Ask Lemmy

In high school, I was pro-death penalty. As part of a class on politics, I was randomly assigned the anti-death penalty position to research and debate on. I very quickly changed my opinion when I learned about the systemic racism involved. Now I'm an anarchist

Before using AI for the first time: "Holy shit this is gonna be dope!"

Aftwr using AI: "Yo wtf? This is bullshit."

I used to joke about eating two animals for every one a vegetarian didn't eat. I've been vegan for over a decade now, pulled a bit of an uno reverse in my early twenties.

Idk why we've reached the point where anyone saying they're anything but an atheist has to specify that they aren't a bigot. Being religious doesn't make you a bigot and being atheist doesn't mean you aren't one either.

I had a similar 180 though, I used to be an atheist but in the last year or so I pivoted into druidism. Turns out following a religion that focuses on spending time in nature helps to get you out of the house when you're going though a depressive episode.

I used to be anti-nuclear energy until I learned a bunch of science and engineering behind it. Turns out things are less scary when you know more about them.

Edit: I also learned that it's okay, and usually preferable, to not have a strong opinion about things that you don't know about.

I used to believe the centrist idea that America needs a strong Republican Party and a strong Democratic Party.

The GOP actively calls all democrats and liberals enemies, demons, terrorists, etcetera while giving the billionaires all on our public wealth, tax breaks and subsidies.

America does not need the GOP at all.

Google, Reddit, etc. are good. Now I know the horrors and they are obviously our worst enemies.

That we don't need school and it's useless. I used to not like going to school when I was younger. Now I love it and look forward to almost every day, especially now that this is my last year in high school.

I used to be excited and optimistic about new technologies. Now I'm just jaded.

I wasn't a supporter of euthanasia until I worked in a residential aged care facility.

At one point I really, truly believed that the internet and social media would be a turning point in human interconnectivity and cultural understanding. The ability to just... talk to someone on the other side of the planet, at will? When we know that exposure to other beliefs and cultures is superb at punching holes in hatred and misunderstanding? Surely this would lead to great things!

Yeah, that was a miss.

Exposure to other is still a fantastic way to grow understanding. But the internet and social media were not a highway to it, and as the "wild west" era of the internet faded and we instead got corporate-governed, algorithm-driven siloization of views, my views on the value of social media changed sharply.

Israel.

I thought it was complicated but they had a right to the land because of the holocaust, that countries around them should learn to get along with Israel

Now I know founding Israel was a mistake. Explicitly saying it's a Jewish state will inevitably lead to other groups being suppressed, i.e. Apartheid if not outright genocide. And they are not hated in the region because Muslims and Jews cannot get along, but because Israel was built entirely on stolen land, and they are still in the process of stealing more and genocide those who stand in their way

I used to assume police were generally trustworthy and I could believe their version of any given event. Now I believe nothing they say without supporting video evidence.

I grew up with this type of Toilet.

Seated toilets were harder to shit in and I didn't like them at first, but bidet is a formidable upgrade to hand so I like seated toilets more now.

Oh also I used to be a Matt Walsh fan in highschool and now I hate sexists and overall fascism supporters including my old self with disgust.

Conservatism. Used to be a conservative around being 18-20. Then I left it after I saw what giving 2/3rd of the seats to Orbán did in my country. Now I'm not only an anti-fascist, but I also actively oppose conservatism.

When we thought fascism would never come back, we had to learn fascism was just conservatism at its logical extremes.

That Trumpers can be reasoned with and redeemed.

I held this belief until Jan 6th, but I've only felt more validated that Trump supporters are fundamentally irredeemable monsters who should be treated like hostile terrorists rather than fellow citizens.

Homophobia was the norm where I grew up in the '80s and '90s. Took me until the late '90s to start questioning that, and probably a year or two more to become completely cleansed of it.

I used to believe in a woman's right to choose. Then I got married, and having my wife always pick what we do had gotten us into some really boring shit. I would like to choose from time to time.

Used to make fun of small cars and "ricers". Now I have like 3 of them and hate large vehicles.

Used to be an apple fanboy, use reddit, use Instagram; now I use linux, grapheneos, Lemmy, and, self host

That a dictatorship led by a "good, strong leader" would be enough to fix any country. Held that belief from ages 16-22. With time, I understood that it would devolve into a bad strong leader anyway, especially because any one single person cannot realistically do everything at such a large scale, nor can they ensure that everyone down the chain of command is "good". Paranoia would seep in, more and more resources would be spent hunting "the bad ones", innocents would be wrongfully accused either by honest mistake or by malicious enemies.

Nowadays, I really enjoy the idea of "Do not take for yourself any power that you would loathe your worst enemy to have" and I wish it could be applied to all levels of politics.

I used to believe capitalism could work if it was just done right.

That people are smart.

Most people are abject morons who still believe in Iron Age mythology.

Eating meat. I used to vaguely mock vegans when I was in college (UK, so 16-18 years old). I used to say shit like "don't you just miss bacon though" and "the animals already dead, you might as well eat it now or it goes to waste". I've since done a 180 and I'm close to 10 years of veganism. Best decision I ever made for both my health and mental wellbeing.

math is hard, annoying, useless

then found shaders, procedural art, freya holmer.

so math is hard, annoying, beautiful. well not exactly 180 then.

That the world was ran by a cabal of evil people, genuinely thought it was mostly conspiracy theory and it wasn't so organized and fucked up. How naive.

The US

Israel was justified in their (initial) retaliation for October 7.

Gone so far in the other direction that I now firmly believe Israel should be wiped off the fucking map. Decades of propaganda convinced me they weren't violent colonizers.

Fuck Israel. From the river to the sea.

AI. Back in the olden days when I first played The Talos Principle, I was convinved that AI would be cool and offer us fascinating insights into the mysteries of consciousness. I never expected... this

I used to believe that owning a car was necessary.

The American dream.

Born in a south American country, I've grown bombarded by USA propaganda. Later on, by studying word history through different points of view, I've realized the evil USA imperialist practices are and the damage it has imposed to all the "underdeveloped" countries. "Not all USA is bad, but it's always USA doing bad things".

That Dems were a leftist party and cared about helping people.

Then I finished high school and started actually paying attention.