MAGA, their general unintelligence, odd aversion to social sciences, usual rejection of factual information, and lack of empathy.
I just had a brain-numbing argument with my MAGA father over the term "social construct". It started with my mother (also MAGA) going on about the whole daylight savings thing, how Trump was going to get rid of it or whatever, to which my 25 year old brother (MAGA as well!) says "how can they get rid of it? isn't that science?" (these people can vote...sigh) I then go on to explain what daylight savings is, why it started, etc, and I guess somewhere in my explanation I referred to time as a "social construct" but I guess that was too logical and reasonable because for some reason that term really set my dad off.
Maybe I'm crazy but I feel like that it's a very simple concept to grasp, and it isn't inherently political. It's not like I was making some big radical left communist liberal statement so I was genuinely perplexed at his reaction.
He immediately interrupts me with that typical MAGA reaction of contempt and disregard, as if I'm the stupid one for daring to use a sociological term. He goes on about how it's a term for stupid libtards (you know the usual MAGA nonsense). I had assumed that maybe he just misunderstood what the term even meant, so I attempted to explain it but he kind of shut me down and didn't want to hear it. He kept reiterating that he didn't care and he just doesn't like the term or whatever. To which I told him “It's just words” and it's literally just a description of a concept that exists within society??? Which I guess was me walking straight into a trap because he immediately deflects with “So why can’t I call people illegal aliens if they're just words” (he is literally Mexican btw) The whole thing just became my family making fun of me and treating me like i'm stupid and crazy.
The way that term immediately pissed my dad off so much has me suspecting that FOX and other MAGA outlets are spewing out some sort of propaganda about sociological terms or something because there is no way a person is capable of forming that stupid of an opinion organically. Maybe it's wishful thinking on my part though, and my general reluctance to think that my family are total idiots though they keep proving it to me everyday.
It really upset me, and I guess I had a big reaction, but I was mostly so confused as to how it even turned into an argument. I wasn't even trying to argue politics, I was literally just explaining daylight savings and time and suddenly it's a whole issue.
This made me spiral into resentment I have for my parents, for kind of unrelated reasons pertaining to my childhood. How i’ve always been looked down on for being different, how my family always antagonizes me to get a reaction or says blatantly stupid things and points and laughs when I get upset and try to explain myself. But I think it's a general lack of compassion and empathy, especially something I've noticed in my dad since Trump's presidencies. Everything needs to be an argument, everything needs to go back to me being a stupid kid. He has to be right, He has to let you know that he disagrees with everything you believe, and that he will always be smarter and more correct than you.
I think at one point I loved my dad, but the man who taught me to fight for my beliefs, to fight for other people, to learn and educate others, is gone. I don’t know what to feel towards him anymore.