How have your ideas, beliefs, and opinions changed over time? What idea, belief, or opinion have you recently changed?
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I used to believe that people, given the right information, would make a smart decision, and that humanity will eventually get things right.
Now I know we won’t and this has doomed millions of species including our own, and if we’re lucky in a million years we’ll be an oily radioactive smear in the fossil record and nothing of value will be lost.
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This post did not contain any content.wrote on last edited by [email protected]
A long time ago, I use to call myself “Libertarian.” Before you cringe too hard at this, this was long before MAGA, the Tea Party Republicans, all that. I just wanted weed to be legal (even though I don’t partake myself), no more foreign wars, and basically people to mind their own goddamned business most of the time and for the laws to be less convoluted but apply to everyone equally. Basic stuff for a younger mind. I don’t like busybodies and control-freakery.
My primary concern was in maximizing Freedom for the greatest number of people.
What changed my perspective, was learning and understanding the difference between Negative Liberty (freedom from) and Positive Liberty (freedom to).
And I then understood how a healthy Left and a healthy Right might in theory disagree when Positive Liberty and Negative Liberty are in conflict, even if they both actually really value Freedom (e.g., the freedom to own firearms responsibly vs. the freedom from fear of having one’s children murdered in middle school; Or, the freedom to drive anywhere on public, toll-free roads vs. the freedom from excessively high wheel taxes, or emissions standards that are burdensome on the working poor, or from imminent domain laws that take bits of your land to build roads on).
That understandjng had me, over time, shifting from Libertarian to Liberal. I became a normie Democrat.
Another shift has been happening lately, from Liberal to Progressive/Democratic Socialist, for largely the same reasons: my understanding of what Freedom (and by contrast, cooersion) means in practice is deepening (also, the rise of MAGA and the fecklessness and corruption of the Democratic Party has me a bit radicalized).
I still value Freedom, and I want it maximized for the greatest number of people as possible. I have changed my mind on what that means exactly and how we might get there.
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I used to think suicide was such a horrible, selfish thing to do and didn't understand how people couldn't just see that it's a permanent solution to a temporary problem, but I get it now.
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A long time ago, I use to call myself “Libertarian.” Before you cringe too hard at this, this was long before MAGA, the Tea Party Republicans, all that. I just wanted weed to be legal (even though I don’t partake myself), no more foreign wars, and basically people to mind their own goddamned business most of the time and for the laws to be less convoluted but apply to everyone equally. Basic stuff for a younger mind. I don’t like busybodies and control-freakery.
My primary concern was in maximizing Freedom for the greatest number of people.
What changed my perspective, was learning and understanding the difference between Negative Liberty (freedom from) and Positive Liberty (freedom to).
And I then understood how a healthy Left and a healthy Right might in theory disagree when Positive Liberty and Negative Liberty are in conflict, even if they both actually really value Freedom (e.g., the freedom to own firearms responsibly vs. the freedom from fear of having one’s children murdered in middle school; Or, the freedom to drive anywhere on public, toll-free roads vs. the freedom from excessively high wheel taxes, or emissions standards that are burdensome on the working poor, or from imminent domain laws that take bits of your land to build roads on).
That understandjng had me, over time, shifting from Libertarian to Liberal. I became a normie Democrat.
Another shift has been happening lately, from Liberal to Progressive/Democratic Socialist, for largely the same reasons: my understanding of what Freedom (and by contrast, cooersion) means in practice is deepening (also, the rise of MAGA and the fecklessness and corruption of the Democratic Party has me a bit radicalized).
I still value Freedom, and I want it maximized for the greatest number of people as possible. I have changed my mind on what that means exactly and how we might get there.
You may enjoy, if you aren’t already familiar with, FDR’s Four Freedoms concept.
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I grew up in a very conservative household and genuinely believed everything I was taught due to not being exposed to other ideas. Over time, even when in high school, I started to notice that people hated things without understanding them. Ask someone to explain to you why communism is bad, for instance, and they probably can't because they know nothing about it.
Over time, I became exposed to more diverse people, educated people, people from different places. I went to school and got my masters degree. I have found that I am frankly fairly liberal by US standards.
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I used to believe that people, given the right information, would make a smart decision, and that humanity will eventually get things right.
Now I know we won’t and this has doomed millions of species including our own, and if we’re lucky in a million years we’ll be an oily radioactive smear in the fossil record and nothing of value will be lost.
When the internet became more of a common thing, I really believed that it would bring people together. That all everyone needed was to be exposed to information. That seems so very naive now.
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You may enjoy, if you aren’t already familiar with, FDR’s Four Freedoms concept.
Righteous!
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When the internet became more of a common thing, I really believed that it would bring people together. That all everyone needed was to be exposed to information. That seems so very naive now.
I don't think it's super naive back in the day. It would be really hard to imagine that information could be gamed to such a degree. I think more exposure to real data would have had a positive impact.
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I grew up in a very conservative household and genuinely believed everything I was taught due to not being exposed to other ideas. Over time, even when in high school, I started to notice that people hated things without understanding them. Ask someone to explain to you why communism is bad, for instance, and they probably can't because they know nothing about it.
Over time, I became exposed to more diverse people, educated people, people from different places. I went to school and got my masters degree. I have found that I am frankly fairly liberal by US standards.
You are why republicans hate education so much.
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I don't think it's super naive back in the day. It would be really hard to imagine that information could be gamed to such a degree. I think more exposure to real data would have had a positive impact.
That’s kind of you to say. There was definitely no way I could have foreseen what the Web 2.0 era would be like.
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This post did not contain any content.wrote on last edited by [email protected]
I grew up in the South (USA) and had to go to church every weekend. So you can imagine the types of conservative ideas I grew up with. A lot has changed for me, if we're talking politics or religion, I don't fit in with the rest of my immediate family.
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I used to be the type to want to consider a variety of opinions and play devil's advocate. The last decade has radicalized me into being much more staunchly progressive. Stand for nothing, you'll fall for anything.
It's an easy trap to fall into if you're a generally open minded person I think. I didn't want to follow the herd, and I didn't want to take things at face value. Those aren't bad ideals, but when living in a corrupt and dishonest world it basically means giving too much space to people who aren't worth it.
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This post did not contain any content.wrote on last edited by [email protected]
deleted by creator
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I used to be the type to want to consider a variety of opinions and play devil's advocate. The last decade has radicalized me into being much more staunchly progressive. Stand for nothing, you'll fall for anything.
It's an easy trap to fall into if you're a generally open minded person I think. I didn't want to follow the herd, and I didn't want to take things at face value. Those aren't bad ideals, but when living in a corrupt and dishonest world it basically means giving too much space to people who aren't worth it.
I relate to this so much!
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As a teen i was...something that i can only describe as a transphobic bavarian nationalist fascist.
Now i am dating a non binary person, half my friends are trans, many i meet always break the egg, i dont like political labels but you could describe me as socialist, fighting for a united federalised EU Republic, a strong democracy that can defend itself from inside and outside.
Soooo yeaaaah it was quite the 180° turn when i realised "...oh fuck...i like guys and girls..." and been only up hill from then ^^
Thanks covid lol -
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'Since I gave up hope, I feel a lot better' - Steve Taylor.
