this post was submitted on 15 Sep 2024
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Did anyone else have very limited acceptable family convo topics (hexbear.net)
submitted 3 months ago by ButtBidet@hexbear.net to c/chat@hexbear.net
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In my house the only proper conversation topics were local sports and current TV shows. My dad waxing that our team not doing well could take up half a dinner. Sitcoms would take up the other half. My brother could quote the Office for, I'm not exaggerating, 30 minutes or more.

As little kids, we were put down for using potty humour in the strongest possible terms, which I guess is sorta fine but I don't think the intensity was needed. My brother and I got told to stop convo as adults were talking about Big Things. As a got older and started to care about social justice issues, I was told that I'm being too political. My brother in law complaining that his workers had no drive was always acceptable.

I half get it. My parents were prole, albeit settler white prole, and TV was their mental health support. I do wish my parents did therapy, we were expected to do it at an early age (I started at 9!), and a lot of it was just dealing with an imperfect home environment.

Anyhow, I stopped going to family holidays really early, like from 19 onwards. For a long time I thought I was a dick for not getting involved.

Sorry to rant. Honestly I'm not upset now, I'm just wondering if anyone has a similar story.

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[–] anarchoilluminati@hexbear.net 3 points 3 months ago

I don't know if my family was intentionally "limited", maybe a little, but damn is conversation with my cousins boring now as adults. They just know and care about the most mainstream, dumb shit. They wouldn't read a book or watch an interesting film to save their lives. Yet they somehow have full conversations about random pop culture shit all night. I'm not exactly quiet or totally alienated but it's just so boring. We're not kids anymore but they have the intellectual and social maturity of teens.

I even have the one token fascist cousin who would be interesting albeit torturous to talk with about politics but refuses to talk with me about politics or elaborate on any political points they'll make in passing, like 'infamous slumlord Trump will make renting affordable' or 'vaxx bad'. I think that they know they'll just get exposed as an idiot and are insecure about it.