Growing up. Mixed messages.

[Ace]

All ball bustin' aside, I don't think communism is genetic. If that was the question.

[Bengal]

Who influenced you? Did you come to be you out of the blue?

No, I was influenced by my father. Some of my political leanings come from him. He is way more liberal than I am, which is odd because I'm pretty liberal. But some things we don't see eye to eye on...

Most of my compassion, what's left of it anyway, came from my mother. Moms are good for that...

The rest came from expierence and reading as much as I can get my hands on...

I change stances all the time. That is one thing we have forgotten here in the US. Changing your mind is a good thing. Shows growth and maturity. Fuck this "going down with the ship" bullshit. That kinda crap got us where we are now...

[sonicsamurai]

i became who i am because i refused to be anything like my father, and refused to be anything other than true to myself, and because after 21 years of shit, i just want a simple life - me , some guitar, some beeer, lots of music, a job, and all the sapce to just do what i want and be free to say what i want, and go where i choose i guess. simple as. if thats the point people are not making

[JetFixxxer]

I grew up next door to hell.. I was physically (non sexual way) abused my dad. I've seen him beat my mom so she ended up in the hospital... Along with my sibling getting beat. ..lived in the projects and was living on welfare.. we ate a lot mayo sandwiches and drank a powder milk and anything else we could scrape up. My school shopping days were the good will or the local church.. or hand me downs from my older brother. We moved 17 times before I was in the 7th grade. My dad was also a drug user.. which finally took his life. I'm very successful in life, never abused drugs or alcohol (even in high school and military) never beat my kids. I'm a very passive person. I will always try in work things out first before I open of the can of whoop ass. In fact all my brothers in sisters are very successful. I agree with Fett about individuals have their own power. I'm in the mind set that you are you own person and you make your own choices. I hate the excuse people us about their up bringing. I should be a rapper and sing about my early years living the projects

[sonicsamurai]

I grew up next door to hell.. I was physically (non sexual way) abused my dad. I've seen him beat my mom so she ended up in the hospital... was living on welfare.. we ate a lot mayo sandwiches and drank a powder milk and anything else we could scrape up.

I know just where ur coming from brother.

i rememebr the days of there being nothing in the cupboard bar some flower and half a box of coco pops. that made for interesting food for a week.....

and i still rmemeber the time my dad kicked me halfway across the garden when i was 6

[fett]

I think I'm saying that as a kid and a young adult I got to see all kinds of perspectives. What makes a conservative? What makes a Commie or a rabid Liberal? It's all genes. I know that I look at life with a Liberal mind. Did my parents somehow make me lean that way? No. It's just the way I think.

[dg]

I make my own decisions wrt politics & always have. My parents' only influence was to tell me to think for myself & respect others' right to do the same. IMO, there's nothing more pathetic than some 18 year old voting for who their mom or dad told them to. Educate yourself & develop some beliefs, or stay the fuck home.

Fett, did you ever read read the USA trilogy by John Dos Passos? It might really help you understand the times your grandfather lived in & why he might've made the choices he did. Dos Passos started writing it when he was young, just after coming back from driving an ambulance in Europe in WWI, just like a lot of the other great writers from that time. Awesome books, even if you don't share his point of view. He even ended up renouncing a lot of his early beliefs when he got older & disillusioned, like many people do. I try to keep at least a kernel of idealism deep down, even though this world has a way of draining it out of you.

[fett]

Thanks for the tip.

[GodOfRhythm]

I never really knew my dad, but I lived through the consequences of his actions pretty much every single day. He has taught me, by example, how NOT to live and how NOT to treat the people you love and your own children, which is something I should, ironically enough, be grateful for.

My mother has taken care of me as well as anyone on this planet ever could have. She totally took herself out of the equation for 18+ years and only cared about me and my well being. I was pampered. Which is something I'm both grateful and a bit resentful for. She did however hurt me in an unbelievable way, which was actually unknown to her at the time, but it has scarred me worse and harder for life, than anything else could EVER do. I've never had the guts to tell her how/what she did, because I think it would emotionally cripple her (as well as me.)

I'm pretty sure my dad abandoning me and my mother (unconsciously and unwillingly) hurting me that much, is the reason why I'm so completely fucked up now, at this stage of young adulthood. But I work at it every day and one day I will overcome!

My aunt is heavily into politics and is a local party leader of the current top party in our country (Christian Democrats) but I've never been influenced or told who to vote for or what ideals to live by. The only thing my mother ever taught me is all people are equal and everyone has a spark of good inside of them, you just have to find it. Other than that I am free to make the choices I want and try to build my own life.

[Cygnus X1]

I make my own decisions wrt politics & always have. My parents' only influence was to tell me to think for myself & respect others' right to do the same. IMO, there's nothing more pathetic than some 18 year old voting for who their mom or dad told them to. Educate yourself & develop some beliefs, or stay the fuck home.

