Any of your viewpoints changed overtime?

[Com Fox]

For example, in Stories back as a teenager, I only cared about stuff that felt "epic" had supposed deep meanings. Avoid the filler. Stuff that made me feel intelligent when consuming. Also had an interest in shows that took a sudden Dark turn.

Now I've grown to enjoy a bit more variety in stories I consume. Although I have preference for stories that prioritize getting to know the characters and make me care for them. I've actually started to dislike stories that take a sudden or "epic" turn as I'd be invested I the first light-hearted part with the Characters and I don't think many shoes that do the switch, do it well and sacrifice the good qualities of the first part.

 

[Biggles]

As there hasn't been a single reply to this thread ... I guess the answer to the question posed is ... no.

 

[Com Fox]

As there hasn't been a single reply to this thread ... I guess the answer to the question posed is ... no.

I posted it in the Rumble Strip as I tended to be the more basic stuff but got moved to Opinions later on anyway (makes sense given the name of the thread though).

Though given now it's on here, a few years back I was quite an "Anti-SJW". Which was pretty much a phase and has soon died out and now even I don't like some that stuff

 

[Liquid]

As there hasn't been a single reply to this thread ... I guess the answer to the question posed is ... no.

It usually comes up in specific threads. In the God, Gay and Gender threads (curse the soft G), people sometimes return to talk about a change in opinion.

As a whole, for the long-termers here, for a lot of the topics we talk about here I honestly think you could split the OCE subforum into pre- and post-Trump Presidency. It is as significant to here as BC and AD was to the Julian calendar. There has been such a shift in the way discourse is conducted here since that exact point.

 

[Exorcet]

The short answer is yes. Religion is a big one as I turned a complete 180 from my upbringing and family. I had always found political tribalism to be silly and never got into it, though my own views on government were pretty weak until my late college years when I realized my views aligned with libertarianism, which is probably related to rejecting Christianity. Since then I've tried to be as open minded as possible, and my views are pretty much constantly evolving, although maybe not always at a rapid pace.

 

[Dotini]

When I was very young (1950's), my father was absent and my educated mother saw to it that I was liberally educated. Blacks, Jews and Hispanics, atheists, Baptists and beatniks were all normalized.

In the 60's, most of what I thought about was centered on cars and girls. Money was easy to come by as wages were high compared to costs. I raced a series of cars as I worked my way through college. I never thought about politics, even the Vietnam war, as I simply adopted what my family and friends were doing.

Now, many decades later, not much has changed except wages are lower compared to prices.

 

[Imari]

When I was very young (1950's), my father was absent and my educated mother saw to it that I was liberally educated. Blacks, Jews and Hispanics, atheists, Baptists and beatniks were all normalized.

In the 60's, most of what I thought about was centered on cars and girls. Money was easy to come by as wages were high compared to costs. I raced a series of cars as I worked my way through college. I never thought about politics, even the Vietnam war, as I simply adopted what my family and friends were doing.

Now, many decades later, not much has changed except wages are lower compared to prices.

I believe the phrase is "ok boomer".

 

[TheCracker]

I think if your view points have never change over time, then your views are likely to be perceived by others as a little naive.

Experiencing things from different points of view are all part of the growing up process. Experiencing and mentally processing alternative view points and comparing that to your existing thoughts on the matter then re-processing them is mental growth.

 

[Danoff]

This is a really broad topic, so discussion has been a bit slow. I've changed lots of views over time. I used to vote republican (20 years ago), in the last election I voted democrat. Years back I made it a big point on this site to announce a big change in my view on climate change. In the premium forum, I documented (somewhat carelessly) my process of changing views of the nature of pregnancy.

In smaller ways, just the other day I posted here how I was reconsidering whether people should get a vaccine pass for having been infected by covid. Honestly it goes on and on. I try to be receptive to information.

If I hadn't changed my views since childhood I'd probably be getting along with my parents right now.

 

[UKMikey]

I used to vote republican (20 years ago), in the last election I voted democrat.

Not sure how much this one counts as from what I can see the Pubs are leaving a lot of their former voters behind as they shift further towards the authoritarian. Would old you have voted Trump?

 

[Danoff]

Not sure how much this one counts as from what I can see the Pubs are leaving a lot of their former voters behind as they shift further towards the authoritarian. Would old you have voted Trump?

Possibly in 2016.

