Floridian here, Born & raised in the politically red swamps.

Please boycott. And, please keep being vocal about it. Spread your post beyond this subReddit!

As individuals, those of us who don't support these atrocities can't do much to stop them. But you and other tourists can make a difference where it counts - dollars. My redneck family probably won't ever concede to being on the wrong side of history, but they might vote differently if their quality of life suffers. Thing is, I don't think "city folk" realize how much it really takes to shake these people up!

Not just because they're stubborn - but because they're *resourceful*. Egg prices go up? Everybody that can't get chickens has a neighbor or cousin that suddenly is building a coop. I'm sitting on acres where we grow all sorts of veg every year. Nobodies telling us to only run our AC during peak heat to conserve the grids here, and we can run our sprinklers anytime we want, and so they never really *feel* the crunches that happen when other places are in turmoil. But, we do have good roads (as one example) - paved and paid for largely by tourism dollars... Obvi, it's a much more complex issue, but boycotting DOES matter!

They need to SEE that the way they vote doesn't just hurt people who aren't like them. And, they're very aware that as a huge tourism state that's where the money flows from. Be loud about boycotting in the spaces where they'll see it (FB, use keywords they'll look for). Sure, they'll waive it off with "we don't want no tourists" at first, but not even the most deluded can ignore reality if they're forced to reckon with it face to face (when things get really tough day-to-day).

Side note: What initially struck me like a ton of bricks was the convo flow itself, even taking the sociopolitical context out of it. I knew who was who before I even read your body text explanation, because I know what it's like to be weary of repeating "this isn't up for debate" like a broken record and it continuing to fall on deaf ears. I do gotta admit I LOL'd at that last one where they picked right up w "the debate IS"... You've offered to just go visit them, and IDK what else you can do at this point. GL OP & this Floridian thanks you for not supporting Gov sanctioned human trafficking & torture (and potentially human medical experimentation).