Donald Trump has torn my family apart
May 16, 2016 - 12:00AM
Aubrey Perry
Greaseball. Wetback. Spic. Beaner. I grew up with these words in the house. Not because that's what people called us. That's what we called Mexicans.
At least, my parents did. We were white. We lived in Turlock, California. A blue-collar place with a lot of immigrant labour. My dad ran a one-man pest extermination business, and my mum taught ESL (English as a Second Language) and basic English at a local college. Today, both of my parents are vehement Donald Trump supporters ...
I don't use Twitter much. But, wow. My mum does. I recently checked her Twitter page for the first time in a while and was shocked. Hateful memes, ugly language, and appearance-based attacks, targeted at Hillary Clinton, stacked up. And not just hateful, but off-topic and malicious calling Hillary "ugly", "old" and "screechy". An "unlikeable old bag. The 'woman card' stinks!" my mother wrote. My mother! A college instructor! She should know better. She's no internet troll. Is she?
And then I remembered. I remembered the vocabulary my parents used when I was a child. The racial slurs and put-downs thrown around the dinner table, the contempt that was always there, the disdain, the racism, the aggression ...
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/donald-trump-has-torn-my-family-apart-20160512-gotjq2.html
Depaysement
(1,835 posts)In my parents' working class house, those words got you a smack in the head and a trip to the sink with some soapy mouthwash for your tasty pleasure.
Hayduke Bomgarte
(1,965 posts)`
Hayduke Bomgarte
(1,965 posts)Those words make me think of Ann Coulter.
SheilaT
(23,156 posts)I don't discuss politics with my family. It helps that no one lives within 800 miles of me. I do know one niece is a strong Hillary supporter, which tells me she's simply fallen for the OMG! A WOMAN president! And not taken any kind of a close look at her actual record.
It's possible a couple of other female relatives are for her, but I hope not.
My parents are long gone, and I won't even try to guess who either one would support if still alive.
Dr. Xavier
(278 posts)I am really sorry that the writer has to go through this. Family may be important but it is also healthy to realize that toxic people, especially those that we are related to, don't need to be in our lives. Good Luck to the writer and her child.