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.
Ill 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 wasnt 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.
SamKnause
(13,786 posts)I have never held conservative/right wing beliefs.
I was born and will die a Socialist/Humanist.
Jackpine Radical
(45,274 posts)their beliefs.
SamKnause
(13,786 posts)Sorry, I am totally useless for your research, or survey.
Hope you get a lot of input.
Have a Happy 4th.
eric1
(27 posts)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.
Jackpine Radical
(45,274 posts)redruddyred
(1,615 posts)albino65
(484 posts)Once I thought I was smart. Then I got a heart. Maybe it was the Wizard of Oz.
Response to Jackpine Radical (Original post)
Name removed Message auto-removed
arcane1
(38,613 posts)By the way, you are violating the TOS of this website. You may find more happiness at Discussionist.
redruddyred
(1,615 posts)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)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)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.