Times you have changed your mind on an issue

AnOminous said:
These bad effects have already happened, as the demand for corn north of the border caused corn prices in Mexico to skyrocket, rendering many basic staple foods increasingly expensive for people who were already having trouble making ends meet.

There is also the fact that there is no substantial carbon or energy advantage to using corn for ethanol, as it generally consumes petroleum and other resources to grow the corn in the first place.

Throw in that it is basically highly morally questionable even to be burning food in the first place, and it is a bad idea.

I think it is basically an enormous scam to benefit the Corn Lobby, which basically owns the Ag Committee that drafts the Farm Bill every year or so.

I do think cellulosic ethanol shows promise, as it would be derived from sources like switchgrass and other non-food crops that consume little energy to produce. However, I don't think they've reached the break-even point where it is efficient to do this on a large scale.
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What people are really doing is they are consuming fossil fuels and paying more in order to get the feeling of doing good in the world. I doubt that any of these people care about the environment in any genuine sense
 
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I used to believe in some disjointed combination of conspiracy theories and new age beliefs, shit like Jews controlling the world, chemtrails, crystals and chakras. But as I examined the world around me and began reading more...uh, rational websites, I began to realize that the conspiracy theory followers are nutters, whatever they blame on the Jewluminati Freemasons is probably just a (by)product of human stupidity/ignorance/dickery, and that jet fuel melts steel beams. I also used to be a hardcore atheist because cool/edgy/smart points, but now I'm agnostic because science as it is now understands about 50 metric fucktons of data about life, the universe, and everything, but we can't fundamentally prove whether or not there is a God yet, so atheists who are like "lol god doesn't exist" are just as narrow minded as some religious people.
 
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Conrix said:
I used to believe in some disjointed combination of conspiracy theories and new age beliefs, shit like Jews controlling the world, chemtrails, crystals and chakras. But as I examined the world around me and began reading more...uh, rational websites, I began to realize that the conspiracy theory followers are nutters, whatever they blame on the Jewluminati Freemasons is probably just a (by)product of human stupidity/ignorance/dickery, and that jet fuel melts steel beams. I also used to be a hardcore atheist because cool/edgy/smart points, but now I'm agnostic because science as it is now understands about 50 metric fucktons of data about life, the universe, and everything, but we can't fundamentally prove whether or not there is a God yet, so atheists who are like "lol god doesn't exist" are just as narrow minded as some religious people.
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If its any consolation the freemasons are now just a slightly more theatrical drinking/rotary club. Whatever they were to begin with. I used to be ardently against fraternal secret societies until an uncle 'in the house' took me along to a lodge. Not my cup of tea and nepotistic as hell but nothing more sinister than old boys having drinks.
 
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I used to be against United States interference in Afghanistan. Just because Afghanistan is prominently Muslim country doesn't mean they're terrorists against the United States, right?

A couple of years ago I read A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Houseinni. It made me feel sick and want to cry at the same time. To briefly summarize, it's about two women's lives with an abusive husband they were forcibly married into during Taliban rule in the 1990s. Their husband abuses them physically and emotionally, and the Taliban supported this treatment of women. That book made me want the Taliban annihilated off of the face of the earth. The Taliban wasn't just a threat to other countries with their terrorism; they performed terrorism on Afghanistan's own people.
 
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Vitriol said:
If its any consolation the freemasons are now just a slightly more theatrical drinking/rotary club. Whatever they were to begin with. I used to be ardently against fraternal secret societies until an uncle 'in the house' took me along to a lodge. Not my cup of tea and nepotistic as hell but nothing more sinister than old boys having drinks.
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Of course, and also at this point I associate the Illuminati more with memes and MLG montage parodies than evil sinister conspiracies anyway.
 
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I used to take Austrian economics seriously until I read more and more about the many critiques that school of economic thought has gotten and just how flawed it all is, not to mention who backs and funds a lot of that bullshit.

