When was the last time you changed your mind about something politically important and admitted it?

[Missouri_Mike]

Think back.

Not just something minor or trendy. Something you genuinely believed until you didn’t.

If that hasn’t happened in a long time, maybe you’ve stopped thinking. Most people don’t grow. They just settle into a political costume and call it wisdom.

They pick a side, inherit the script, memorize the heroes, and build their identity around never questioning it again, but if your views never evolve, maybe your values aren’t values; they’re habits.

If you can’t remember the last time you were wrong, then you’re probably still wrong about something right now.

Probably Social Security. I actually thought that was a great idea to make sure you had some money in retirement. And then I saw what it was you got back for being ripped off over your lifetime. There was no money you had in the system. That was just you paying people who currently get very little. So none of my money was doing anything for me it was just paying the old people what they were promised. It was a Ponzi scheme. And at the end of your career you get to receive a fraction of what you were forced to pay in versus what you could have had if you took care of yourself. The government isn’t there for you. They just want your money now in exchange for as little as they can pay you in the end.

 

[BrokeLoser]

You’re committed to protecting what you see as the “core” of the nation, but who exactly defines that core? Who decides who belongs and who doesn’t? History shows us time and again that the “core people” have never been a fixed, pure group. It's always a moving target shaped by fear, power, and exclusion.

You say diversity is the cause of demise, but is it diversity itself or the refusal to adapt and accept change that’s the real threat? Nations don’t fall apart because people are different; they fall apart when they close their eyes and ears to those differences, treating change as betrayal instead of evolution. Exceptionalism isn’t about sameness. It’s about resilience, the ability to grow stronger by embracing challenge, not weakening by fearing it. If “like-mindedness” built this nation, why did so many different voices, backgrounds, and ideas have to fight tooth and nail to be included in its story?

The great experiment you mention didn’t fail because people changed; it faltered because the idea of who belonged was never truly inclusive. Maybe it’s time to question not what is changing, but why we cling to a narrow vision of “us."

Are you clinging to tribal myths and fear-drenched resentments, mistaking them for strength? Slapping insults on people you disagree with doesn’t stop change; it exposes your refusal to confront reality. The “core” you revere is a fantasy built on exclusion and nostalgia. Real power isn’t about preserving some imagined purity. It’s about adapting or dying. If you think doubling down on hate and division is “strength,” you’ve missed how quickly history wipes out those who refuse to evolve.

It’s clear, you’ve rehearsed this thread many times, you have a ‘yeah but’ or a ‘don’t believe your lying eyes’ or a ‘you’re delusional’ sort of thing for everything anyone has said, you think you’re evoking reflection or self awareness…
Again, we know the history, we know the timelines, we know what we were, we know what we are now and we know why we are what we are now.
We’re not changing, we’re not compromising, we’re done with tolerance and inclusion, we hate diversity….We’ve embraced the divide, we are comfortable with HATING the unconventionals.
If your goal is to help encourage folks to build a more cohesive society you ought to start a thread aimed at the unconventionals….encourage them to conform with the core people, to conform to conventional American ideals.
Good luck!

 

[Anomalism]

It’s clear, you’ve rehearsed this thread many times, you have a ‘yeah but’ or a ‘don’t believe your lying eyes’ or a ‘you’re delusional’ sort of thing for everything anyone has said, you think you’re evoking reflection or self awareness…
Again, we know the history, we know the timelines, we know what we were, we know what we are now and we know why we are what we are now.
We’re not changing, we’re not compromising, we’re done with tolerance and inclusion, we hate diversity….We’ve embraced the divide, we are comfortable with HATING the unconventionals.
If your goal is to help encourage folks to build a more cohesive society you ought to start a thread aimed at the unconventionals….encourage them to conform with the core people, to conform to conventional American ideals.
Good luck!

Why do you reduce every challenge to rehearsed slogans and refuse to engage with any real reflection? Clinging to “we hate diversity” and “we’re done” is a surrender to fear and bitterness. If you’re comfortable with hate and division, then you’ve already lost the chance to influence anything meaningful. Society doesn’t bend to those who dig in their heels and reject change outright. It moves forward with those who build bridges, not walls.

It seems like you're holding onto a shrinking island of certainty as the world changes around you.

I know you're a person that wields intellect. I feel it. You're too smart for this kind of tribalism. It's frustrating.

 

[BrokeLoser]

Why do you reduce every challenge to rehearsed slogans and refuse to engage with any real reflection? Clinging to “we hate diversity” and “we’re done” is a surrender to fear and bitterness. If you’re comfortable with hate and division, then you’ve already lost the chance to influence anything meaningful. Society doesn’t bend to those who dig in their heels and reject change outright. It moves forward with those who build bridges, not walls.

