IIN My dad is always so negative about life

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  • Unfortunately, there's no shortage of negative people in the world. With most of them, if you feel that you must try to have have something that's at least close to civil interaction with them, it's possible to learn their hot-buttons and avoid those topics. But talking to your father must be very stressful and exasperating, since it sounds like you never know when you saying something completely banal will trigger him and he'll start spewing ignorant and nasty crap.

    Although hating Desantis doesn't really fit, it sounds like your father could be pigeon-holed as some sort of far-right, fundamentalist Christian whack-job. I think it's pretty common for people like that to get to the age he is, believe they've played the game of life according to the right rules, to have the dawning recognition that life is going to continue to shit on them, and to feel very bitter about that. Of course, they never blame themselves or the dog-eat-dog system they've supported for their whole life. Rather, they find someone else to blame, and persist in believing that the world would be wonderful for them if only everybody gave them what they're entitled to.

    It sounds like avoiding spending any time in your father's company is the healthiest thing you can do. I firmly believe that way too many people feel that they have to respect their parents and other family members and tolerate the shit they inflict on them just because they are family. While I believe that parents deserve some gratitude if they've genuinely done their best for their kids when they were young, I don't believe that's an open-ended obligation. I'm also very certain that nobody should hesitate to cut off all contact with toxic people; life's just too damn short to put up with that crap.

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