My parents have always been left-wing hippies and entertained the odd conspiracy theory, but during the pandemic they got lost down YouTube rabbit holes and bought into Q-Anon and anti-vax ideas. They still don’t believe Covid is real (even though they blatantly had it…).
We’ve just kind of agreed not to talk about it anymore, but they’ve steadily become more and more batshit and I think they believe I have been brainwashed.
Anyone else’s familial relationships changed forever?
I have some anti-vax people in my family, but we just don’t talk about it. I brought it up lightly in the thick of the pandemic, but didn’t drive at it hard, as I knew that wasn’t a way to change minds, nor did I think it was worth throwing away the relationships. The biggest statement I made was skipping certain family events, or sitting in a different room during meals where I had to take my mask off to eat. One of those events I skipped was one where they all ended up getting COVID. I think I’m the only one in the family who never got it (at least not that I know of, and I took a test every time I sneezed).
Now that COVID isn’t really dictating anyone’s life, it’s mostly a non-issue. I do hope they don’t jump on any similar trains. They were already on the fence about vaccinations when having kids. Thankfully they got their kids vaccinated against the normal stuff, but at one point it seemed like that was going to be questionable. With that existing skepticism it wasn’t surprising where they fell on the COVID stuff.