It seems like you're holding onto a shrinking island of certainty as the world changes around you.

Look, I think you have talked yourself into a perpetual cycle.
You are basically asking heterosexuals to just try being gay once to be sure they’re straight.
You are basically asking lions to be cuddle with gazelles.
You are being plain silly now.

It moves forward with those who build bridges, not walls.

It seems like you're holding onto a shrinking island of certainty as the world changes around you.

I think it may be you who is out of touch with reality. There’s a bit of a revolution, a restoration happening right in front of you…The island is expanding, the world is waking up, it’s realizing that feel-good stuff was never sustainable.
1950 here we come!!!

 

[Anomalism]

Look, I think you have talked yourself into a perpetual cycle.
You are basically asking heterosexuals to just try being gay once to be sure they’re straight.
You are basically asking lions to be cuddle with gazelles.
You are being plain silly now.

Come on now. That's really not what I'm doing. You know that, right? I think you're somebody that knows when they're talking to disorient, rather than to provide clarity.

I think it may be you who is out of touch with reality. There’s a bit of a revolution, a restoration happening right in front of you…The island is expanding, the world is waking up, it’s realizing that feel-good stuff was never sustainable.
1950 here we come!!!

I try hard with you in particular because I see the intellectual inside of you. I just think you're angry, and honestly, afraid, but you can't hide your depth from me. You're better than this.

 

[ColonelAngus]

Come on now. That's really not what I'm doing. You know that, right? I think you're somebody that knows when they're talking to disorient, rather than to provide clarity.

I try hard with you in particular because I see the intellectual inside of you. I just think you're angry, and honestly, afraid, but you can't hide your depth from me. You're better than this.

That is the softest insult ever.

Anom, you are better than that.

 

[Anomalism]

That is the softest insult ever.

Anom, you are better than that.

It was a challenge, not an insult.

 

[Correll]

Why do you reduce every challenge to rehearsed slogans and refuse to engage with any real reflection? Clinging to “we hate diversity” and “we’re done” is a surrender to fear and bitterness. If you’re comfortable with hate and division, then you’ve already lost the chance to influence anything meaningful. Society doesn’t bend to those who dig in their heels and reject change outright. It moves forward with those who build bridges, not walls.

It seems like you're holding onto a shrinking island of certainty as the world changes around you.

I know you're a person that wields intellect. I feel it. You're too smart for this kind of tribalism. It's frustrating.

1. Try NOT counter attacking.

2. Admit that there are a lot of bad faith actors out there and that the right wing... anger is legitimate.

3. Address his valid point about conformity seriously and honestly.


4. Sometimes those that refuse to change, win. MAGA wants to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN. And it is looking like we might be able to pull that off. Perhaps you should share how you would feel about that, if it happens.

 

[Foxfyre]

You are Dr Drew.

LOL Well I haven't followed him closely and I certainly can'tclaim his medical credentials, but as nearly as I can tell, Dr. Drew and I are pretty close in our opinions on the COVID vax, We both think the COVID vax does much MUCH more good than bad, but object to government overreach requiring it.

I think those making outrageous and erroneous claims about the risks do a great deal of harm when they scare people away from getting the vax. But I object just as much to those who think the vaccine should be mandated. Given that children much less susceptible to serious illness from COVID than are adults, I think mandates for the COVID vax to attend school are very wrong.

But I do wish fellow Patriots would stop scaring people about the vax. The risks really are not more than what is seen with most vaccines even if the risks can be a bit different. There is no vaccine that is 100% safe for everybody.

But as with political beliefs, these kinds of things are hard to get people to think objectively about. They do become entrenched in the psyche of some and are political footballs to be thrown about.

I am reminded of the mother who brought her child in for routine vaccine. Just as the needle was about the puncture the skin, the child had his first ever seizure. Had that seizure occurred as the vaccine was being given or immediately afterward, there is no force on Earth that would have convinced that mother that the vaccine didn't cause that seizure.

 

[ColonelAngus]

LOL Well I haven't followed him closely and I certainly can'tclaim his medical credentials, but as nearly as I can tell, Dr. Drew and I are pretty close in our opinions on the COVID vax, We both think the COVID vax does much MUCH more good than bad, but object to government overreach requiring it.

I think those making outrageous and erroneous claims about the risks do a great deal of harm when they scare people away from getting the vax. But I object just as much to those who think the vaccine should be mandated. Given that children much less susceptible to serious illness from COVID than are adults, I think mandates for the COVID vax to attend school are very wrong.

