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Ignorance at its finest...

Now while your reading this post try to keep in mind that I love my family, despite how stupid and narrow minded they can be.

When it comes to being an athiest, I definitely take it to the extreme. I don't believe in anything even remotely paranormal. I think the idea of ghosts, angels, magic, all that stuff is just a way to make our ordinary lives more interesting. But on top of this I also don't believe in conspiracies...at least the ones that are still based on speculation.

So needless to say I definitely don't believe the moon landing was fake, and I SUPER don't believe the whole 9/11 bull. But my aunt and grama do...which actually bugged me alot when I first found out. Not only do they believe the moon landing was fake and 9/11 was organized by the president, but they believe in astrology! My freaken grama thinks she can tell what kind of person you are by looking at yur handwriting because she's a self proclaimed wicken...and somehow this gives her the ability.

So once all this was out in the open they decided that they needed to prove their beliefs to me. My aunt told me that the full moon affects people. Like there's more babies born and more murders. I asked her what proof she had and she typed it into google and brought up the first article she saw and assumed that would be proof enough for me. So I told her I wasn't some idiot who was gonna read some random article by a random guy I didn't know with no credentials and no citations.

After that everything kept going down hill. I think we've argued about one of these topics at least once a week since we discovered our huge differences. I try not to bring it up, but I think the reason it bugs me so much is because I used to respect her a whole lot more than I do now.

My grama's no better too. My ex studies physics and i think my family bothers him more than me. Once when they got into the moon landing debate my grama flat out told him half way through that she simply didn't believe him. In other words: she simply didn't want to believe him.

Not only this, but they've actually told me that they feel sorry for me. When I asked them why my aunt said that not believing in things and having such a difficult mind to convince was sad. Like just because I can't read some random article and believe her makes my life dull. And when I tried to tell her that I was much happier not complicating my outlook on life with theories and just concentration on what actually exists; she just shook her head. Clearly she doesn't want to think someone can have a good life and think the way I do.

I'm baffled that this went unnoticed for so long. I used to think i was alot like my aunt, she was someone I looked up to and thought was pretty smart. Now I just think she's a lazy dumbass...I dunno what to thinkk about all this.

Any comments?

P.S: I'm sorry about my horrible grammar and punctuation, I'm terrible with both...

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Permalink Reply by Prog Rock Girl on March 1, 2010 at 3:39pm

I had a friend who thought she was psychic. If people would ask her to show them, she'd just say "I can't just be psychic on demand, it just happens".

Yeah, that's called COINCIDENCE.

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Permalink Reply by TNT666 on November 7, 2010 at 8:40pm

LOL, the beauty of caller ID! It is my filter to the world! Remember that book "He just ain't that into you"? it applies so well to daily life!

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Permalink Reply by Carrot Hare on March 1, 2010 at 10:17am

Why is it so hard for them to believe that hard working, educated doctors and scientists save lives instead of a mystery magical man that they made up in their heads?

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Permalink Reply by Prog Rock Girl on March 1, 2010 at 3:41pm

I have in-laws like that in India. One time my mother in law took me to some faith healing rally. The best thing about it was they had a translator, so I just paid attention to the words and learned some new words...otherwise, a torturous snorefest.

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Permalink Reply by Secular Forces 2013 on March 1, 2010 at 5:06pm

Lazy people feign of division. For example religious extremists tend to be male, messenger-wise.
Here in America you have Palin types that they would eat their own sisters...

so, yeah as if Earth's motions were not godly enough...
they gotta fck with taxpayers

lame!

BTW, you're beautiful in text and visual
take care!

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Permalink Reply by Tamara Hernandez on March 2, 2010 at 12:46pm

Hi Caitlin,

Smile and use logic. He worked very well with my In Laws. When I met them 10 years ago they believe the internet was the devil, and that gays should be stoned. They still not believe in evolution, but we had some fantastic discussions, and they came a long way, now they respect our choices and stopped pushing religion of conspirations theories on us. The first testament provided endless material to make fun about, and religious people are so full of contradictions, a great mix.

Good luck

Tammy

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Permalink Reply by James Kz on December 25, 2012 at 9:52pm

There is a difference about a difference of opinion (such as the moon landings, despite the overwhelming evidence they occurred) and someone trying to force those opinions on you, or denigrating you for your opinions.

Love is based first on trust and respect, and trust is not unconditional. It is also not based on genetics (else people wouldn't have spouses or kill their children).

For example, I loved my ex-wife right up to the day she filed for divorce because of my epilepsy. I then loved her no more.

I no longer love my church deaconess gaily-married sister, despite being the only person in my family who did not give a hoot about her partner choice other than our mother. Her constant harangues about my religious views and anti-male diatribes indicated to me she did not respect me. Even though she shares certain genes in common with me, that does not mean I love her.

I could love her again, presuming she re-earned my trust and respect. I do not expect that to happen, therefore I will not spend unrequited love on her. I have others I love, because they love, respect, and trust me. They are deserving of my love, not my ex-wife (the mother of my son) and not my sister.

See "Nothing more to talk about" by the Thinking Atheist (Seth Andrews) at YouTube:

http://youtu.be/_J4ZuHEYXkk

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Permalink Reply by booklover on December 26, 2012 at 10:52am

It's really hard when you discover that people whose opinions you have always respected are just flat-out wrong. I have a good relationship with my Mom, and we agree on most things, but some of the things she used to tell me when I was growing-up have just changed and are wrong now, or science has found them not to be true. For example, she used to always say that diseases animals get can't be transferred to humans. We now know that not to be true. Or our country has never been attacked on the mainland. Then came 9/11. She knows those obviously, but there are other things she still says and I have to say "No Mom, that's not true", and then I tell her why. She usually says okay and understands. It's still a little unnerving when your elders aren't the ones who know what's best and havethe most knowledge anymore.~ Melinda

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Permalink Reply by damian on December 31, 2012 at 2:31pm

When listening to your elders say this nonsense, it is confusing. I've been in these situations alot lately. They really feel like questioning is an attack. It's like a double standard. They can say it's sad to be so hard to convince, but if you said that it was sad to be so easy to convince, it would be outrageous. Most of the time, i don't have the energy. It is probably very rare for an elder to agree with you, and change their mind on the spot. They have to defend their position (comfort zone). Every once in a while, i'll come up with a zinger, and they'll say "Well, i don't know about that". If it starts to go bad, i'll ask them if they believe in facts, and they'll accuse me of being angry:)