Having your opinion changed

[Something Amyss]

I'm always right.

>.>

<.<

I used to be a Christian, but I've never felt so strongly about it I'd fight to the death. In fact, I was probably pretty terrible at the whole Christian identity thing. I used to be against abortion, but that wasn't exactly the biggest thing, either.

 

[Skatologist]

Went from "obviously there is a God" to "there's likely not one"

Used to be pro-capital punishment and harsh prison sentencing now I'm largely not

Used to be the kind of gamer who would shun anyone who a person for making a review score for a game be against what the game was already getting despite not having played them myself.

There's a few others, but most involve people I no longer like/see myself defending.

 

[Vault101]

A Pip-Boy would be awesome. It's an intrinsic good. A friend of mine is getting that edition and I'm so jealous even if it seems like a waste of money...

I think I only want it because its sold out

[quote/]And yeah, things may be meaningless but if you personally feel something is important I think that's good enough for you. In a sea of meaninglessness you really don't need more justification than that, I think[/quote]
I had this discussion with a couple of friends...Buddhism is some hardcore shit

 

[Secondhand Revenant]

A Pip-Boy would be awesome. It's an intrinsic good. A friend of mine is getting that edition and I'm so jealous even if it seems like a waste of money...

I think I only want it because its sold out

That's the safest reason to want something, really. I mean can't be satisfied but at least you won't be spending a lot of money!

And yeah, things may be meaningless but if you personally feel something is important I think that's good enough for you. In a sea of meaninglessness you really don't need more justification than that, I think

I had this discussion with a couple of friends...Buddhism is some hardcore shit

Never really looked at Buddhism. Could be interesting, but then I'd feel like it would be the sort of thing where you kind of need someone who really knows it to help explain.

 

[zerragonoss]

Of coarse I can't fully accept the Buddhist idea of identity and everything being meaningless...I mean sure it IS essentially meaningless, everything is meaningless if you spin it that way but I still find identity important...personally , perhaps its a matter of priorities, to be many things and not just one

Well the problem with said ideal is the idea that meaning can be an essence and not an attribution, or in other words meaning is not a component, water is not two parts hydrogen one part oxygen and one part meaning. Meaning cannot exist without their being something to have the meaning. It also is not capable of creating something; it?s why the idea of the meaning of life is fundamentally flawed. It implies that meaning comes before life and not vice versa.

On topic I guess the only thing that comes to mind is probably gun control, well more accurately weapon control in general since I have always preferred the blade, I was never a strong proponent against but it always seemed silly to blame the tool over the person. Then I saw the numbers say that it worked to save lives and I got over the fact that it is silly rather quickly.

 

[Fox12]

When I was a kid I was a militant, annoying, shrill atheist. I was so horrified by the excesses of religion and faith that I railed against it blindly. I'm still an atheist, but I'm not shrill, I don't feel the need to preach, and I don't see faith as anything other than human nature. Religion has much to answer for, but humanity seems to slowly be holding it to account.

It was not at all easy letting go of such a comforting sense of being RIGHT and certain, and exchange it for doubt and attempts at understanding my fellow human.

Heh, I used to be a big Christian. I read my C.S. Lewis, and led my colleges branch of Baptists. Now? I'm an agnostic, bordering heavily on atheist. I certainly don't believe in the Abrahamic religion anymore. Religion always seemed illogical, but I was willing to overlook that as long as I thought it was good. Atheism seemed to subjective, and I didn't like the idea of morality not being concrete. Then I realized how immoral my beliefs really were, in regards to homosexuals, and in the way people were treated by God in the old testament. Just look at Job. Then I realized subjective morality actually allowed us to be more loving then the Abrahamic God, and that religion was holding us back.

I'm not an anti-theist. People will always find something to fight about. I don't think human evil is tied to religion. I do, however, think that it holds us to old fashioned views.

Otherwise, not much. Except for the obvious changes that accompany growing out of childhood, but I don't think those are worth mentioning.

 

[lacktheknack]

I take it I'm the only person who went from "meh, Christianity is a thing" to "actually a flipping missionary", then? Oh well.

With a couple exceptions (such as religion), I've never really reversed my views on things as much as I started out hardcore and mellowed out over time. Constantly going centrist. It's a pretty decent place to be.

