I just spent this day with my grandma and my uncle, at lunch they started speaking about politics and how things today are much better than 70 years ago, that we are middle class and we should be happy, also that im wrong at complaining for todays inequality and injustices.
Both of them started telling me personal stories of people they know as arguments, instead I was telling them that statistics like the Oxfam studies on wealth inequality show some few billionaires owning as much wealth as the poorest 2 billion people, and that of all new wealth created 2/3 of it go to the one percent and they simply disregard it and tell me to not complain.
I got angry with them, I have a short temper and I dont have time to explain every study on economics Ive read. Maybe I did wrong on getting angry but the conversation felt really condescending, they didnt give me any arguments on any studies, just personal stories and I felt silenced for telling what I know. Idk why but ive always been a economics and geopolitics nerd, I think I just wanted to understand the world that we live in and tried to gather as much info as I could, yet this info feels useless when speaking with them.
My uncle got really angry when I told him we cannot posibly be middle class, we would be without home if any of us stopped working, how is that not a lower class person needing to sell their labor to barely live?
He told me that all the youth are complaing about our bosses and we should be happy to have a job.
After that I told him I was sorry for geting angry but that I wasnt sorry for telling what I know.
So should I never speak about politics with them? Economic talk happens at every family gathering, I think again I will feel like I cant express myself for simply pointing at todays injustices, wtf do I do?
Just to be clear we live in a western european nation, that was under a dictatorship years ago, its no wonder that life is better now than under martial law the restoration after ww2.
I dont really know, im fully estranged from my family, large in part to an inability to reconcile my views with theres. I will say that nothing im reading here comes close to why I did though, it sounds more like ignorance and a lack of intulectual ability to grasp what you’re saying; not everyone has the toolset to be able to dismantle complex data/ideas like yours and often, especially with older people you will find the only way they have to relate to what you’re saying, without a personal education is to relate it to personal annecdotes.
You shouldnt take the personal annecdotes as being a serious refutation, but it should be said that those are still valuable to them, and likely the real lived expeirence. It perhaps lacks insight but even in that lack of insight you should try to emphasize, why do they feel like that? Is it a lack of education on there part? What does it say about the socio-economic situation now?
Try to relate that to real people you know next time, give examples of friends going through hard times; abstract data wont mean much to them I imagine.
I think its also reasonable if you feel there tone is condescending to address that seperatly and refuse to engage in any political/economic talk with them period if they cant respect you on an even level.
First, my people skills are trash, thanks for the advice.
Its fine if my grandma cant understand, I know she didn’t go to school, I don’t blame her, but my uncle is an engineer, he should be able to understand.
Do I have to tell them how like half of the people my age I know are depressed and taking pills for how shitty our lives are so they get my personal feelings too? Everyone with a university degree at my age is gone from the country or working retail, I feel like he will say we are spoiled or some shit.
These are the only family I have left, my mother was abusive and I ran away from home, my father was absent and later committed suicide. I have some anger problem from my abusive childhood, so I have a short temper and start shouting quite easily, If I cant deal with the situation I leave, I never try to be aggressive. I just have it so clear why our lives are fucked and If I tell them anything about how I really feel they don’t know how to deal with me. Do they expect me to simply be happy?
If you ask, yes I’m going to therapy.