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Freddie deBoer's avatar

"Politics has" is correct so please don't notify me about the supposed typo, thanks!

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Larissa M's avatar

Once again you have brilliantly articulated a bunch of things I've been thinking about for awhile now. I feel like I could've written every word of this (well, if I could write better haha). Totally agree with the analysis. Thank you!

I feel like I'm constantly being encouraged to denounce and cut off people in my life who disagree or have a different perspective. I realized this recently when I saw my cousin, who I used to be close with and have always loved, for the first time in a few years. We come from different worlds socially and politically. She doesn't have a lot of education and is some kind of southern baptist. I don't know for sure but think she probably voted for Trump. And most recently, her son was diagnosed with Level 2 Autism, and the internet mom groups got her so she is anti-vaccine now. But she is still a sweet, humble, loving, generous, funny, kind person, who just happens to believe some wrong information, something I do several times a week if we're being honest. And she's my family and I care about her, and the idea of severing our relationship over disagreement about the Covid vaccine just seems absurd to me. This constant pressure to not just respectfully disagree but actually hate people in your life because of different choices, to ruin Thanksgiving or whatever, is a recipe to end up miserable and alone.

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