 

[Vault101]

Well the problem with said ideal is the idea that meaning can be an essence and not an attribution, or in other words meaning is not a component, water is not two parts hydrogen one part oxygen and one part meaning. Meaning cannot exist without their being something to have the meaning. It also is not capable of creating something; it?s why the idea of the meaning of life is fundamentally flawed. It implies that meaning comes before life and not vice versa.
.

from what they explained it was basically the only path to happiness is to shed pretty much everything we as meat-brained humans hold dear...even our connection to other people

Never really looked at Buddhism. Could be interesting, but then I'd feel like it would be the sort of thing where you kind of need someone who really knows it to help explain.

yeah

cause I did such a great job of that just now

 

[Secondhand Revenant]

Well the problem with said ideal is the idea that meaning can be an essence and not an attribution, or in other words meaning is not a component, water is not two parts hydrogen one part oxygen and one part meaning. Meaning cannot exist without their being something to have the meaning. It also is not capable of creating something; it?s why the idea of the meaning of life is fundamentally flawed. It implies that meaning comes before life and not vice versa.
.

from what they explained it was basically the only path to happiness is to shed pretty much everything we as meat-brained humans hold dear...even our connection to other people

Never really looked at Buddhism. Could be interesting, but then I'd feel like it would be the sort of thing where you kind of need someone who really knows it to help explain.

yeah

cause I did such a great job of that just now

Well I've never even talked to a Buddhist about Buddhism so you probably at least can explain it better than me! XD

I'd never want to shed all those things... they're what make me happy... I just can't imagine what other happiness I'd find outside of the things I like as a meat brained human. But then I have a spirituality level of like 0

 

[PapaGreg096]

I went from anything from Japan is awesome and the West was a piece of crap when it comes to entertainment, now I know that both of them have their strengths and weakness

Also I called myself a 90s kid when I was actually a 2000s one( born in 1995)

 

[The Almighty Aardvark]

I really don't have many opinions that I'd defend to the death in the first place, most of the things that approach that are pretty commonly held moral values, like don't kill, don't drag someone down to pull yourself up, etc...

I've had a lot of viewpoints I strongly believed changed though. In junior high to high school I was pretty strongly atheist, and while I don't think I ever got as bad as some people do with it, I look back at a lot of my views on religion with a bit of a groan. At this point I'm agnostic, leaning to the side of atheism. While I don't believe in any religion, I respect those who do and don't consider it to be "anti-intellectual". Quite recently I've been re-examining a number of my beliefs on the subject after reading some articles by John Searle on artificial intelligence.

I also used to be pretty staunchly anti-feminism, anti-vegetarian, etc... the usual opposition to anyone who thinks that something you do is morally wrong. Had the usual set of arguments against feminism, didn't really consider them because it seemed completely at odds with my own experiences. Eventually I softened up to the idea, heard more of the experiences of female friends and people from this site, and backed down with my bullheaded rejection of it.

The vegetarianism wasn't as strong, but it was a lot stupider. I'm not a vegetarian, but I fully respect the decisions of anyone who is, and agree with them in a lot of their stances (Especially against factory farming). I have a lot of friends who are or were vegetarians, and after realizing that they don't fit the typical caricature I stopped thinking of them as people just trying to be holier than thou.

So... yeah. I developed a lot of my opinions while I was a teenager, a lot of that shit was bound to change

 

[Vault101]

Well I've never even talked to a Buddhist about Buddhism so you probably at least can explain it better than me! XD

I'd never want to shed all those things... they're what make me happy... I just can't imagine what other happiness I'd find outside of the things I like as a meat brained human. But then I have a spirituality level of like 0

that's sorta where the meditation comes in...it gets pretty out there after a while

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

Also I called myself a 90s kid when I was actually a 2000s one( born in 1995)

There are sins that can be forgiven. Then there are sins that can't ever be forgiven. And then there are things like this.

OT: I wouldn't say I've held any particularly strong beliefs that have been changed since. I've never been much of a fan of holding extreme beliefs, one way or another. I've never been particularly into politics or the religion or gender debates. Perhaps because I might have been reading a bit more news than on average when I was younger, the image of politics in my head is a total clusterfuck that's beyond hope of trying to make actually good. Whatever the current government might decide, the next one's backlash will negate. I've been getting only recently into the internet feminism and atheism debacles and forming a political stance I find my own, rather than one perpetrated by the media. My religious stance has shifted quite a bit towards more atheist, but even hours on end of Hitchens and Dawkins haven't made me a total atheist.

I guess the strongest one I can think of right now is Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. I loved it in the cinema, but when watched on DVD the flaws just poured off the screen. I also used to think that fantasy was a dead genre with nothing to offer but the same tropes, storylines, elves and motherfucking dwarves. But thanks to things like ASOIAF, Berserk, The Witcher and The Vision of Escaflowne, now I think it's a dead genre where occasionally you come across a sprightly walking corpse that bakes you delicious cookies, tells funny jokes and is a good dancer.