But I do wish fellow Patriots would stop scaring people about the vax. The risks really are not more than what is seen with most vaccines even if the risks can be a bit different. There is no vaccine that is 100% safe for everybody.

But as with political beliefs, these kinds of things are hard to get people to think objectively about. They do become entrenched in the psyche of some and are political footballs to be thrown about.

I am reminded of the mother who brought her child in for routine vaccine. Just as the needle was about the puncture the skin, the child had his first ever seizure. Had that seizure occurred as the vaccine was being given or immediately afterward, there is no force on Earth that would have convinced that mother that the vaccine didn't cause that seizure.

Alex Van Halen?

Please tell me you are Alex Van Halen.

Jack White?

James Hetfield?

 

[BrokeLoser]

1. Try NOT counter attacking.

2. Admit that there are a lot of bad faith actors out there and that the right wing... anger is legitimate.

3. Address his valid point about conformity seriously and honestly.


4. Sometimes those that refuse to change, win. MAGA wants to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN. And it is looking like we might be able to pull that off. Perhaps you should share how you would feel about that, if it happens.

This thread was an articulate version of the same thread Conservatives have seen a thousand times before. He/she could have just titled the thread….. ”Hey Conservatives, why don’t you bend over like you always have and allow filthy, disgusting, immoral globalist degenerates to run amok, trashing and transforming your nation into the no borders, no boundaries anything goes foreign socialist shithole they seek.”

I asked Anomalism many questions throughout our exchange and he/she answered them very ambiguously or like libs do with a “you’re crazy, that didn’t really happen” type of answer.
He/she lost credibility when he/she said “we had just as many trannies and homos in 1950 as we do today”.
He/she has made the assertion that a divided nation $37 trillion in debt with 50 million unknown unvetted alien invaders living among the citizenry, with kids shooting kids in schools weekly, with kids dependent upon depression and anxiety meds, with off the charts levels of suicide, with a homeless population the size of some countries, with a middle-class that can’t save a dime or get ahead is somehow a better nation because CHANGE and PROGRESS.

 

[Foxfyre]

Alex Van Halen?

Please tell me you are Alex Van Halen.

Jack White?

James Hetfield?

Sorry. I am a very poor drummer and can play maybe three chords
on a guitar.

Were these guys pro vaccine but anti mandate guys?

Seriously the COVID vaccine is an excellent illustration of how people can become fixated in their opinions, can believe a lot of stuff that just isn't true, and don't want to even hear any information that might shake their faith in their opinion about it.

 

[Anomalism]

1. Try NOT counter attacking.

2. Admit that there are a lot of bad faith actors out there and that the right wing... anger is legitimate.

3. Address his valid point about conformity seriously and honestly.


4. Sometimes those that refuse to change, win. MAGA wants to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN. And it is looking like we might be able to pull that off. Perhaps you should share how you would feel about that, if it happens.

1.) Engaging and standing my ground in a political conversation is not an attack. I’ve been blunt, but I believe I've been respectful. I tried to be anyway. I put real effort into that when I post. It's important to me.

2.) Not all anger is baseless, in fact much of it isn't. Is it useful though? Is it actually useful, or are you getting energy out of a flawed lens and confusing it with true strength? But yes, the right wing has justified reasons to be angry about some things, many things even. People have been talked down to and written off, and that creates resentment.

3.) I don’t want a society where people are forced to parrot one worldview to be accepted. I also don’t believe that inclusion is inherently a threat to tradition. The real danger is when both sides stop believing change is possible without erasure. That’s when we lose the ability to live together.

4.) I don't hate MAGA. I'm not an anti-Trumper. You'd be hard-pressed to find a single instance in my years of posting here where I took a charged partisan position when talking about Trump. I see Trump as a catalyst for some kind of change that I can't precognate, and I am watching him with a combination of interest and what I think is healthy concern. He's a human hand grenade. I just hope the space he tears open leads to something good and productive.

Put another way, I genuinely hope he succeeds in the right avenues for the right reasons, even though I don't agree with him about everything. That's because my ego isn't tied to a side. I want the president to do good things for the nation no matter what letter they're associated with.

 

[Correll]

This thread was an articulate version of the same thread Conservatives have seen a thousand times before. He/she could have just titled the thread….. ”Hey Conservatives, why don’t you bend over like you always have and allow filthy, disgusting, immoral globalist degenerates to run amok, trashing and transforming your nation into the no borders, no boundaries anything goes foreign socialist shithole they seek.”

I asked Anomalism many questions throughout our exchange and he/she answered them very ambiguously or like libs do with a “you’re crazy, that didn’t really happen” type of answer.
He/she lost credibility when he/she said “we had just as many trannies and homos in 1950 as we do today”.

