I really can’t tell if you’re being an asshole or not. These are people I grew up around, admiring some of. The uncle I fished with and his son, my cousin, currently beyond reach. I spent every summer with them. It’s heartbreaking. Am I going to cave and let them back in without some kind of ‘come to Jesus’ moment? No, but I am willing to let them admit that they were wrong, successfully lied to, and become welcome members of the family again, because I’m not a monster and neither are they. I don’t think they genuinely believe half of the shit they spout, but do it to fit in. They never had an opinion about immigrants or trans people until it was fed to them. They were just happy hicks doing normal happy hick shit.
Like molasses?