Political Discussion is a Mindfield in This House

As you all know my partner, Sweetie and I generally get along and share many of the same goals. We're both frugal folks who spend most of our time at home. We garden and share an interest in prepping. We hail from similar dysfunctional family upbringings though I'm the oldest of four siblings while he's the youngest. We've both had prior marriages and lost count of the times we've moved.

Notice please, that I said we share common goals - not common perspectives. Politics is one of them.

So Egypt is all over the news lately and I've bit my lip until now. He sat here a couple nights ago and said, "Good, those ass holes not having Internet will make it more difficult for the terrorists and those idiot Muslims to take over the country."

As reports about Egypt continued I expected his comment. But when it came I looked at him and thought, "How the hell do I love a man who thinks this?"

He's a "wipe them off the face of the earth" kind of guy. To him there's one solution for political unrest. He HATES rioters but fails to see that they are always present in situations like this. And he has little distinction between rioters and looters.

He thinks he knows history and by golly no one's going to question his opinions. He blabbered on and on and on about the stupidity of Egyptians and said their electric should be turned off too

He's also one of these, "We're the big guys with a stick and you better see things our way," kind of people.

He thinks the TSA searches are warranted yet Walmart asking people to report suspicious behavior is not.

When a newscaster said most Egyptians live on $2 a day he said, "So tell me, how do those bastards afford cell phone and Internet?" And then the best comment of all, "That stupid president of theirs must be giving them this stuff and now it's kicking him in the ass."

Try as I might (which isn't often anymore), he cannot see that his rage/anger clouds his thinking process.

Yesterday he got online to check his bank balance. Soon expletives were flying through the air as he cursed the Internet being down. Naturally, I saw this as a possible "teaching moment" and said, "How would you feel if it never came back up?"

THAT calmed him down because he didn't want to THINK about it. He turned to me and said, "People got along without it before it was here."

There are days when he reminds me of Archie Bunker and I'd like to kick his behind.
But most times I think, you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink. And trying to discuss something with a mule is wasted effort.

So, as he watches his beloved Fox News - while wearing his headset - I mute the remote and have some peace.