Times you have changed your mind on an issue

[Sperglord Dante]

Most people's idea of nuclear plants and how do they work is sadly based on The Simpsons. Many of them don't even know the 'smoke' that comes out of them is steam, as harmless as a cup of cofee's.

 

[Duke Nukem]

I grew up in a very left-wing, solid Democrat family, and it certainly permeated several aspects of our lives for a while. They were certainly hardcore Bush haters, at least. When I grew up and got out on my own, I kind of realized a number of flaws in their beliefs. I started believing that both parties are pretty bad in their own right.

In the end, though, what can you really do? Sure, go ahead and vote every four years or whatever, but don't let this stuff rule your life if you want to maintain some semblance of sanity.

I've also had interest in conspiracy theories, although obviously I never believed them, but I still read about them once in a while. I generally try to avoid people who make a living off of them, though.

Most people's idea of nuclear plants and how do they work is sadly based on The Simpsons. Many of them don't even know the 'smoke' that comes out of them is steam, as harmless as a cup of cofee's.

And many of them think that another Hiroshima or Chernobyl is around the corner. Clearly they're not aware of how nuclear weapons actually work, or the fact that Chernobyl was the result of an unauthorized test by an employee on a poorly maintained reactor with few safety controls.

 

[*Asterisk*]

I used to be a lot more liberal on many issues. I thought George W. Bush was the worst President our country had ever had by a wide margin and possibly among the worst world leaders in history. I thought the Iraq War was entirely unjustified. I thought that bigotry against Muslims was a greater danger than Islamofascism. I was pro-choice without reservation. I thought all religions were basically the same and should all tolerate each other.

I no longer think any of that. It wasn't that I was motivated by outright wrong assertions, seeing as how there are many valid reasons why people come to all those said points, but the sheer volume of leftist naïvité I witnessed when compared to the cold reality of the monstrous evil of Islamofascism and Ba'athism and actual totalitarianism slowly eroded my previous positions to the point where in some respects I'm practically a neocon by todays standards. Hell, I now think the country was better off with G.W. Bush as President than with Clinton.

Also, one of my closest friends is a quite devout Evangelical of the "non-reptilian" variety, and he helped teach me that there are actually some pretty significant differences between even the basic subsets of Christianity, let alone the Abrahamic splits. I've since gained a greater understanding of the Trinity and original sin and grace through faith, and they actually make more sense to me than anything else I've heard about the fundamentals of human nature.

I say this as a devout fan of Thunderf00t and Christopher Hitchens, but serious Christianity makes sense to me in a way like nothing else I've ever seen. I wouldn't say my views align exactly with Protestantism, and I make no claims to knowing the exact intricacies of the afterlife. I wouldn't want even myself to go to Heaven without spending time in Purgatory: but the second I put serious consideration into the idea that it's not the act that matters but the intent behind it, and that if there's such a thing as a sin you can't ask God to forgive, "where do you draw the line?," I've never been able to think of anything that makes better sense of humanity.

That aside, thanks to the mental retardation of the likes of Davis Aurini and Kent Hovind and other current and future convicts, I'll always have at least a few views which are resolutely liberal. Aside from application of swift and hard criminal justice and the death penalty, which I've always supported even as a liberal and will continue to support until my vengeful ghost is dragged into Hell, if only so I can spend eternity pissing on Davis Aurini's head.

 

[Cosmos]

I'm becoming more open-minded about first-world feminist issues. Until recently the messengers of these issues (read: radfems and Tumblrinas) were so repugnant and annoying that I just immediately ignored and disregarded the message itself, but now that I'm being exposed to more rational arguments given by infinitely better people I'm thinking "Oh, yeah, it does suck when this happens" or "That's actually really unfair. I haven't thought of it that way before."

I'm still not comfortable calling myself a feminist after the way feminists have treated me like I'm Judas for having a vagina and not aligning myself with them, but I'm certainly more willing to listen and take matters to heart.

 

[autisticdragonkin]

I used to believe that altruism was the foundation of society but now I believe it is marriage

 

[Dworky]

I used to be a hard edge social justice warrior (the kind you'd make a thread about)

Then I got off tumblr for two years, worked on my mental health and now I realise how scary that whole political sphere actually is.

Nowadays I lean more to the centre right.

 

[autisticdragonkin]

I used to believe that all males myself included were inherently evil (like what Andrea Dworkin thought) but then I changed my mind and now I just think that the average human is lazy

 

[Wildchild]

I grew up in a real liberal city, so my stance on social and economic issues has always been left-leaning, but I believe that my stance has changed because I've grown more apathetic and less willing to go out of my way to protest issues.

