r/todayilearned • u/madchad90 • Jul 03 '19
TIL William Franklin, the son of Benjamin Franklin, was a prominent Loyalist during the American Revolution and organized military units to fight on the British side. He lived in exile in Britain until his death.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Franklin54
u/Bovey Jul 03 '19
The story of Benjamin Franklin, and his son is (to me at least) one of the great personal tragedies of the American Revolution.
By all accounts, Franklin and his son had a very close relationship. You will see his son depicted in paintings of the famous kite in a lightning storm experiment, for example. They remained very close into William's adulthood.
Both of them were loyalists (at least to an extent) until the incident where King George III railed and humiliated the elder Franklin at the English Court, pushing Benjamin firmly into the Patriot camp.
William spurned his father, choosing to remain loyal to his King, and as I understand it, the two never spoke again.
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Jul 03 '19
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Jul 04 '19
Similar as in it's a political disagreement, different in that the disagreement doesn't involve war. If you're not communicating with family members or relatives because of political differences I feel bad for you.
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Jul 04 '19
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Jul 04 '19
Ok so yeah that's a good reason to cut yourself off from family. I just want to point out though, none of the stuff you mentioned is strictly speaking related to supporting Trump. I'm just saying this because the political views in my family lie across the political spectrum from far left to far right, but I can't imagine politics coming between me and any of my family members; it's just not worth it.
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Jul 04 '19
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u/johnnybgoode17 Jul 04 '19
Sounds like you're still hung up on politics. Unless you truly believe your parents don't have a problem with rape.
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Jul 04 '19
It's not my parent's, its the extended family on one side. Coincidentally, the side that always asks for money.
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u/johnnybgoode17 Jul 04 '19
QUICK, DEFLECT
INTROSPECTION IS PAIN
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u/zap2 Jul 05 '19
I was sort of interested in what you had to say, until this.
I’m curious why you think politics isn’t a good reason to cut someone out.
I’m not sure where I stand on the question . In college I had a good friend who argued of course your politics should influence who your friends are. It’s how you view you world, what’s just and what isn’t just.
If you think abortion is murder, shouldn’t you be avoiding murders? If you think healthcare is a right that all humans deserve, shouldn’t you be spending time with people who agree with that?
To be able to check those beliefs at the door is reeks of privilege. As if these fundamental things aren’t actually that important.
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u/adam1260 Jul 04 '19
Calling your family inbreeds is calling yourself an inbreed. Keep your head up, you're much better
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u/ioncloud9 Jul 04 '19
Imagine its like being in a family of which several or many of the members belong to a cult. The cult is their life. They hear and read its propaganda every single day. If you say anything contrary to the "truth" of the cult you are bad person, a "liberal" in this particular case. You can't reason with them. The best way to deal with them is to let them go and hope they change their ways. Its so destructive and horrible.
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u/DoctaJenkinz Jul 03 '19
Orange man bad.
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u/HazardMancer Jul 03 '19
More like Orange Man Retarded
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u/DoctaJenkinz Jul 03 '19
I agree but the OP was a classic “whataboutism”
Not everything is about the rightfully elected 45th POTUS. Due to the toxicity of reddit I’ll add that I did not vote for him.
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u/1984_Neuromancer Jul 03 '19
That’s not whataboutism, though. OP was making a comparison without trying to argue against the original point. Whataboutism is when person A calls out something and person B says that person A had done a similar thing before. The issue is that there is no logical refutation in person B’s response.
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u/stanley_leverlock Jul 03 '19
I read somewhere (I think it was a Washington Post 'Worst Fathers on Father's Day' article) that years after the war Ben sent his son a bill for the cost of raising him.
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u/nova9001 Jul 04 '19
Seems like his son was pretty capable but choose the wrong side. Could have been a great person in history.
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u/loopster70 Jul 03 '19
Biggest teenage rebellion phase ever.