Sometimes you have to be at family events. Everyone is well aware of my political leanings, as I'm aware of theirs. So you try to get along, because after all, you're family, right?
I've realized -- I don't like my family. I wouldn't eat dinner with them. I wouldn't have drinks with them. I wouldn't put up with their racist, fascist bullshit if I wasn't related to them.
Do you?
One Christmas my cousin's son talked about how it was too bad that James Earl Ray wasn't a better shot, because he, and I quote, could have killed Malcolm X and Jesse Jackson as well as Martin Luther King, Jr., on that terrible balcony in 1968. He said this in front of his children. My eyes glazed over. He looked at me, and said, and again I quote, you must be one of those n****r lovers.
What could I say? What was the point? These are profoundly stupid, scared people who know that they are one paycheck away from oblivion, and they have to blame someone, right?
So yesterday I was at a family dinner, and while the topic turned to the Illinois governor (the dinner was in Pontiac, and the topic was really the closing of the prison), it quickly veered off track. It ended with my profoundly stupid cousin saying, and again I quote, a little Adolph Hitler isn't a bad thing.
You know how it is when you are with someone who is not as smart as you? You just can't nail them. It's like pounding a puppy or something. So I didn't really respond.
But I'm ready for the next round. They're big Bears fans, so this is my next rant:
So, Mr. Bears Fan, how many touchdowns have the spectators in the bleachers scored? None? And you're not even a spectator. You said you don't vote, and don't want anything to do with politics, except to spout off. So you have zero chance of doing anything to change things. You're an ineffective asshole who sits around on Monday at the bar bitching about the plays the coach called. Look around. The coach isn't there, and no one gives a damn, and you won't affect anything.
So, you have 3 times to interact with your government: paying taxes, jury duty, and voting. Nobody likes the first 2, and you opt out of the third. So at least do SOMETHING that shows you give a damn about something beyond your tiny family. Volunteer at a church. A school. Get your kids to enlist in the military. Donate to food banks or whatever. But don't just sit there and bitch.
And if you can't even get off your fat ass and do something for the community, at least take care of your own family and keep your mouth shut.
I assume that this rant will just result in them liking me even less (a plus!), and that it won't get through, but I just can't take it any more.
Thanks for listening, and I promise to do better.
P.S. My aunt asked what my week was going to be like, and I told her I was doing 2 campaign events, making phone calls! Woo hoo!