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Honestly, I've been fighting a similar problem with my parents. I'll state something and the first argument against it is "well where'd you hear that" as if any

Honestly, I've been fighting a similar problem with my parents. I'll state something and the first argument against it is "well where'd you hear that" as if any source other than [preferred news org] is completely unreliable (I tend to have streams of hearings and debates on while I'm working, so my usual source is "the freaking stream"). Then it usually becomes "well I can't justify my position or claim". At which point, honestly, I just can't continue a discussion. I'm not going to let it drive us apart but it's incredibly frustrating that it's impossible to have an informative discussion on any topic. I mean, I'll admit fairly freely to not being an economic expert... my father has an MBA and 30+ years of running a business. I'll admit to not being an expert on the economic policies of Presidents from before I was born. It's why I want to have a discussion, I wasn't there. I start from a position of "you lived this, help me understand it and why the lessons learned then aren't applicable now?" Because yeah, otherwise I'm going to do the whole scientific thing and assume that history is a useful teacher. There's sane ideas and logic on both sides but it's getting harder and harder to have a discussion to understand either side because BOTH groups scream about fake news and insult the other side.

jabretti 9y ago
I'm not sure how the US got so hopelessly divided between the red and the blue tribes, or how to fix it. Is it the 24 hour news cycle? Is it a consequence of the office of the President encouraging the personalisation of politics? Is it just the level of sophistication that political parties have reached in their weaponisation of messaging? All I know is that it doesn't have to be like this. It's certainly not like this in Australia. My mother and I certainly disagree on politics (in fact all the men in my family disagree with all the women) but it's never actually caused any arguments -- at least not since I reached adulthood. The idea that someone might have a falling out with someone else over politics in Australia is nearly unthinkable (absent a tiny number of crazy ideologues that you probably won't meet after you leave uni). People here aren't all neutral -- I certainly have a strong dislike for the politicians on the other side of the aisle -- but nobody bothers to extend that dislike to also disliking that party's voters, because they're probably your family or at least friends.

jabretti 9y ago

I'm not sure how the US got so hopelessly divided between the red and the blue tribes, or how to fix it. Is it the 24 hour news cycle? Is it a consequence of the office of the President encouraging the personalisation of politics? Is it just the level of sophistication that political parties have reached in their weaponisation of messaging? All I know is that it doesn't have to be like this. It's certainly not like this in Australia. My mother and I certainly disagree on politics (in fact all the men in my family disagree with all the women) but it's never actually caused any arguments -- at least not since I reached adulthood. The idea that someone might have a falling out with someone else over politics in Australia is nearly unthinkable (absent a tiny number of crazy ideologues that you probably won't meet after you leave uni). People here aren't all neutral -- I certainly have a strong dislike for the politicians on the other side of the aisle -- but nobody bothers to extend that dislike to also disliking that party's voters, because they're probably your family or at least friends.