Hey, this is something that is eating me up lately and I'm not sure what to do or where to turn. Some context to the title:
I have a very good friend who I've known for years (he and his fiancée are both going to be members of my own wedding party) who I care about a lot. That being said, he comes from a family where his parents started their own company and both they and his brother do landlording on the side. He usually has a cycle of thinking about joining in and then backing out, and he is back in that mindset again. He's very frugal so he's saved up quite a but and after getting furloughed for a while he seems a bit more serious than usual. He's aware of my politics and I think I've been slowly making him see the light, but I'm at a roadblock. How do I tell this guy that I don't think he should be a landlord because they are scum, without also saying that I essentially think his family are scum? Is it even possible? I just feel like I need to say something if I want to call myself a leftist actually dedicated to making the world a better place. Thoughts?
Mao says the first form of liberalism is avoiding ideological consistency and arguments with people because they are your friends or family, and doing so is painful and difficult. Dogmatic sloganeering aside, this is actually hard to implement; I haven't cut ties with my family and many of my friends still stuck in libbrain or worse. You might have to acknowledge that holding a realistic view on landlords isn't compatible with not condemning his family. This might mean you hold off on critique all together, or just discuss with him on different lines. It's not an easy choice, and I wouldn't fault you for putting your friendship first.