Are people allowed to change

[Skidmore]

their thinking on an issue? If they do, are the ideas they have newly come to hold to be respected? If they held a belief in the past not in line with a position acceptable to you now, is that forever to be held against them? How do you go about seeing past the ideological walls to connect with the person behind them?

I'm asking because I have become increasingly impatient with the polarity of ideas on the political landscape. I have become deeply suspicious of those who cannot see the spectrum of needs and solutions that exist. We are losing our nation and world perpetuating these distances,

Last November, I suddenly became very ill and spent nearly two months in hospital. I've had a couple of hospitalizations due to complications since then. I still have one more surgery to go. A couple of times after surgeries, I felt myself slipping away. I don't know what pulled me back. The cacophony of screaming without reason and listening without discernment or concern is distressing. There is a world full of people who need to step back from the edge.

[Corvo Bianco]

1. Self-Reliance, Emerson

Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist. He who would gather immortal palms must not be hindered by the name of goodness, but must explore if it be goodness. Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind. Absolve you to yourself, and you shall have the suffrage of the world.
. . .
But why should you keep your head over your shoulder? Why drag about this corpse of your memory, lest you contradict somewhat you have stated in this or that public place? Suppose you should contradict yourself; what then? It seems to be a rule of wisdom never to rely on your memory alone, scarcely even in acts of pure memory, but to bring the past for judgment into the thousand-eyed present, and live ever in a new day.

https://math.dartmouth.edu/~doyle/docs/self/self.pdf

[Weekend Warrior]

2. "Are people allowed to change"

It is a requirement of any enlightened society. Willingness to change one's stance is very respectable. Some are more resistant to do so than others but all people change.

Without the reality that people change or respect for that change there wouldn't be such a thing as grassroots movements. Any movement for that matter.

[ProudLib72]

3. I don't know the particular circumstances under which you are

drawing your conclusions about the polarization of ideas. However, I would like to think that most of what you are seeing is due to a few factors (media, shoring up parties through unity, outrage causing people not to see straight). In the absence of these factors, I think that most people will appreciate the spectrum of ideas. In other words, what you see now is a knee jerk reaction to the current administration.

[Caliman73]

4. People change all the time.

What matters is whether the change is genuine and born from self evaluation, or whether it is born out of self service and is only done to fool people.

President Obama "evolved" regarding same sex marriage. While he did not go into depth about his personal change, his actions showed that his change was genuine and people believed him. His actions post change were consistent and persistent in the face of potential negative consequences for the change.

Hillary Clinton was a "Goldwater Girl". She had a change of values and became active in Democratic politics and has been consistently progressive throughout the remainder of her career. Her views on details of policy have also changed and she is able to articulate it and show that the change is genuine.

Trump changes positions within the same sentence and changes his position based on his audience. Everything about Trump indicates that he has no central belief system and that he is willing to say or do whatever is expedient and beneficial to him. If Trump ever said, "I have done some deep soul searching and have changed my views on ...." I would have an extremely difficult time accepting or respecting it. I would have to see strong, persistent, and consistent action to even start to accept the idea of change from Trump.

In my opinion, the "polarity" has come mainly from the advent of a systematic Right Wing media sphere which has insulated people from shared evidence. There has always been a debate and different ideologies, but since the growth of right wing media, people are no longer operating from the same information and arguing about the "role of government" or the scope. They now reject anything that does not fit their view as "fake". I have family members who think that everything aside from Fox, Breitbart, Drudge, and a few others, are "liberal media". I even had a family member state that John Oliver's (the comedian) show on HBO is "Liberal Corporate media" (WTF is that?).

[malaise]

6. Don't slip

and yes there is way too much irrational screaming. The question is how do you reason with irrational folks who refuse to listen.

[Skidmore]

7. Keep talking.

Quietly. My mom taught us that people have to shut up so they can hear you. I've always used that. In life, I'm a quiet person. I never match a screamer in tone and will take the wind out of their sails by walking away and letting them know where to find me for reasoable discussion when ready. It works individually. How to dial it back globally or nationally is an issue.

[malaise]

11. I hear you sis

[ismnotwasm]

8. Sure they are

In fact, change can be a sign of growth. I evolved into being a Democrat from being a Socialist as I became more aware of how politics actually work, and how history is always presented from a white perspective.

[barbtries]

9. i think people are allowed to change their thinking on issues.

i know i have through the years, mostly spiritual not political/social. For instance, i believed in god once, until i was about 18 years old (I'm 61), and over time i perceived more and more clearly that (as far as i could tell) religion pretty much sucks, and the concept of a god giving a rat's ass about me personally was not believable.

i can respect people's newly held beliefs if i believe that they came to them by thinking for themselves and perhaps even searching their souls. but my brother going from an anti-war protester during Vietnam to a foxbot, trump loving republican? I don't respect his beliefs because they came to him in a very passive, very lazy and self-satisfied way. not to mention that they are rooted in xenophobia and racism...so i think for me the test is, is this sincere and sincerely the beliefs of that person. does that make sense?

I'm glad you have resisted the pull and will stay with us longer. i hope your recovery is full and rapid.

[sheshe2]

10. Change is a sign of growth...people evolve.

I would be more upset if a person never changed their ideas within a changing world.

You take care of yourself, Skidmore.