this post was submitted on 19 Dec 2024
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How Estrangement Has Become an Epidemic in America (time.com)
submitted 8 hours ago by ByteOnBikes@slrpnk.net to c/usa@midwest.social
21 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

He’s a father of a 28-year-old son and he’s hurting. A retired police officer, he proudly voted for Donald Trump every time he ran and never hid his political beliefs from his family. “My son and his wife say that since I’m a fan of Trump they’re no fan of mine and cut me off,” he said. “Now I can’t see my only grandchild who I was so close to. It’s crazy and it’s tragic.”

It’s also increasingly common. The 2024 election spatchcocked the nation, widening a rift that was exposed in 2016 and put in an even sharper gulf four years later. Now, the hyper-partisan politics in the shadow of the 2024 election is breaking the bonds of families to a greater extent than ever before.

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[–] TheDoozer@lemmy.world 2 points 33 minutes ago

he proudly voted for Donald Trump every time he ran and never hid his political beliefs from his family.

This sounds like an extremely euphemistic way to say he would not shut the fuck up about Donald Trump and his political beliefs. And his family likely gave him every chance in the world to quit that shit, and when they eventually just stopped wanting to be around him, he blamed everything but his own shitty behavior.

I don't know if that's what happened in his case, but it certainly sounds like it.

[–] qevlarr@lemmy.world 7 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

Celebrate adult children calling out their boomer parents on their hyperindividualist bullshit

[–] Raiderkev@lemmy.world 8 points 3 hours ago

Womp fucking womp

[–] edgemaster72@lemmy.world 11 points 4 hours ago

When asked to reflect on how their actions and choices have lead to their families cutting them out, they responded "We've tried nothing and we're all out of ideas!"

[–] cdf12345@lemm.ee 34 points 6 hours ago

Yes, the grandfather is hurting and is clearly the victim. It cannot be due to his own choices and his children calling him out for being a shit person.

ACAB

[–] Nougat@fedia.io 27 points 6 hours ago

How Assholes Have Become an Epidemic in America

[–] AnarchoSnowPlow@midwest.social 43 points 6 hours ago

"Choosing bonds of identity over familial obligations" has judgemental connotations.

The thing about "bonds of identity" is that those people respect your right to exist and your personal agency. The family that deserves to be cut off does not.

If you've had it explained to you multiple times why the decisions you make are harming the people you claim to love, and you don't change your behavior, don't be surprised when that person you say you care about tells you to piss up a rope.

[–] onoira@lemmy.dbzer0.com 44 points 7 hours ago

It’s crazy and it’s tragic.

take a drink every time a narc parent uses the words 'weird' or 'crazy' to describe being treated like the horrible person that they are.

[–] Dagwood222@lemm.ee 27 points 7 hours ago (2 children)

Like so many problems in modern America, you can trace it back to Reagan.

Back in the day, it was important for politicians to try and maintain a civil tone with one another in public, no matter how much they despised each other behind the scenes. Reagan publicly used 'Liberal' as a pejorative and implied that those who disagreed with him weren't really patriotic.

[–] karmiclychee@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 hours ago

These days, it's more like they're literally buddies behind the scenes while expressing partisan vitriol in public for show. It's fucking gross.

[–] thefartographer@lemm.ee 25 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

I just want to point out that McCarthyism existed before Reaganism. But he was a big fucking fan of it.

[–] Nougat@fedia.io 12 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

And the Federalists and Democratic Republicans were wildly confrontational.

[–] Hasherm0n@lemmy.world 5 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

Calendar on Adams in 1800...

"Ye will judge without regard to the prattle of a president, the prattle of that strange compound of ignorance and ferocity, of deceit and weakness; without regard to that hideous hermaphroditical character, which has neither the force and firmness of a man, nor the gentleness and sensibility of a woman."

That's just one example of many quotes from that time. There was some wildly vitriolic mud slinging in early American politics.

[–] otter@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 3 hours ago

You stop at "mud slinging"? Mofuggas brought guns to a fistfight on congressional/senatorial floors. "Mud" ain't the half of it, and anyone who's not familiar with this history is gonna be doubly surprised when these psychos today cosplay as their favorite fictional version of said founders. 😶‍🌫️

[–] insomniac_lemon@lemmy.cafe 24 points 8 hours ago

It would be more than that if people had a place to go and a way to get there.

Also it's not just trumpism, it's that your family can be intelligent but fall for grifters... or they will be kind 90% of the time and then without prompt will casually say something really fucked up at dinner.

[–] InevitableWaffles@midwest.social 4 points 5 hours ago

This thing reads reads like the the person in the middle of the disagreement trying to broker peace.

[–] bunkyprewster@startrek.website 6 points 7 hours ago (4 children)

Spatchcocked?

[–] TheAlbatross@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 5 hours ago

If you're not spatchcocking your country, you're just wasting time and ruining it's breasts to save it's thighs, really.

[–] WhiteOakBayou@lemmy.world 8 points 7 hours ago

Like a chicken. Where you split the breast so it can lay flat. To illustrate the deepening divide.

[–] enkille@lemmy.world 6 points 6 hours ago

Removed our spines and flattened us to allow for more even cooking. If you remember when those dudes in black suits came around and did that to everyone, that's what this is referring to.