How to Avoid Political Conflict

Politics can divide anyone, anywhere. With most primaries and caucuses out of the way and the general election in sight the internet is brimming with political news and propaganda. But what do you do if the propaganda is coming from your own family?

I have to say I am in this boat. I am the lone liberal amongst an entire family of far right supporters. When I say an entire family I mean everyone, including great-grandparents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews and now in-laws. Everyone thought it was a phase I would grow out of or that it was my form of rebelling. Well, the phase has lasted years and no I am not rebelling; my rebellion was much more fun - drinking beer at concerts while in high school.

That being said, I have developed some amazing dodging tools because of this. If you are in a similar situation or just don't like discussing politics with co-workers or friends, listen up.

The best way to avoid conflict is to, well, avoid it! Whenever possible I leave the room or engage myself in a different conversation when the topic of politics comes up. If someone asks my opinion specifically I will either ask how they feel or give some general answer. "I haven't had time to look too much into the issue, so I guess I need to!" usually works pretty well. I mean, after all, if you don't know about the issue, they cant grill you or insult your opinion, right?

If you do find yourself in the middle of a political debate, the best thing to do is nod and smile. I know it can be so condescending and I know it is hard to keep your mouth shut, but no good can come out of correcting someone. When it comes to politics one person believes one thing to be right and someone else believes the opposite. No amount of arguing or debate will change their mind because it is all about opinion.

Now I have to say I love my grandma. She is a darling woman and the forwards she sends usually brighten my day. They are cute pictures and funny quotes, a lot of the time. But just as often they are political spam stating that one candidate did this while another did something else. And of course with us being on opposite ends of the political spectrum, the things in these forwards sometimes offend me. It makes all liberals look stupid. I am nota fan of things like that. Having a differing opinion does not make a person stupid, it means you don't agree!
So what do I do? Well, I have to tell you, I've though of many things to do and have finally settled on one. First I thought, "Well, if she is doing it, I will do it back!" I was going to go out and find all the anti-this and pro-that articles I could and start sending them every time I got a new one in my inbox. But then I realized how much I hate it and decided against it, because, well... it just isn't polite!

Then I decided I would write to her on a different subject and somewhere state that while I love most of the forwards she sends, I would prefer not to receive the political ones because I did not share her views. And I began typing something up, wording it as nicely as I could and realized, this isn't stating what I mean! I mean "Stop!" and this is saying "...but only if you want. So then I rewrote the message with less asking and more demanding, and I didn't like how that sounded. I tossed that idea for reducing political spam out at that point.

Then I decided what I am going to do. Ignore it! I have been doing this with everything else for so long. Now, that isn't to say I won't listen to someone because of their political beliefs or even that I disagree with all conservatives. I have a few conservative right bones in my body, and it's a balance I need personally. But when it is just political jargon and rhetoric, I tune out. I like to hear from my grandma and I would hate to have her stop emailing me because I don't like to hear myths and "10 facts..." or "reasons why Obama is a Muslim."

I think there is a time and place for politics and I don't feel the need to keep explaining to everyone how I can be a liberal Christian. So I have stopped! Whatever your political opinions are, I would encourage you to do the same. We all just want what is best and disagree on how to get there. That isn't such a bad thing, is it? What if we all wanted what was worst and agreed on how to get there? A little debate material, checks and balances, isn't the worst thing in the world, and I sometimes feel like I am the only one who gets it!

But I do have to say, if you are reading this for any reason, and you are one of those people who sends out one-sided forwards, stop! As much as I respect the next person's opinion on matters, it doesn't stop be from being irritated into a madwoman. It drives me nuts! A good rule is, if you wouldn't want to read the opposite of something you are about to send then do not send it! It will save us all a lot of time and rolled eyes.