 

[McLaren]

Absolutely. I argued here for years from a conservative stand point. Towards the end of Trump's term, with a mix of offline discussions with friends who are active in social causes to watching the conservatives over the last 2 years, I've pretty much become a "Lib lefty". The extreme shift in nature by Republicans by blindly following Trump over the election, giving passes to people like Greene to say whatever they want, & the absolutely abhorrent response to Covid even to date, I think really pushed me away from that party & made me take a look back on my past views as purely, blind acceptance into whatever they said, which is what they rely on more than ever so they can run the idea, "Whatever they do, go the other way" except the extremism is so bad now thanks to Greene, Boebert, Cruz, etc., it's gone from calling you a "RINO" to now you're an unpatriotic, communism-supporting, Marxist if you deviate.

Idk, maybe I'm just lucky I'm at my age now than 5-10 years ago to see things a bit more openly, or that I was raised in an older conservative up-bringing, so the current state of the party looks well beyond what I was accustomed to. The heavy inclusion by Republican figureheads recently of adhering law to Christian beliefs has probably made it even easier to walk away as I was never big on religion growing up and I got turned off it the couple times I thought about exploring Christianity, leading me to be more agnostic/atheist now-a-days. And of course, actually talking across the aisle has helped tremendously in realizing ignorance.

I'd like to think I would have never deep-dived into Q-anon, but I'd probably still be listening to someone like Joe Rogan (who funny enough, has also turned the other way).

 

[TheCracker]

@Danoff & @McLaren (excuse the unconventional quoting - my browser no longer supports many of the GTP formatting options!)

Have your views shifted that much or has the GOP just shifted uncomfortably further right?

It's the same in the UK. Both my sets of parents, my mum less so than my dad, have always voted Tory. These days they'd struggle ethically to continue doing so. They might be too set in their voting ways to vote Labour naturally, but i would imagine they might consider voting tactically to oust the current government as it stands.

I feel like in 10-15 years time. A vast sway of, lets call them 'boomers', who've spent decades getting fat off of not-left-wing government policy, will no longer be around, either to vote or to influence policy through donations/corporate donations. Millennials, Generation Y and to a lesser extent, Gen X i think largely see boomer-era policy as aberrant in what has been allowed to happen to the environment and the influence 'big business' has has on social issues. When they become the voting majority the political spectrum i imagine will swing back to the centre. These younger generations don't live in the largely localised bubbles that kept generations before them voting the way their parents always did just because that's what you do when you aren't getting the exposure to different points of view that has become the norm now, largely down to social media. For better or worse.

 

[Danoff]

Have your views shifted that much or has the GOP just shifted uncomfortably further right?

For sure the GOP has moved hard to the right since Bush Jr. (which is the last republican I voted for for president). That being said, they've moved hard to the right since McCain and even Romney (which were the last two GOP candidates prior to Trump). So yes, the Republicans have moved away from me in a big way. But also I've shifted as well.

Part of what has shifted me is getting some money. I would have expected that to have the opposite effect - because the government taxes high earners harder. But I have been really surprised and fascinated by just how non-linear money is.

At certain levels of wealth, your money itself can work much harder than you can - and create much more wealth than you can. And that picks up steam in a big way as you move upward. It's almost not noticeable when your net worth hovers around zero. And so it's hard to imagine being even remotely ok with the government taking half of your earnings. "You're telling me 5 of the 10 hours I worked today might be for the government if I made more money?" But when you have some real money, it's more like "meh... that's not even my money, that's my money's money".

The other big shift for me has been gaining a better understanding of the role that fortune or misfortune can play, and the empathy that kinda comes naturally with that understanding.

 

[McLaren]

@Danoff & @McLaren (excuse the unconventional quoting - my browser no longer supports many of the GTP formatting options!)

Have your views shifted that much or has the GOP just shifted uncomfortably further right?

It's the same in the UK. Both my sets of parents, my mum less so than my dad, have always voted Tory. These days they'd struggle ethically to continue doing so. They might be too set in their voting ways to vote Labour naturally, but i would imagine they might consider voting tactically to oust the current government as it stands.

