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Jackpine Radical

(45,274 posts)
Tue Jul 2, 2013, 09:41 AM Jul 2013

Help! For liberals/progressives/leftists who once held conservative/right-wing beliefs—


What caused you to change your worldview? Can you write a bit about it?

My purpose in asking you to do this is to get some idea of how change in political beliefs happens. I hope to get a variety of personal narratives for the purpose of identifying any common threads in the change process, etc.

I’ll start.

When I was an undergraduate, between the years 1962-66, I was a self-identified conservative (although my actual positions were closer to libertarianism). I wasn’t religious, I was an environmentalist, I wholeheartedly endorsed the values of ACLU and I participated and believed in the civil rights movement, but I thought that government posed the greatest threat to freedom. I was, in other words, a naïve, idealistic kid who somehow thought that conservative policies best advanced my values. I pretty much supported the war in Vietnam because I thought we were defending the rights and freedoms of the people against the advancing tide of Communism.

What changed me? I went to Vietnam. I saw what we were doing there. I saw the brutality of war. I saw that we were destroying that land and its people, not saving them. By happenstance, while on my way to Australia for R&R, I ran into a party of oil company geologists who told me about how much oil there was in the South China Sea.

I came back opposing the war. And once this first chink was opened in my conservative armor, the rest of my conservatism began to fall rapidly away. I entered grad school after Vietnam and started reading about the history of Indochina. I took a course in East Asian cultural anthropology. I was surrounded by the quasi-hippie culture of UW-Madison (pot-smoking, long-haired people in serious pursuit of intellectual and academic goals). Within 3 months I was a liberal, and within 6, a democratic socialist.

Now please be so kind as to tell us your story.
12 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Help! For liberals/progressives/leftists who once held conservative/right-wing beliefs— (Original Post) Jackpine Radical Jul 2013 OP
Worldview SamKnause Jul 2013 #1
I'm interested in examining the factors that lead people to change Jackpine Radical Jul 2013 #2
Worldview 2 SamKnause Jul 2013 #3
My conversion eric1 Aug 2013 #4
Thank you. Jackpine Radical Aug 2013 #5
I am a political refugee myself. redruddyred Nov 2014 #10
It Took Time albino65 Nov 2013 #6
Message auto-removed Name removed Oct 2014 #7
What is the "conservative end game"? When will we no longer need conservative ideology? arcane1 Oct 2014 #8
I was never a very serious conservative, redruddyred Nov 2014 #9
For me, it was, like for many, college. Adrahil Feb 2015 #11
I was never a hard line right winger Kalidurga Mar 2015 #12

SamKnause

(13,802 posts)
3. Worldview 2
Tue Jul 2, 2013, 11:08 AM
Jul 2013

Sorry, I am totally useless for your research, or survey.

Hope you get a lot of input.

Have a Happy 4th.

 

eric1

(27 posts)
4. My conversion
Tue Aug 13, 2013, 05:36 PM
Aug 2013

Raised in a conservative household---fairly well to do. Family turned out to be very superficial people. Didn't see it till I had some distance from them. Later when I was barely making it in Florida and went to file a grievance with the Labor Board and didn't get anywhere I learned it was because a Republican governor was in office. When a democratic governor got elected, I was able to get somewhere and got some back pay owed me. Other experiences have reinforced my belief that I no longer want to reside in a Republican controlled area.

Response to Jackpine Radical (Original post)

 

arcane1

(38,613 posts)
8. What is the "conservative end game"? When will we no longer need conservative ideology?
Tue Oct 21, 2014, 05:57 PM
Oct 2014

By the way, you are violating the TOS of this website. You may find more happiness at Discussionist.

 

redruddyred

(1,615 posts)
9. I was never a very serious conservative,
Sun Nov 2, 2014, 05:43 PM
Nov 2014

but had really only been exposed to a specific worldview growing up. wasn't really a fan of those people in the first place, and by age 19 or I came to realize that they were wrong, about everything. by age 22 I was a full-blown socialist. okay, keynesian, but americans can't tell the difference.

I blame life experience, but also being openminded enough to see past the usual propaganda.

my mom and bro are diehard conservatives while my dad is a soft dem but fiscally conservative so tends to swing between candidates. I'm also the most well-adjusted one of the lot by far, so chew on that.

 

Adrahil

(13,340 posts)
11. For me, it was, like for many, college.
Mon Feb 2, 2015, 06:35 PM
Feb 2015

I majored in engineering, but I took sociology and anthropology. The basic theories involved in those studies gave me a whole new perspective. I reinterpreted a great deal of my childhood experiences and i thoughts.

The final nail in my former conservatism is when I heard Rush Limbaugh for the first time. I could NOT be on the same side as THAT guy.

Kalidurga

(14,177 posts)
12. I was never a hard line right winger
Sun Mar 1, 2015, 08:21 AM
Mar 2015

I am not even sure I ever actually held a conservative belief. But, I did go back and forth and I have found the root cause of that is that I was a hawk. If you take away my tendency to be hawkish there is nothing left of what passed for conservatism. Now if we ever get invaded I will invoke the right to go back to being hawkish.

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