Sigh.

My mother and I agree on at least one thing.

A., to dad: Could you PLEASE groom your eyebrows? What you have going on there is a safety hazaard.
Dad: Shrug.

Later

Mom, to dad: It's like a braid hanging over your eye.
Dad: It doesn't bother me.
A.: Please, for me, could you bring it under control?
Dad: It doesn't bother me.

My mother and I agree on few other things. Last night, just before I left for Wendy's:

Mom: What do you think of illegal immigration?
A.: I'm heading out...
Mom: Just answer the question.
A.: I refuse to engage in a discussion on those terms. I don't believe in reducing complex issues to black and white...
Mom: Are you pro- or anti- illegal immigration?
A.: What I'm saying is I do not agree with the way you are framing the question, and I'm heading out now.

This morning:

Mom: I like Hilary. She's smart.
A.: She is smart, but she's not my first choice.
Mom: I don't agree with Obama's position on immigration. He doesn't seem to think illegal immigration is a problem.
A.: It's an issue that needs to be managed. It should not be reduced to rhetoric, emotion or easy answers...
Mom: It's a huge problem...
A.: You do realize you are an immigrant?
Mom: Legal immigration is different.
A.: Illegal immigration is not going to go away with a border fence...

This escalates into a screaming fight. Several times I say, "I am not going to discuss this with you until you lower your voice." I also reiterate that she's wrong about certain things, that the data go against the rhetoric spewed by Lou Dobbs and his ilk. She keeps repeating the rhetoric of Lou Dobbs and his ilk.

A.: Get the facts and stop getting your "information" from Lou Dobbs and Fox News!
Mom: Ha! Stop getting your "information" from the New York Times!

A.: Sigh.

***
My frustration is not primarily over mom's position on illegal immigration; I'm disappointed with the level of discourse. I've said before that my issue with Fox News is not the positions taken, but rather that positions are taken at all, and that complicated issues are reduced to sound bites and yes or no stances. What I'm trying to say is, I fundamentally believe that being "tough" on something is distinct from being "smart" on that thing, a distinction is one that Fox News and such consistently ingore and erode, to the detriment of the country. Sigh.

***
Dad: If your mother weren't Jewish, she'd be an anti-semite.