I often challenge myself to debate the opposite side of what I believe is someone is very adamant about an issue, so I can better understand the views of people who believe the opposite.

I would say that my views have changed in the fact that I'm willing to accept my views may be wrong and take good arguments for the other side into consideration, but my views haven't really changed all that much because I haven't met too many social conservatives who's views aren't based on their own morality, or religion instead of human decency and logic.

 

[MACH-IV]

i changed my mind 10000 times on if i should log onto Kiwi Farms again and finally decided i shouldn't.

then i did it anyway.

 

[chimpburgers]

I find myself being more and more questioning the gun control position I have heard outlets like The Young Turks go on about.

 

[creamyfanta]

I am an atheist but I know practicing religion is a pretty healthy thing to do. However I don't think I could ever make myself believe again. How do you do something like that? Did you just realize your atheism wasn't as conclusive as you thought? Sometimes I dabble in neopaganism but deep down I know I don't really believe any of it.

I'm curious why you guys think it is healthy to follow rituals and waste time paying homage to a fairytale. I see no benefit in it, but I am and have always been very much . How is practicing religion remotely healthy? To me it seems to be putting a ton of energy in something that leads no where and gets you nothing but judgement and disdain. I'd rather use that thought and time in other venues of life that actually help people and better me, like education or volunteer work.

As far as issues I changed my mind on...
I used to think polymory was a horrible and awful thing for dang dirty sluts and cheaters, but I realized that it really isn't and that people can have lots of love that they want to share, and with communication and understanding these relationships can be successful (although not for me).

 

[autisticdragonkin]

I'm curious why you guys think it is healthy to follow rituals and waste time paying homage to a fairlytale. I see no benefit in it, but I am and have always been very much . How is practicing religion remotely healthy? To me it seems to be putting a ton of energy in something that leads no where and gets you nothing.

It allows for physiological and emotional regulation which can increase productivity. Also the placebo effect is real and occurs even when it is known to be a placebo.

As far as issues I changed my mind on...
I used to think polymory was a horrible and awful thing for sluts, but I realized that it really isn't and that people can have lots of love that they want to share, and with communication and understanding these relationships can be successful (although not for me).

I used to think that polygyny was sexist but then I looked at it from a woman's perspective and understood that some women would prefer to share a really good man as opposed to remaining single or settling for a loveshy.

I used to be a communist and thought that success in capitalism meant nothing but then I came to the realization that I might be able to become polygamous if I became successful in capitalism (and society became more permissive of it) convinced me to become supportive of capitalism and liberal democracy

 

[melty]

I'm curious why you guys think it is healthy to follow rituals and waste time paying homage to a fairytale. I see no benefit in it, but I am and have always been very much . How is practicing religion remotely healthy? To me it seems to be putting a ton of energy in something that leads no where and gets you nothing but judgement and disdain. I'd rather use that thought and time in other venues of life that actually help people and better me, like education or volunteer work.

As far as issues I changed my mind on...
I used to think polymory was a horrible and awful thing for dang dirty sluts and cheaters, but I realized that it really isn't and that people can have lots of love that they want to share, and with communication and understanding these relationships can be successful (although not for me).

I don't exactly know why, but there have been a fair number of studies showing that religious people are mentally happier and healthier. That's really the only reason. But, I don't really feel burdened by stuff like "where do I go after I die" so maybe it wouldn't make a difference for me anyway. Some atheists, like a lot of LessWrongers, seem to struggle with that and it has a negative effect on their lives.

As for polyamory, I used to think it was a good idea and even supported one of my friends who asked for my advice before starting a poly situation, but now I think it's a terrible idea.

 

[Adamska]

Eh, church is k because it gets you out of the house and makes you interact with other people. It keeps you partially grounded due to interacting with people regularly. It's also why when most cows cut down interaction, they go crazier.

 

[creamyfanta]

I don't exactly know why, but there have been a fair number of studies showing that religious people are mentally happier and healthier. That's really the only reason. But, I don't really feel burdened by stuff like "where do I go after I die" so maybe it wouldn't make a difference for me anyway. Some atheists, like a lot of LessWrongers, seem to struggle with that and it has a negative effect on their lives.

As for polyamory, I used to think it was a good idea and even supported one of my friends who asked for my advice before starting a poly situation, but now I think it's a terrible idea.

The studies generally come to the conclusion that ignorance is bliss; i.e. religious folk generally are less educated and therefore happier. The more you know the more you realize how many problems the world has. Which... I can attest to.