I feel like in 10-15 years time. A vast sway of, lets call them 'boomers', who've spent decades getting fat off of not-left-wing government policy, will no longer be around, either to vote or to influence policy through donations/corporate donations. Millennials, Generation Y and to a lesser extent, Gen X i think largely see boomer-era policy as aberrant in what has been allowed to happen to the environment and the influence 'big business' has has on social issues. When they become the voting majority the political spectrum i imagine will swing back to the centre. These younger generations don't live in the largely localised bubbles that kept generations before them voting the way their parents always did just because that's what you do when you aren't getting the exposure to different points of view that has become the norm now, largely down to social media. For better or worse.

Mixture of both. The GOP has gone into wacko territory where even the established ones like McConnell at times have expressed concern over the loyalty being more to Trump than the party itself.

Talking to people and becoming more understanding & supportive of liberal ideas has been way a more positive impact on my psyche though, to the point I probably wouldn't return to being a GOP supporter if it went back to pre-Trump.

 

[Joey D]

Yup. In high school, I was pretty conservative and was even on track to join the military because of it. However, when I wasn't medically able to join the Marines, I went to college instead for a lack of anything better to do. In college, being exposed to new ideas shifted me more towards the liberal side of the spectrum.

I actually credit GTP with putting me through some of my biggest changes though. It's not that anyone here said "hey be liberal or you're not cool" but rather challenged my beliefs on various things. This led me to do research so I could at least have an intelligent discussion and as I dove more and more into various subjects I found my views shifting. Now I'm a very comfortable libertarian. I think the government inserts itself into my life way too much while ignoring the basic framework of the Constitution. I also despise how my tax money is consistently wasted by the government too, and this has only grown stronger as I've paid more and more in taxes over the years.

I still do disagree with libertarian ideology in some cases though and I've since "quit" being a registered Libertarian since that party is becoming Trumpian. They've also been putting out some weak candidates and even though I voted for Jorgensen in 2020, she was pretty so-so. However, I still agreed with more of her platform than Trump or Biden.

One place where I haven't changed much is with political parties. Ever since really learning about government I've supported having more than two parties. While the US has a ton of political parties, it's clear that the Democrats and Republicans hold the overwhelming majority. Unfortunately, until Trump came along they were largely the same political party in my eyes with only a few minor differences like their stance on abortion. They still both catered to the highest bidder and I still believe don't give a single, solitary crap about the average person. I can't see myself voting for a Democrat or a Republican in the near future for an office that actually matters (i.e. not something like the local water commissioner).

 

[Pupik]

I might cringe at some of my earlier posts, even though I've always thought of myself as being open-minded. I probably said some things 15-20 years ago (or more, long before GTP) that may appear homophobic or ignorant about gender that would appall me now. But that's what defines "ignorance"...not knowing enough about the subject; grasping at a shard of information and clumsily parroting it when needed.

I don't care too much for stuff. I'd like a little less of it, please. I'm annoyed that the creeping waves of obsolescence just means I can avoid many purchases and just be happy with what ai have. I don't crave too many fancy things, and have realized that more big purchases just leads to the increasing maintenance of thy kingdom. Yet, {humblebrag} I can have much I would want but just don't care to change for the sake of it and add to the Earth's scrap heap.

I don't really care much about cars or the latest bits of info in them. It's my job but I'm honestly not thrilled about them like I used to. You spend more to waste more and use up more but have to use it just like everyone else, lest you wind up losing your license. I care enough to go from point A to point B, and eventually onto point ZZZZ+.

Politically, I find it harder to relate much to each party and no longer cling tight to their planks. I feel one of the best parts about success is to feel transcendent to being needy on every decision they make each day, but there's also a guilty soulless void left by worrying whether I'm abandoning someone who really needs help from the government because their cause is otherwise ignored. Emotionally, I can't take being pulled apart any longer and smart enough to spot BS from a thousand yards away that I don't care for the messy, noisy, and wasteful circus anymore.

If anything, I've been less interested in the events of the day (sports, news, politics) and been a lot happier. My younger self would also be somewhat annoyed at the cave of ignorance I've camped myself inside, but maybe it would also understand how busy I am and just enjoy the scrawlings and drawings on the wall.

 

[Liquid]

Would old you have voted Trump?

Possibly in 2016.

That's a courageous admission.

 

[TexRex]

That's a courageous admission.

I think it could just as easily be a point of pride.

 

[Blitz24]

That's a courageous admission.

I'll admit I voted for Trump as well in 2016 because I didn't like anyone else, but I cannot fathom a scenario where I would ever vote for him again.

 

[Danoff]

That's a courageous admission.

