no. It was Percocet, because his hip was profoundly fucked up from all the jumping around on stage he'd done for decades. As a Jehovah's Witness, drug abuse was strictly against his faith, and he didn't even allow guests at Paisley Park to drink or smoke tobacco. That kind of thing. See how making an assumption about someone and proceeding with that as a premise leads to mistaken beliefs about the events in their lives?
- Kequc 11y ago
  Well... he did take a lot of drugs. Prescription pills are a hell of a thing, much stronger than street drugs, and he was taking them in excess. Not just doctor's prescription if you know what I mean. I don't want to talk about prince. In your post you suggested that your uncle was saying racist things. You imply his racism and I bet it comes across quite strongly when you speak/type. Worse than passing judgement on someone is passing judgement and then communicating it passive aggressively. Word games, used so that the other person can't properly address what was said.

deleted 11y ago

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