this post was submitted on 19 Jul 2023
821 points (96.3% liked)

World News

39149 readers
3935 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News [email protected]

Politics [email protected]

World Politics [email protected]


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] NABDad 9 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I did ask that, and it took the conversation to a bizarre place.

When I asked if he cared what happened to his kids or grandkids, he asked if I believed in God.

I said no, and asked what that had to do with anything. He said, if I believed in God, I'd go to heaven.

So, that's his suggestion: suffer through a miserable, doomed existence, and then go to heaven when you die.

Things that I found interesting from that:

  1. He pretends to be a Christian, but he is filled with hate and just wants to pick fights with everyone. I think he doesn't actually know anything about what being Christian is, other than if you're not, you burn in hell for all eternity.

  2. My mom, whose beliefs generally align fairly closely with his, does not want to cause trouble, unlike him. So, while he immediately tries to start shit, she'll avoid topics that will result in argument. She will certainly avoid asking questions if she doesn't want to hear the answer. So, she visibly cringed when he asked if I believed in God, because she knew what was coming next.

Lots of teenagers dramatically accuse their parents of being fascists, but in my case, he's the real thing. He's not quite a Nazi, but if they came to power in the U.S. he'd be goose-stepping along with them. He idolizes Nazi Germany, but pretty much considers modern Nazis to be pathetic losers.

In the strange, twisted world of child/parent relationships, I'm stuck. I know what he is, but he's also my father. I'm twisted up. I know he loves me, and I love him, but I hate what he is if that makes any sense.

My wife and my kids can't stand him, but everything I have and most of what they have comes from him. He knows that I disagree with him about almost everything he cares about, but if I go to him for help, he'll help without question and without strings attached.

He wasn't always this bad. He had been better for years, but then as he has declined physically and can't pretend he's young anymore, he became more miserable, and I think he wants everyone else to be miserable too.

[–] sgtgig 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

That's a pretty frightening belief. Earth is just some bus stop your soul sits at waiting for heaven, so why take care of it and why fret about all the suffering that takes place on it.

For all we know, death may be total end of your soul/consciousness/whatever and Earth may be the only place with complex life in the universe. And we're trashing it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Not sure how you can idolize Nazi Germany without being a Nazi. As for the rest, any good faith attempt in debate will be met with skepticism at best. The Rights propaganda machine is too strong.

[–] Stovetop 4 points 1 year ago

There's this myth in the modern day that there were somehow "noble Nazis" like Rommel who only cared about making their country great and giving it their all. They take the "Hitler turned Germany from a bankrupt country to a world power in 10 years" perspective, look at all of the fancy gadgets and buildings the Nazis made and their fancy Nazi uniforms, and they think it somewhat excuses the atrocities they committed.

There are too many people out there who think it's possible to learn from Nazi Germany's example and make America great again without all of the "bad Nazi stuff" that led to their downfall, without seeing any of the parallels to their stances on LGBTQ+ people, racial and religious minorities, foreign policy, workers rights, etc.

If there had been another significant Islamic terrorist attack in the early part of Trump's administration, I honestly believe he would have pushed for Muslim concentration camps considering his early campaign promises about banning them from the US. Having a minority scapegoat to blame for America's problems would have inspired more MAGA sycophants without losing the Jewish vote.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

The best thing we can do with parents like that is don't even bother to out them in a home. Let them work themselves to death or die on the streets. They get what they earn.