Well, today I would not vote for Bush Jr. against Gore or Kerry. I would probably vote 3rd party in that race*. But back then I was pretty motivated to vote against democrats. At the time, I had never voted for a 3rd party candidate, or at least not in the Presidential race (possibly at all). I can really see myself being convinced to vote against Hillary back then.

I was also much more motivated by discussions of tax policies and reduced government spending, both of which Trump was running on. Those issues are not really in the foreground of my concerns at this point.

I think even by 2008 I could not have been convinced to vote Trump over Hillary. So we're talking about something on the order of 17 years since I might have been convinced to vote for Trump the first time he ran (my age in 2004 was 24). I'd like to think I could never at any point in my adult life, been convinced to vote for him in the 2020 election.


*Not because I hate Bush Jr., but because I have more respect for Gore and Kerry.

 

[Com Fox]

I might cringe at some of my earlier posts, even though I've always thought of myself as being open-minded. I probably said some things 15-20 years ago (or more, long before GTP) that may appear homophobic or ignorant about gender that would appall me now. But that's what defines "ignorance"...not knowing enough about the subject; grasping at a shard of information and clumsily parroting it when needed.

I get that a lot. One example is I don't know why I developed a hatred for Nissan here. I don't even actually hate them after looking through them all , was just a thing I rolled with because "Altima ugly".


Back on my "Anti-SJW" phase. I remember subscribing to a lot of YouTube channels that got big off people in this phase in 2016, now after getting out of the phase, the only one's left still subscribed are shoeonhead who has completely moved on to just anything happening in America (and I more watched for the jokes than intellect anyway) and Blaire White who I think still has interesting perspective on stuff I don't hear often and think about.

In Australian politics, I use to be "Voting is stupid" and despise mandatory voting and never voted seriously. Now, especially after the incident with Friendlyjordies and John Barilaro, while I still don't like mandatory voting, I will vote more seriously this time because I want something done. (Also I live how I needed a parody YouTube video from TheJuiceMedia to tell me Australia has preferential voting).

 

[Liquid]

I think even by 2008 I could not have been convinced to vote Trump over Hillary. So we're talking about something on the order of 17 years since I might have been convinced to vote for Trump the first time he ran (my age in 2004 was 24). I'd like to think I could never at any point in my adult life, been convinced to vote for him in the 2020 election.

I didn't mean to describe it as a courageous admission in the sense of a patronising shoulder pat. I think a lot of people would be embarrassed to admit that they ever would have voted for Trump. I appreciate your candor.

 

[DK]

I get that a lot. One example is I don't know why I developed a hatred for Nissan here. I don't even actually hate them after looking through them all , was just a thing I rolled with because "Altima ugly".

That reminds me, I've mellowed a lot on Kia, front-wheel drive and what I'd call "old lady cars" (e.g. Kia Picanto/Daewoo Matiz/Nissan Micra etc) since I joined here back in 2009. I've instead redirected that hatred towards SUVs.

 

[Hayden]

That reminds me, I've mellowed a lot on Kia, front-wheel drive and what I'd call "old lady cars" (e.g. Kia Picanto/Daewoo Matiz/Nissan Micra etc) since I joined here back in 2009. I've instead redirected that hatred towards SUVs.

I’ve softened my stance on Kia and Hyundai thanks to them making some properly cool cars. Still not quite ready to buy one, but the Korean car industry has done an astonishing job of flipping their image.

More to the serious point of this thread, I grew up in a rural area with a very brash rural perspective. This forum helped open my world view, as did moving out of my bubble and into a city.

If I were to have a political discussion with 13 year old me, I’d tell him to pull his head in. Which is what I tend to do when I talk to people I grew up with that haven’t rethought their parents beliefs... Fair to say I may still be a little brash at times.

If you never adjust your opinions, you never learn and you never grow.

 

[DK]

I honestly struggle to remember what political opinions my 13-year-old self had. I think they pretty much amounted to "mandatory Irish in school sucks" and "mandatory Mass in school sucks". I've mellowed on the first, it's now "the way Irish is taught in school sucks", as the curriculum is designed to be equivalent to the one for English...despite less than 2% of the population using it on a daily basis. I don't see that changing any time soon, our Department of Education is a devout believer in the Sunk Cost Fallacy. I am not mellowing on the second though, and if I were to have kids, I dread trying to navigate the "patronage" system and dodge the tentacles of the Catholic Church.