What you think is a time to gather together and break bread together in thankfulness, they think of as a time to berate and harangue a captive audience. — Me before Thanksgiving 2017
“Everything is political,” so you plan ahead to harangue your “incorrect” relatives (as if such boorish behavior could ever be persuasive). This week has seen a flourishing of tips on how to lecture your family on “progressive” politics on the day you — well, they — gathered together to give thanks. It used to be understood that proper dining etiquette was to avoid controversial topics, especially politics. — Me before Thanksgiving 2014
Once again, the Angry Left is flooding social media and the Internet with holiday how-to’s. Not how-to’s for recipes and decorating ideas, however. Rather, they’re for their apparently unquestioned need for boorishly waylaying family members with insufferable political lecturing on a day supposedly set apart for all to give thanks to God together. — Me before Thanksgiving 2015
My advice is constant: DON’T. — Me before Thanksgiving 2016
I simply cannot imagine the mindset of wanting so badly to lecture family members at the dinner table on politics that you’re willing to ruin the gathering for everyone. Your politics is more important than just enjoying people’s company? It’s sick.
And The New York Times is concerned it’s just not working. Imagine that. So they got Karin Tamerius to help with the “dreaded holiday.” We’re assured Tamerius is a former psychiatrist and the founder of Smart Politics. Which would be like someone promoting empirically backed policy approaches under the name of Outright Boorishness.
I hold out faint hope that the following quotation is satire. But here goes:
Thanksgiving is the perfect time for you to give it a try. [The perfect time!] Before the big day, practice discussing a couple of difficult topics with Angry Uncle Bot, a chat program created to help teach you the techniques.