I have a cousin, 35, Male, who has always been susceptible to conspiracy. He listened to Rush and other right wing favs when we were younger, and after a mildly messy divorce, I’m afraid he’s pivoted to blaming women for everything (including, and especially, male urges).
Along with his heroes, he’s committed to anti-intellectualism. I almost miss the tea party days.
Recently he’s been reading self published books with titles like “Analyzing the ROI on Pursuing Women,” and “Why women deserve less.” They bizarrely juxtapose tidbits from economics onto ravings about value and gender that don’t make sense. Weird that he trusts random opinions and not researchers who at least provide rigorous reasoning for their theories, but I digress.
As a lady, it’s hard to care about the dude, but I do feel like I should say -something-. Does anyone have ideas?
Thanks, I do think a solid foundation of trust is a big part of changing hearts and minds. I speak to him on the phone with some frequency, but will try to think of some ways to make the conversations more substantive. I think he also has some social issues because he’ll call and then just remain silent unless I prompt him with questions (so I usually ask about work or the kids).
Social skills are just that, they’re skills. That means they can be learned and improved, and also that they can be lost with disuse. Helping him practice talking can develop these skills.