I'm a 30 year old white guy. I just wanna chill, play games, and watch movies with my boys. But the older we get the more of them out themselves to me as racist, homophobic, or just straight up Nazis. I'm not talking edgy humor, I'm talking about stopping our Mario Kart game to go on a 30 minute tirade about how race-mixing is bad or that all gay and trans people are all secretly child molesters.
They weren't always like this. When we were kids we all agreed that bigotry like this was for stupid old people. I feel like it's really kicked in the last few years. I've heard of people getting more conservative as they age, but I never imagined It'd be like this. And now I'm the only one left in the friend group who believes ludicrous things like "gay people should be allowed to get married" and "black people are human beings". I feel like a fucking crazy person and don't know what to do or where to go from here. I've argued, debated, and shown evidence until I'm blue in the face but I should have known from the start that was pointless.
The worst part is they're technically good friends! They've supported me, laughed, cried, grieved with me through every up and down through my life. Some of them would take a bullet for me without a second thought. I used to think I was the luckiest guy in the world. But I just can't take it anymore. I feel like my soul is dirty after every hang out, listening to this vile shit coming out of their mouths. I know I gotta walk away but it's tough, I've known these people since I was a child, and being 30 having to start completely fresh and make new friends just sounds impossible.
Shit sucks. I just wish it didn't turn out this way.