Polyamory is shitty for most I think, but now I understand how loving another person doesn't necessarily mean your love for the first person was lessened at all. Throwing the sex aspect into it is messier, though.

 

[autisticdragonkin]

I used to think(or conditioned to think) that suicide wasn't the answer, things will get better and it's cowardly but now I think it takes more courage to commit rather than it's cowardly. If you have no other options left and you don't have a plan for the future, why bother to live and see what happens? It's stupid and wrong to call people who want to commit suicide cowards if they tried all they could to improve their life. With the way the world is today, it's not going to get better for anyone. I just think that people who want to commit suicide should go for it, but unless someone truly guides them and ensure things will get better, then they should be talked out of it.

Other than that, we're all born to die. Why prevent someone who wants to take their life be shunned or stopped for it? It doesn't make sense to me.

I used to think that suicide was acceptable but upon further metaphysical study I have come to the conclusion that it is only acceptable in the form of altruistic self sacrifice for biological relatives

Also once I thought that Maxwell's demon, Descartes' demon, and Rokos basilisk were the same thing

 

[Kitlen]

I've changed my minds on several issues over the years. I never outright hated people who identified as gay or lesbian, but I did think it was wrong or controllable. Even though I went to a small Christian college, I ended up hanging out with the secret LGBT crowd there and befriending many of them, some of them still my closest friends to this day. Hearing their stories, hardships, their struggles in their faith made me realize that no asked for that, it truly is something you are born with. I also took a class on gender with a very old professor at my school who secretly supports gay rights (he can't say anything outright or he'll get fired) and is very Egalitarian. He showed us several articles about gay people in the church and those who had both male and female parts and gender identity. The guy is the cutest 78 year old man you can think of and he fights so hard to open up my college's view of LGBT and Egalitarianism.

My faith has also changed. I was very much a Creationist over the years (old Creationist mind you), but studying the text in Hebrew has lead me to become a somewhat theistic evolutionist. I am still questioning that, but it is what I am currently. I also used to be extremely wary of Muslims, mainly because I had an uncle in New York during 9/11 and he was never the same afterwards, but now I know they are just people like you and me. I see them now as brothers and sisters in faith, I like that someone else can relate to me in sharing faith, even if we don't believe in the same God.

I used to be super right wing, now I am probably a more liberal Republican or conservative Democrat. I can't tell which I am.

 

[anonymoose]

I used to hate weed, because my town is filled with unemployed benefit-scrounging stoners but after I met my boyfriend I started to open up to its use a bit. Though he quit smoking because he stopped enjoying it, so I haven't smoked much.
I still think that some people are useless stoners, but I realise its not marijuana's fault that people are dumb and unproductive and that it's actually a pretty good drug.

(But no, I'm not that all about it to make a twitter campaigning all the benefits of it and why it should be legalised, cus unlike some people on the internet I have bigger fish to fry in life)

 

[autisticdragonkin]

I used to be a radical feminist who wanted to #KillAllMen and transition to female in the hopes that I would be spared for the future lesbian utopia since that was how I was raised

Then I decided that feminism was evil and that it was fundamentally wrong that it ruined so many mens lives with affirmative action and false rape accusations and became an MRA. And since I only had socially conditioned dysphoria it went away

Then I decided that justice was a lie told by the weak to attempt to pull down the strong to their level, and that some women were heterosexual and actually enjoyed the company of men as opposed to just being with men because of patriarchial oppression/pity. From this I decided to be supportive of feminism so that I could get rid of my competition and look better to women in comparison to the men who are in prison or unemployed due to feminism

 

[Magpie]

I went through a brief SJW phase mostly motivated by fear of being vilified by my peers. Then I realized that being afraid of a bunch of whiny teenagers on Tumblr was ludicrous, put my spine to use, and stopped giving a shit about what they think. It lost a couple fairweather friends but those aren't the kind of people I need in my life anyway.

I went from being a chill agnostic that got sent to a VBS summer camp that I enjoyed, and when I questioned my sexuality I confessed it to a counselor. I straight up got told I was going to hell and the asshat just kept a smile on his face thinking that just because he said it softly made it an okay thing to say to a 12 - 13 year old. I was obviously distraught with that, so I went into some edgy atheist phase for a couple years before once again I pulled my head from my ass. Now I am back on the chill agnostic side of things, with some loosely pagan interests. I generally am not a fan of organized religion, admittedly, but I am not opposed to the notion of faith. When someone finds comfort in that and that the belief in a higher entity helps them sleep at night, then more power to them. When they start making other people try to adhere to their dogma is where the line is crossed.