TikToker Shares Amazing Strategy for Handling Controversial Holiday Family Conversations

The holiday season often brings family members together who have different opinions. Sometimes these differences are extremely pronounced, almost aggressively so. And one's almost vitriolic adherence to maintaining these opinions becomes stronger after a few cocktails are added to the mix.

Traditionally, many choose to simply nod, agree, and change the subject. Presumably in a bid to avoid causing a scene and upsetting their mother who just wants to "keep the peace" for the sake of the holidays.

However, TikToker and comedian Dan Donohue (@notbaddan) proposed a different approach, which caught the eyeballs of 632.7K viewers.

In a video discussing this familial dynamic, Dan, who regularly posts dish-washing monologues, explained his out-of-the-box strategy.

"All right, this is how you deal with family members who have insane opinions that you're gonna see over the holidays," Dan explained. "Now, a lot of people think you combat these people with facts and logic, but that has never worked once."

Instead, he suggested by fighting their fire with an even bigger, brighter fire. He highlighted the concept of eradicating public schools in America as an example. "What you should do is combat their crazy opinion by coming up with an even crazier opinion so they stop talking to you."

Dan recommends a response akin to, "Yeah, and we should get rid of public air while we’re at it." This strategy, he maintains, is all about going even crazier to derail the conversation. "If they say public schools are indoctrinating our children, you could say, ‘Yeah, by teaching them math. I’ve proven all that stuff to be fake with a number of experiments I’ve done with paint thinner in my garage."

An old adage recommends that in order to keep conversations civil, folks should steer clear of talks about faith and government: "No religion, no politics."

The latter is a bit touchier of a subject to avoid, as pundits have blurred the lines between national policies and personal beliefs in what appears to be a strategy to lead voters toward more emotion-based voting decisions.

Consequently, political topics have become increasingly divisive in recent years. Which means that some find it hard to keep their opinions to themselves. Fellow TikTokers contributed to the comments section of Dan's video, perhaps as a means of cathartic release before December 25th to aid their own yuletide trials.

For others, their remarks offered commiseration and strategies to other users on the app as a means of combating these awkward moments.

One viewer wrote, "I saw someone on here say they sprayed them with a water bottle every time they brought up politics," because apparently treating humans like misbehaving pets is an effective methodology. Another quipped, "When people say 'We've never been to the moon,' say, 'You believe in the moon?!'"

Keeping in line with the outer space theme, another replied that they immediately begin discussing extraterrestrials whenever the conversation starts to veer into uncomfortable territory.

"I just shift the conversation over to aliens and it works every time."

Interestingly, the topic of aliens might just be particularly relevant this year. Starting in New Jersey, recent drone sightings across the East Coast have caused massive public uproar and speculation. Since November, residents across the country have reported unidentified drones hovering over suburban areas at night without any specific government explanation.

Naturally, this led to the internet espousing some wild theories ranging from aliens to FAA officials scanning for nuclear materials, to a foreign enemy invasion. Some contend that the drones are military devices being taken out for exercises but are of a classified nature and the U.S. public is being kept in the dark about them intentionally.

Despite investigations by federal agencies, including the FBI and Department of Homeland Security, the drones' operators remain unidentified. Officials have stated that many sightings involve commercial or hobbyist drones, but the lack of concrete explanations has fueled public fear.

Even though the public remains confused, they still go on with their daily lives despite unidentified objects floating in the sky. In recent years, many have become extremely desensitized to absurd headlines and happenings as they have become all too par for the course. So this might be a good topic of conversation to introduce into a holiday discussion if familial talks start going off the rails.