We all know a version of the aphorism that young people are liberal, but become more conservative as they age. It’s generally true*. It’s been true for me. For most of my adult life I’ve considered myself a leftist/Democrat/progressive. That began to change in 2016.
Here's one for me in reverse, Josh. I was (and still am) very conservative with libertarian leanings, but the more I've seen the corruption in our justice system, with rogue DAs and judges, I have come to oppose the death penalty. Not on moral grounds; I do still think it is morally fine to execute someone who committed murder; but on the grounds that our justice system can't seem to get things right most of the time. I also believe in prison reform, as jails and prisons are deliberately designed to torture the inmates rather than merely segregate them from the peaceful society. Many Americans think prisons are there to "punish", i.e., torture, criminals; but really prisons are just to remove violent individuals from society so they cannot terrorize or damage law-abiding citizens. The separation is enough; it does not have to be deliberately cruel.
Oh wow, so many. And I know what you mean. The left's insanity on trans stuff caused me to re-examine everything, too, and quite a lot of it just didn't hold up.
Old Belief: our for-profit health system keeps people slaves to employers and stifles entrepreneurship, and besides, healthcare is a human right! We should have single payer.
New Belief: single payer healthcare would be a greased skid to a totalitarian hell of the Wokies controlling who's allowed to have therapy, what the therapist is allowed to talk to them about; prioritizing scarce resources by the oppression hierarchy of white people and men last. (Vaccine administration was in fact done this way in some areas, making my fear proven to be quite reasonable.)
Old Belief: victims of abuse and assault should be believed by default; even if there's not enough evidence to convict, being believed is helpful to healing.
New Belief: same as above, only adding a few words--victims of abuse and assault should be believed by default BY THEIR CLOSE FAMILY, FRIENDS, THERAPISTS, AND CLERGY; even if there's not enough evidence to convict, being believed is helpful to healing. Everyone not in their inner circle is free to make up their own minds based on their own assessments of the person's story, demeanor, and character.
Old Belief: the mental health profession is vastly underutilized; many more people should be seeking therapy.
New Belief: there are maybe five sane therapists on earth and I should probably sacrifice a goat to Zeus that I found one of them; most people should avoid the mental health profession like the plague.
Old Belief: religion is the opiate of the masses and raising kids with religion is perhaps not abusive but probably not a great idea.
New Belief: yes, religion is the opiate of the masses. And now that we've seen what the masses get up to without their opiates, how fast can we re-instate this as a social norm?
This is an interesting test of your own development over time. I will give it a try:
Old belief: religion is bad and poisons the mind. People need to divorce themselves from church and become atheist.
New belief: people need community and a believe in some higher purpose. While this is not for me, I understand that people in general are better off with a reasonable portion of a believe in god and goodness.
Old belief: diversity is absolutely important to increase team performance.
New belief: diversity of thinking style and thoughts is important, skin color matters little.
Old belief: For men it is easier to have a career and get promoted. Women are judged by their looks and not their competency.
New belief: After 1995 women slowly have gotten the same opportunities. Sexist discrimination is no longer the most important reason why women are held back. Often it is difference in priorities. Successful women in the late 90s and early 2000s typically we’re really good. The affirmative actions have led to more women making it that are not as impressive and the same promotional games are being played among women as they were among men before. Nowadays I believe class is more of an indicator of who is making it than any other attribute. It is very hard to find executives who come from trailer parks. Most poor people do not know how to play the games and do not have the correct etiquette or get very easily tired from playing them. They usually get left behind in career advancement.
Old belief: rich people purposefully hold poor people back.
New belief: Issue one: the social security system breeds its own customers. It is too easy for people to work the welfare system instead of working. The monetary incentive of taking a low paying job vs a welfare check is not really there. Issue two: poor people do not easily allow their peers to advance. In Highschool it is mockery of the “nerds”. In families it is the mockery “you just want to be better than us”. Overall it is the lack of societal etiquette and networking behavior.
I have many more. But it is family movie time here. And I like spending time with my kids and my soon to be husband,
"Show me a young man who's not a communist in his 20s, and I'll show you a man without heart. Show me a young man who's still a communist in his 30s, and I'll show you a man without a brain." CAVEAT: Yesyesyes, women too, but I believe the original quote specifically used the term "man".
Old belief: "Single-payer is the only economically and morally acceptable solution to providing health care."
New belief: After the madness of COVID, it's painfully clear that politicians and public health "experts" are worse than useless, and that people are all too eager to follow unscientific and harmful mandates blindly, and to demonize anyone who raises concerns. Giving even more power to these abusers is an absolutely terrible idea.
Old belief: "We need to ban private gun ownership."
New belief: The Black Lives Matter riots of 2020 have demonstrated a dark and abusive tendency for violence in the progressive left. I witnessed terrorist intimidation of my local councilwoman, when an angry "defund the police" mob gathered outside her home to "protest" while she and her family were having dinner. It's predatory, Cluster B abuse, and predators aren't looking for prey that fights back. Responsible firearm ownership is the best way to protect yourself, your business, and family.
in the process of abandoning old beliefs and forming new ones - I'm not even sure what they are yet. This is very discombobulating at the age of 45! I was a socialist and member of the British Labour party which I left about two years ago. I still believe in the importance of essential public services such as health, energy and education but the rest is up in the air. I can see that it's no good to be constrained by any particular ideology and that I was just passing off other people's ideas as my own.