Compared to several years ago, I don't pay attention to many of those news outlets anymore, even when they show things that align with my viewpoints because I feel that no matter what they have an agenda they want to push.
 
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OK, wtf. How is a school of economics a news outlet ?

I'm no expert on economics, but rejecting it because there are haters and immoral backers is weak as fuck. It made many contributions that has been accepted in mainstream economics, so saying it is all flawed goes against pretty much all the field of economy, btw.
 
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DNJACK said:
OK, wtf. How is a school of economics a news outlet ?

I'm no expert on economics, but rejecting it because there are haters and immoral backers is weak as fuck. It made many contributions that has been accepted in mainstream economics, so saying it is all flawed goes against pretty much all the field of economy, btw.
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My second sentence was meant to be its own thought and I wasn't trying to call a school of economic thought a news outlet, so my bad on that one.

And also, to a certain degree, economics has been influenced by many different ideas before, especially with all the neoclassical theory. When I'm talking about Austrianism though, I'm talking about specifically the guys at the Von Mises Institute and the Von Mises followers. Sure, not all of the ones I've came across have been completely nuts, but many of them I've seen are. I also should have acknowledged that there's a big difference between what someone like Friedrich Hayek believed in and what Rothbard and Mises put forth.
 
I've been talking about the same guys. These guys made genuine contribution to the economics field.
 
I used to be very much for socialized medicine and for along time I believed it should be instituted in the United States. I no longer feel that way now that someone very close to me started to get their care at the Veterans Affairs, and it is awful. I usually go with the person because it is a long drive to the nearest hospital and sometimes I have to drive back. The doctors are usually the bottom of the barrel and if they get a good doctor they are worked to death. They lose paperwork, cancel or make appointments and not tell the veterans or caregivers, equipment is outdated or near death, and the worse part is the hospital we use is one of the better ones. I still support the notion of socialized medicine as there are countries where it works just not if our government is involved as the federal and state governments screw everything up they touch.
 
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Like some Kiwis, my thoughts on gay marriage changed. At first, I was against it but after actually doing research (and growing up as in becoming older in which I would actually have to pay attention to thigns) that my stance changed. As much as how I follow Christianity and all, I pretty much believe that same-sex couples have a right to marry so long as they do love each other and also understand the possible consequences in marriage such as disagreements. Even then, I kinda felt apathetic towards marriage itself.

Also kinda of a change, I pretty much can see how evolution itself can make sense. In the end though, I honestly don't care (as in I'm just meh to the whole creation vs evolution thing.) but I can see how evolution itself works beyond just some chart of a monkey evolving into a man (start off with cells that become plants and such).
 
I can say I probably hated gay people at one point. Oddly this had a lot to do with my family but not my parents as they were both very tolerant. It was a relatively slow process, I got really close with a bisexual girl in high school. In college I was apart of club that pretty much stuck together and we were all really cool with each other. One of the guys was gay and sent me a friend request on FB and I didn't add him. In a word, I didn't want him to embarrass me.

I realize this is wrong now but yknow.

So one day we were all talking about facebook and having our family members on there and I mentioned off the cuff that I wont add certain people because "I dont want my family to get the wrong idea." The dude who added me immediately saw through the statement and said "Is that why you haven't added me?" He seemed genuinely hurt. Nothing less then platonic or SJWish about it. Just hurt. The moment stuck with me.

I still believe in traditional marriage but I'm alot more tolerant now. We're all just trying to not be alone and keep the fucking check engine light off.
 
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Enclave Supremacy said:
I read Atlas Shrugged once, then about two years later I realised it and I were full of shit.
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I have never read it or any of rand's novels but i think it would be interesting to hear why you initially liked it, what changed your mind and what you think now?

You don't have to of course but with sales of that book spiking after each economic crisis it might be interesting to have a mini discussion on it.

If you choose to tell us more you can either reply here if your response is brief or start a new thread if you have a more extended reply.
 
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