 

[FPLOON]

I used to think I didn't need a smart phone... and I still don't think I need one... Oh wait...

OT: I used to think you shouldn't plan for anything... and I was wrong...
I used to think you should plan for everything... and I was wrong...
I used to think The Last Airbender was a good movie... and I was wrong...
I used to think I was a white person trapped in a black person's body... and that was a "weird" time in my life...
I used to think the 90's were all that... They still are, but the 70's did it first and the 80's cheesed it both first and further...
I used to think Pluto was a planet...[footnote]And it still fucking is... Just not a planet with enough *cough* "junk in its trunk" to be categorized as one scientifically...[/footnote] That's all I got to say on that manner...
I used to think God created science... and I'm not sure where that thought of mine went, actually...
I used to think Girls Gone Wild was the shit... I don't regret that, but I will say that I'm glad I still don't feel that way...
I used to think [REDACTED] wouldn't turn me on... and [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED]...
Uh... I used to think I knew my own sexuality? (That's all I got...)

 

[PapaGreg096]

Also I called myself a 90s kid when I was actually a 2000s one( born in 1995)

There are sins that can be forgiven. Then there are sins that can't ever be forgiven. And then there are things like this.

Hey 2000s gave us Avatar TLA and that was awesome

 

[RyQ_TMC]

I used to think I'm part of the intellectual elite, certain that I possess an understanding of the world other people do not.

What can I say, we were all teenagers at some point.

Jokes aside, I tend to hold a strong opinion about various newfangled electronic devices, i.e. being convinced they're just overhyped bits of cabling which wouldn't make my life more comfortable or enjoyable in any way.

It was the same with MP3 players, smartphones, e-readers. I would go through a phase of strong opposition to the concept, then a sort of "maybe there are some valid arguments for those products?" to getting one and swiftly becoming addicted.

I still hold strong against tablets though.

 

[Silence]

I held strong constructivist views, until I realized that it ultimately leads to nihilism.
The most ironic statement of all is "There is no truth", because that in itself has the claim of being true.

The change wasn't a pleasant experience. But it's why I now argue in favour of the idea of objectivity. But I also don't hold this strong of a belief anymore.

 

[[Kira Must Die]]

Well, I went from "Hip Hop/Rap is awesome!" as a kid, to "Hip Hop/Rap is garbage" as a teenager, to "Eh, there's some good songs here and there" now.

Similarly, in middle school, I went through an "anime sucks" phase, probably burned by Inuyasha at the time and how it just kept going. When I entered high school I started getting curious about it, and then watched Death Note, and it reinvigorated my interest in anime. I still like Death Note, too, although in High school I loved Elfen Lied, but now I really dislike it. Having rewatched it a while back and read the manga, that's... not a good show... like... at all, and even the manga has some problems that got to me.

Other than those, I was kind of a pseudonihilist as a teen, and always tried to act cynical to look smart and be funny, because Yahtzee was doing it. I say "tried" because deep down I knew I didn't believe that stuff, I just really wanted to. I would also try very hard to be "shocking" in school or online, because I was an attention hungry prick.

Nowadays I'm a very optimistic person, maybe aggressively so, because now I can't stand cynicism or nihilism. It creates an uncomfortable atmosphere for me and it's not fun being around people who are negative all the time. I just want people to be cool and loosen up a bit.

 

[GabeZhul]

When I was younger, I was a staunch denier of climate change, at least the anthropic variety. It was mostly due to the documentaries I saw on NatGeo and Discovery at the time, which I considered to be 100% accurate. I mean, they are educational channels, so they have to be rigorously overseen by experts and reflect the scientific consensus, right? Right?

Then a few years ago I got into the skeptic movement and one of the first things I learned was to be, well, skeptical of any claims and always look into the sources it came from. So I did just that, read some actual studies, came to my own conclusions and had to realize that, yes, we fucked up big time with carbon emissions and it started a snowball that is not going to stop rolling downhill. Too bad the issue is too politicized (mostly because carbon emission and fossil fuels in general are the lifeblood of our current global economy.)
On the bright side though, I don't think it's going to be half as apocalyptic as some others have claimed. While living through the climate change will suck (more for some than for others), and it will probably cause a lot of economical damage, it will not turn into some The Day After Tomorrow style extinction event.

Aside of that... I can't really think anything else. Even this particular one wasn't a big conviction of mine, it was just the most memorable since it was/is a controversy and thus I had a number of arguments about it. Ultimately I am a skeptic. Show me good evidence and I will revise my stance of practically anything (save for maybe religion, since having any physical evidence of a deity or other supernatural creature would have them stop being supernatural and therefore stop being a "deity"... but I digress, that is a completely different topic altogether.)