My girlfriend's brother in law refused the "Battle of Los Angeles" CD

[Guaranteed]

(Rage Against the Machine) I picked out for him for his birthday, saying he was going to take it back and get something else. Many of you probably know what RATM is like.

It's funny, because he's definitely a hard-rocker kind of guy. He likes "evil" stuff, EXTREMELY atheist. Wouldn't even say "God" at his own wedding. Has skulls and stuff laying around his room.

Anyway, I wasn't there at the time, but my girlfriend reported to me that "He's becoming a very strong Republican." I already knew he was leaning pretty heavily in that direction, but this kind of pushed me over the edge. Refused his freaking birthday present.

So, yeah, I was a little offended, a little pissed. I told my girlfriend that I hate him, because he's a fascist. She got really upset. I might have called him a Nazi, too.

Think I went over the line a bit, but, lemme tell ya, that's the last time I get that guy a birthday present.

[Scootman78]

1. My brother-in-law is sorta the same way

Except he goes to church and is EASILY swayed. The sad thing is my sister is starting to forget how she was raised by my parents and she's thinking a bit more hateful like him these days (example: pointing out "colored" people and telling my family that unless we give ourselves to the J man, we'll be going to hell).

The only time I've heard my sister say anything anti-Dubya:

My sister told me during Hurricane Frances that she wasn't going to vote for George Bush because FEMA was taking away the business of the garbage company she works for.

Actually, it was Jeb who was coordinating FEMA's actions, but I didn't correct her about it.

I think I was in shock really. There were over 1,000 dead troops in Iraq, a crappy economy, and our first admendment was in severe risk of being taken away, but its only when her garbage company starts losing business that she finally says something Anti-Bush. Geeze!

I love my sister of course - she's my sister. Yet she's incredibly clueless and selfish when it comes to the world around her. She believes anything that her husband and her church tells her (she's 32 now and has been going for 5 years). I'm not sure she can think for herself anymore and its really depressing.

She's just the kind of voter that the Republicans love.

Hopefully she gets a clue before November 2nd.

[Guaranteed]

2. It's really sad for me, too.

IMO, at least, I feel like I was raised in a really good family (even though my parents are divorced). Both of my parents, and my step-parents, too, have a very firm understanding of what justice means in America. None of them would even think of voting Republican (although my step-dad is slightly farther to the right than most of us- kind of an Eisenhower-type of guy. He's a good guy, though. Same with my mom's father).

Anyway, my girlfriend's family are supposedly moderate Republicans. At least her sister and mother are- or, were, as the case may be. They're good folks, too, for the most part.

But the sister's husband is a gun freak. On the 4th of July, the last time I actually saw him, we all got together to see fireworks. My girlfriend and I went outside the house and saw him coming back from his car. He said something about "accidently leaving his gun" in the car. I think he was trying to set me off because we've had gun discussions before, and I let it be known to him that in civilized societies people don't carry guns around. So, anyway, I asked him "What do you have a gun for?", and I can't remember how he responded, something about protecting himself, probably.

We've had other run ins, too. I told him about Bush's connections to the Saudis and he ended up getting really angry and saying something like "You're just trying to destroy the Bush administration."

Then just a few nights ago we all went out *without* the husband, and we got into another pretty heated discussion, me and my girlfriend "against" her mother and sister. They had nothing, truly, and just in general hardly knew anything. It was funny because both of them had been saying how they're leaning toward Kerry, but then suddenly after the debates they said they were probably voting for Bush. My girlfriend and I knocked them around for awhile, got them down to "Bush is just a stronger leader" and then let it go.

I just have a suspicion that the husband has been influencing them.

My girlfriend cried after that, too. She knows she's kind of losing her family, losing respect for them. That's gotta be really difficult for her, because I know how *I* am just in feeling that my country is going down the drain. With her, her family's going to the darkside.

This is hard for both of us, though. I have to be careful not to lash out at them too much.

[catchthefever]

3. He can't answer the gun question?

My friend set me up with one of her guy friends once. He ran a red light on a left, and a gun slid out from under the seat and hit me in the ankle. I asked what the heck he needed with that. He said he needed to "protect himself".

I asked, "From what?"

He responded, "From black people".

So there you have it. My friend set me up with a redneck. Real nice.

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4. I just don't remember what he said...

It was just some BS excuse, of course.

[Scootman78]

6. Wow...really vivid portrayal there

I know there have to be stories like ours (all 3 of ours) in just about every Democratic/Republican family. Most people don't talk about it though. I don't mean talking about it on DU, I mean talking about it in a frank manner to the family members.

My sister once said I was trying to brainwash her into my ways. I told her that I wasn't, that I was only trying to gauge if she really knew about the issues and the differences between Republicans and Democrats. I told her that she would be the only one who could make up her own mind (I said it in a way that tried to clue her in to the fact she should "think for yourself" and not solely what her husband talks about).

She gets so frantic over the issue though that I don't talk to her that much during October. She actually brings up the issue, which is weird because she doesn't even know the differences between Democrats and Republicans. She only knows that Democrats are liberal and liberal is a bad word according to her husband and church.

Last week I told her to look up liberal in a dictionary and get back to me. No word from her yet.

[Guaranteed]

7. Yeah, that's what I keep thinking...

My girlfriend's family are "those people"....God. I just can't stand it.

Luckily I don't have to see them until Christmas, though. Hopefully the election will be decided by then LOL. That should let some steam out, one way or the other.

I WOULD be seeing them at Halloween, but I'm heading to Florida for some GOTV. :P

I have to keep telling myself "They just don't know...they just don't know. They don't understand."

If I don't come to believe that that's truly the case, I'm not sure I'll ever be able to forgive them. And, even if I do come to believe it, it's going to be really tough because they're not LISTENING to me. They KNOW how important this is to me. It's like a slap in the face.

[Robeson]

5. I'm sure its hard on all of you, and we ....

....all know people like you all described. In general, you all just described the masses of people who vote Republican. The amazing thing is, is that the actual fractional of a percent who run the Republican Party, couldn't give a sh*t about those who put them in office, other than malipulating them in order to get their vote. Sad.