Here's one for me in reverse, Josh. I was (and still am) very conservative with libertarian leanings, but the more I've seen the corruption in our justice system, with rogue DAs and judges, I have come to oppose the death penalty. Not on moral grounds; I do still think it is morally fine to execute someone who committed murder; but on the grounds that our justice system can't seem to get things right most of the time. I also believe in prison reform, as jails and prisons are deliberately designed to torture the inmates rather than merely segregate them from the peaceful society. Many Americans think prisons are there to "punish", i.e., torture, criminals; but really prisons are just to remove violent individuals from society so they cannot terrorize or damage law-abiding citizens. The separation is enough; it does not have to be deliberately cruel.
Oh wow, so many. And I know what you mean. The left's insanity on trans stuff caused me to re-examine everything, too, and quite a lot of it just didn't hold up.
Old Belief: our for-profit health system keeps people slaves to employers and stifles entrepreneurship, and besides, healthcare is a human right! We should have single payer.
New Belief: single payer healthcare would be a greased skid to a totalitarian hell of the Wokies controlling who's allowed to have therapy, what the therapist is allowed to talk to them about; prioritizing scarce resources by the oppression hierarchy of white people and men last. (Vaccine administration was in fact done this way in some areas, making my fear proven to be quite reasonable.)
Old Belief: victims of abuse and assault should be believed by default; even if there's not enough evidence to convict, being believed is helpful to healing.
New Belief: same as above, only adding a few words--victims of abuse and assault should be believed by default BY THEIR CLOSE FAMILY, FRIENDS, THERAPISTS, AND CLERGY; even if there's not enough evidence to convict, being believed is helpful to healing. Everyone not in their inner circle is free to make up their own minds based on their own assessments of the person's story, demeanor, and character.
Old Belief: the mental health profession is vastly underutilized; many more people should be seeking therapy.
New Belief: there are maybe five sane therapists on earth and I should probably sacrifice a goat to Zeus that I found one of them; most people should avoid the mental health profession like the plague.
Old Belief: religion is the opiate of the masses and raising kids with religion is perhaps not abusive but probably not a great idea.
New Belief: yes, religion is the opiate of the masses. And now that we've seen what the masses get up to without their opiates, how fast can we re-instate this as a social norm?
So many more but I'll leave it there, ha ha.....
This is an interesting test of your own development over time. I will give it a try:
Old belief: religion is bad and poisons the mind. People need to divorce themselves from church and become atheist.
New belief: people need community and a believe in some higher purpose. While this is not for me, I understand that people in general are better off with a reasonable portion of a believe in god and goodness.
Old belief: diversity is absolutely important to increase team performance.
New belief: diversity of thinking style and thoughts is important, skin color matters little.
Old belief: For men it is easier to have a career and get promoted. Women are judged by their looks and not their competency.
New belief: After 1995 women slowly have gotten the same opportunities. Sexist discrimination is no longer the most important reason why women are held back. Often it is difference in priorities. Successful women in the late 90s and early 2000s typically we’re really good. The affirmative actions have led to more women making it that are not as impressive and the same promotional games are being played among women as they were among men before. Nowadays I believe class is more of an indicator of who is making it than any other attribute. It is very hard to find executives who come from trailer parks. Most poor people do not know how to play the games and do not have the correct etiquette or get very easily tired from playing them. They usually get left behind in career advancement.
Old belief: rich people purposefully hold poor people back.
New belief: Issue one: the social security system breeds its own customers. It is too easy for people to work the welfare system instead of working. The monetary incentive of taking a low paying job vs a welfare check is not really there. Issue two: poor people do not easily allow their peers to advance. In Highschool it is mockery of the “nerds”. In families it is the mockery “you just want to be better than us”. Overall it is the lack of societal etiquette and networking behavior.
I have many more. But it is family movie time here. And I like spending time with my kids and my soon to be husband,
Love your thoughts.
"Show me a young man who's not a communist in his 20s, and I'll show you a man without heart. Show me a young man who's still a communist in his 30s, and I'll show you a man without a brain." CAVEAT: Yesyesyes, women too, but I believe the original quote specifically used the term "man".
Old belief: "Single-payer is the only economically and morally acceptable solution to providing health care."
New belief: After the madness of COVID, it's painfully clear that politicians and public health "experts" are worse than useless, and that people are all too eager to follow unscientific and harmful mandates blindly, and to demonize anyone who raises concerns. Giving even more power to these abusers is an absolutely terrible idea.
Old belief: "We need to ban private gun ownership."
New belief: The Black Lives Matter riots of 2020 have demonstrated a dark and abusive tendency for violence in the progressive left. I witnessed terrorist intimidation of my local councilwoman, when an angry "defund the police" mob gathered outside her home to "protest" while she and her family were having dinner. It's predatory, Cluster B abuse, and predators aren't looking for prey that fights back. Responsible firearm ownership is the best way to protect yourself, your business, and family.
in the process of abandoning old beliefs and forming new ones - I'm not even sure what they are yet. This is very discombobulating at the age of 45! I was a socialist and member of the British Labour party which I left about two years ago. I still believe in the importance of essential public services such as health, energy and education but the rest is up in the air. I can see that it's no good to be constrained by any particular ideology and that I was just passing off other people's ideas as my own.