AITA for trying to help my family see the bigotry of calling liberals "uneducated, ignorant... and spoiled?"

^^^^AUTOMOD The following is a copy of the above post. This comment is a record of the above post as it was originally written, in case the post is deleted or edited. Read this before contacting the mod team

I am sincerely asking because I am so confused and disheartened by this interaction with my family today.

The exchange began when my cousin posted a meme of a military cemetery with the words 'These kids fought communism' on top of a Bernie Sanders rally with the words 'These kids are voting for it'

I know my cousin and aunt to be loving, warm, and considerate, so I tried to completely remove the politics from the situation and use myself as the human example of what they're calling out as uneducated, ignorant, and spoiled. It completely backfired, they doubled down on what they'd said, and told me they respect me even as they said they question my intelligence and character, and told me I shouldn't make it about me.

Am I just a total twat and missing it? I really appreciate any input y'all can provide.

​

Aunt - Ignorant and uneducated! They have no clue. They believe what they hear in college from the very liberal people.

Cousin - very ignorant and uneducated and frankly...spoiled. Our country isn’t perfect, but if you’ve traveled the world at all you come home appreciating this country and all that is has to offer. We are very blessed.

Me - From someone who has seen a bit of the world and works hard at educating myself and curing my ever-present ignorance, the choice of adjectives here is incredibly disheartening.

Cousin - I stand by what I said. If that’s disheartening to you then /shrug

Me - Oh for sure, I would hope you'd stand by your word. /heart It's just weird, I guess, to think that members of my family think so little of me *because* I've studied political philosophy and ethics and because I've spent 6 years living abroad. I suppose that's all the more true for feeling as though I understand why you believe what you believe and don't think you ignorant, uneducated, or spoiled. Just makes me eager for the day when differences of opinion can go back to being just that and not indictments on one's intelligence and character.

Cousin - cuz, I love you, I have loads of love and respect for you! Don’t make this about yourself. I welcome a difference of opinion. Perfectly fine with it, however, I do question someones intelligence and character if they support a socialist agenda! I won’t tolerate it. Absolutely not.

Aunt - I agree with you, [niece]. [Nephew], no where here did we say [your name]. Why would you think we don’t love you? I guess, this is a great example of the problem in our country right now, we are not allowed to have differences and still respect and love each other... I am sorry you have taken our comments personally, it is a point of view and was spoken in generalities. I am not offended in the least with how you feel, that is your right. Let us have ours without making it personal. [Nephew], we love you and respect your freedom to think differently than us, yes, that IS a freedom!

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

If you want your comment to count toward judgment, include only ONE of the following abbreviations in your comment. If you don't include a judgement abbreviation, the bot will ignore you when it looks for the top voted comment.

#Click Here For Our Rules

#Click Here For Our FAQ

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

NTA but you will get absolutely nowhere

NAH

Freedom of speech and thought is one of the things that makes America a great country. You can disagree with something someone says, but still like and respect the person.

I stand by what I said. If that’s disheartening to you then /shrug

That's all your cousin said and you jumped to implying that your cousin insulted your intelligence. That didn't happen.

That said, you did take this a lil too personal.

This is a battle of opinion.

NTA but confirmation bias is just so rampant every where you go, no matter what your political party, so it will never actually change anyone’s mind.

NTA but you’re wasting your time and energy. You can’t change their opinions.

NTA- they’re quite close minded and possibly uneducated themselves. You were just trying to show them how to think and be compassionate. People like that aren’t going to understand or try to understand your point of view. It’s different and scary so they won’t hear it. Most of my family is conservative republican so I can’t really talk with any of them on a political level. It’s sad but I know they won’t listen to me even with given examples so I’m kinda in the same boat. You were really nice in your responses. I’m not so sure I would be.

Your post has been removed.

This post violates Rule 12: This is Not a Debate Sub. Commenters are welcome to discuss disagreeing points of view, but ours is not a community that embraces general broad philosophical issues. We decide who was the worst actor in actual concrete conflicts. Do not ask us to settle whether or not abortion should be legal, or if disliking dogs is right or wrong. Feel free to ask us if it is wrong to steal your girlfriend's dog and give it away. (Spoiler: yes it is, Asshole!).

If your post discusses a topic which is controversial, may be seen as political grandstanding, or is likely to devolve into an angry debate, we reserve the right to remove it.

Please review our rulebook.

Please be sure to read any sub's rules before reposting this elsewhere. We cannot direct you to another subreddit, we can only say that this post does not belong here.

Message the mods if you have any questions or concerns that are not already answered in our FAQ. Do not repost this without contacting the mods for approval. If you make changes or edits to this post do not repost it here without our express permission.