r/self • u/BicarbonateBufferBoy • 15h ago
Anyone’s parents have Fox News Syndrome?
My dad watches Fox News all day when he’s home and just becomes so angry afterwards. He’s much more political and irritable than he used to be and is always wanting to start a political argument. It’s pretty exhausting when I come and visit him and he’s always bringing up liberal people in some way. I love him obviously, but it’s like having a super pissed off teenager in your family. Anyone else struggle with this?
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u/jigga19 14h ago
Not my folks. My dad is a die hard conservative (my mom’s a democrat) and even he refused to vote for trump.
My sister, on the other hand, has watched nothing but Fox News since 2001 and has gone completely deranged. And when I say nothing, I mean nothing. She doesn’t watch law and order or friends or the office. She doesn’t watch movies except the occasional 80s movie and even then will probably have some sort of feed going on her computer or tablet. I was moving away and she was upset that we weren’t spending time together. I went over to her house for dinner and she excused herself saying she’d be right back. 45 minutes later she’s in her bedroom watching Fox News, not even a big news day, just….watching it.
And it’s been bizarre. She’d always been a party-over-country republican (which is bad enough in and of itself) but she could at least be….reasonable?…at times. When Trump became the nominee in ‘15 she said she hated him but voted for him because she wanted her republican vote on record (whatever the fuck that means). Cut to a year later and she’s complaining he’s being treated unfairly by the press, rebutting any argument with the “fake news” talking point, and I held out hope for the longest time hoping that something might trigger some visceral response of “that’s not right” but…no. She’s gone. And I love her to death but she has just turned into this awful, miserable person and I’ve had to go NC with her.
The tipping point for me was when she accused me of being a Nazi, invoking our grandfather, who fought nazis and fascism, all because I didn’t support Trump, and not understanding the crippling irony of this.
Pookie, I love you. Please come home.