Yesterday I called my mother and she started talking about the “world situation”. What confuses and worries me is that every time I corrected a point she made, she acted as if this was her position from the beginning. For example: She started by saying that she feared that Putin and the leaders in the west will start throwing nukes because they are mad and are just stupid people. When I tried to explain that the current situation in Ukraine is the result of a very specific strategical thinking and a reaction to economic demands, and that they are not just going to throw nukes out of spite, she said that she completely agrees and that she’s glad that we are both so like-minded. Another example is when she later said that it’s important to look at statistics to keep yourself informed about the world in an objective way. When I told her that this might not be a good idea and explained the flaws of statistics to her, she said that she of course knows that they are not objective and shouldn’t be used in that way as if she knew all along.
To me it appears that she definitely understands the differences between our positions and then immediately tries to correct them by drastically changing hers (basically gaslighting me into thinking my response was wrong). But why does she do this? It’s so irritating and when I try to point out that she changed her position, she just says that that’s not true or she just quickly changes the subject.
Yesterday I called my mother and she started talking about the “world situation”. What confuses and worries me is that every time I corrected a point she made, she acted as if this was her position from the beginning. For example: She started by saying that she feared that Putin and the leaders in the west will start throwing nukes because they are mad and are just stupid people. When I tried to explain that the current situation in Ukraine is the result of a very specific strategical thinking and a reaction to economic demands, and that they are not just going to throw nukes out of spite, she said that she completely agrees and that she’s glad that we are both so like-minded. Another example is when she later said that it’s important to look at statistics to keep yourself informed about the world in an objective way. When I told her that this might not be a good idea and explained the flaws of statistics to her, she said that she of course knows that they are not objective and shouldn’t be used in that way as if she knew all along.
To me it appears that she definitely understands the differences between our positions and then immediately tries to correct them by drastically changing hers (basically gaslighting me into thinking my response was wrong). But why does she do this? It’s so irritating and when I try to point out that she changed her position, she just says that that’s not true or she just quickly changes the subject.