+1.
My parents were no commies, as far as I know, but they were active in the Democratic party politics in the sixties and seventies, until Carter's domestic policies killed it for them. Foreign policy was such an embarrasment that both of them just stopped doing politics altogether. I don't think Dad voted for Reagan, he just gave up.
They (especially Mom, an avid student of history), taught me to always be informed, pay attention to local poltics first, then go from there. I fell into what became known as conservatism because of my early fascination with William F. Buckley. I was anti Nixon when I was too young to vote, and ended up agreeing more with Reagan and Newt, because of the idea of free
enterprise solutions to government-created problems.
Now, I'm at the same place my parents ran into. It seems the Republicans are so busy shedding themselves of conservatives, and the Dems are leaning further socialist, I may sadly become an apathetic observer.

[thetroy]

I haven't figured out my beliefs on a lot of issues. The world is too complex to figure out the right answers in many cases.

People who claim to have solutions usually turn out to be ignorant and/or lying.

I know enough to know that I know nothing...

[Endrik]

Both my grandfathers fought against the commies in WWII.
My parents hated the commies and USSR and wanted to escape. It was a very rough time living in Soviet Union.
I was born when Soviet Union still "owned" our country.
I grew up hating that shit too.
So no communist blood in me at all

But as far as politics go... it's way different than it is in US. Estonia doesn't have 2 parties. There can be unlimited amounts of them. And many of them mix different political views together.
What's "left" in US can be "right" in Estonia or vice versa.
The word conservative, liberal, republican, democrat can have totally different meanings here.
Conservative usually isn't mostly even used as a political term. It's to describe a very modest, laid back, non-progressive, dated, anti-free speech/expression way of life or person. Usually it has a lot to do with fake morale and prejudice.

The most popular party right now are Liberal Democrats. Very right wing, west friendly, rich people love them.
Two very popular Social Democratic parties.
One has been popular all the time, they are ex-communists, they get most of the votes from Russians and old people. Most of the Estonians hate them with passion. They are not west and American friendly.
The other popular Social Democratic party seems to be the most down to earth type and tries to accept all the different views. The current president is from that party and he is the most western and American friendly politician.
So called conservative parties have done so many mistakes and they have lost all the trust from people. They have that old way of thinking wich doesn't seem to work at all. Some patriots like them.

I don't have one certain political view. I like what's in South Europe right now... that seems to be the coolest to me.
I guess in US I would be considered a liberal but I don't like any extreme right or left ways. Extremists have never done any good IMO.
I'm against wars but I support getting those motherfuckers who are attacking countries (terrorist acts and whatnot)

But I realised there's no one right way... there's always trouble no matter what politics seem to be ruling. So I've given up on all that and I never vote. I just don't care. I mind my own buisness. Don't look answers from me, I'm just a dude who likes playing a guitar.

[Rsmacker]

Both my grandfathers fought against the commies in WWII.

20th Waffen SS, or Narva Battalion Wiking Div. by any chance? Now, they did some serious fighting.
I like Estonian girls, not many fatties!!!

I grew up determined to be different to the Old King, but realise that I'm just as hot-headed as he was, just as passionate about certain things. His friends laugh and say that I remind them of him when I am going off on one about something. Interestingly, whereas once he was pretty much completely opposite politically to me, we agree on many things, even if we don't say it out loud. He has done well to put up with a cunt like me anyway, and when he whinges when working for me that I am a completely unreasonable arsehole, I just remind him where I got that trait from and he shuts up.
Oh, and it's a great day when you square up to your Dad and see the tiniest hint of uncertainty on his face. That's the day he knows you will be able to beat the crap out of him soon enough!

[Endrik]

20th Waffen SS, or Narva Battalion Wiking Div. by any chance? Now, they did some serious fighting.
I like Estonian girls, not many fatties!!!

One of them was in Finnish army durning the Winter War.. he was blasting the commies with cannons. He always likes to talk about his war stories.

The other one was in Waffen SS. And yes, serious figthing
He was just a kid when the Germans mobilized him.
Straight to the front line. The first day he was there, he and other youngsters had to clean up all the bodies and guts that were everywhere. 17 year olds lying everywhere... the legs on the ground... the bodies on the trees.
I can't even imagine the battles he had there.
They were captured by the Czechs. Czechs were VERY pissed of at nazis. So they just started shooting all the prisoners who were from German army.
He was just next in line but the Russians suddenly arrived and took him and many other to the prison camp in Russia. Most of the folks died there. It was ROUGH.
He never liked to talk war stories, no wonder why.


And you are right about the girls... not a lot of chubby chicks... but they are kind bitchy

[Emthrax]