Ouch. I missed that one.

He/she has made the assertion that a divided nation $37 trillion in debt with 50 million unknown unvetted alien invaders living among the citizenry, with kids shooting kids in schools weekly, with kids dependent upon depression and anxiety meds, with off the charts levels of suicide, with a homeless population the size of some countries, with a middle-class that can’t save a dime or get ahead is somehow a better nation because CHANGE and PROGRESS.

Double ouch. That is fairly...not good.

 

[Correll]

1.) Engaging and standing my ground in a political conversation is not an attack. I’ve been blunt, but I believe I've been respectful. I tried to be anyway. I put real effort into that when I post. It's important to me.

Keep working on that then.

2.) Not all anger is baseless, in fact much of it isn't. Is it useful though? Is it actually useful, or are you getting energy out of a flawed lens and confusing it with true strength? But yes, the right wing has justified reasons to be angry about some things, many things even. People have been talked down to and written off, and that creates resentment.

3.) I don’t want a society where people are forced to parrot one worldview to be accepted. I also don’t believe that inclusion is inherently a threat to tradition. The real danger is when both sides stop believing change is possible without erasure. That’s when we lose the ability to live together.

We have certainly been the target of "erasure" for quite a while now. And now that we have won a turn in power, the reaction from the other side is violence and threats of more violence.

So, yes, that point is true. Those that are not willing to live along side us, have lost the ability to live alongside us.

4.) I don't hate MAGA. I'm not an anti-Trumper. You'd be hard-pressed to find a single instance in my years of posting here where I took a charged partisan position when talking about Trump. I see Trump as a catalyst for some kind of change that I can't precognate, and I am watching him with a combination of interest and what I think is healthy concern. He's a human hand grenade. I just hope the space he tears open leads to something good and productive.

Put another way, I genuinely hope he succeeds in the right avenues for the right reasons, even though I don't agree with him about everything. That's because my ego isn't tied to a side. I want the president to do good things for the nation no matter what letter they're associated with.

The more you can admit to, or celebrate any MAGA successes moving forward, the more credibility you will have.

 

[Anomalism]

This thread was an articulate version of the same thread Conservatives have seen a thousand times before. He/she could have just titled the thread….. ”Hey Conservatives, why don’t you bend over like you always have and allow filthy, disgusting, immoral globalist degenerates to run amok, trashing and transforming your nation into the no borders, no boundaries anything goes foreign socialist shithole they seek.”

I asked Anomalism many questions throughout our exchange and he/she answered them very ambiguously or like libs do with a “you’re crazy, that didn’t really happen” type of answer.
He/she lost credibility when he/she said “we had just as many trannies and homos in 1950 as we do today”.
He/she has made the assertion that a divided nation $37 trillion in debt with 50 million unknown unvetted alien invaders living among the citizenry, with kids shooting kids in schools weekly, with kids dependent upon depression and anxiety meds, with off the charts levels of suicide, with a homeless population the size of some countries, with a middle-class that can’t save a dime or get ahead is somehow a better nation because CHANGE and PROGRESS.

The conditions you describe are real. I’m not blind to what you see. I just don’t agree that it was caused by tolerance, or that reversing inclusion will somehow fix it. You seem to think I defend change because I want it. That's not really it though. I've come to terms with change because I know we can't stop it. It's here; it's happening, and it always has been. No two generations look the same. The world changes. We don’t have to like the direction of the world, but we should recognize that it's always moving. Trying to freeze time or drag it back doesn’t work. It never has.

What do we do with where we are now? Do we collapse into hatred and bitterness, or do we try to build something functional from the mess we’ve inherited? You’re right that we’re in trouble, but your solution, scorched earth, cultural revenge, won’t fix anything. It’ll just make the collapse faster.

 

[RoshawnMarkwees]

Oswald alone and children need a father and a mother.

 

[Correll]

The conditions you describe are real. I’m not blind to what you see. I just don’t agree that it was caused by tolerance, or that reversing inclusion will somehow fix it. You seem to think I defend change because I want it. That's not really it though. I've come to terms with change because I know we can't stop it. It's here; it's happening, and it always has been. No two generations look the same. The world changes. We don’t have to like the direction of the world, but we should recognize that it's always moving. Trying to freeze time or drag it back doesn’t work. It never has.

What do we do with where we are now? Do we collapse into hatred and bitterness, or do we try to build something functional from the mess we’ve inherited? You’re right that we’re in trouble, but your solution, scorched earth, cultural revenge, won’t fix anything. It’ll just make the collapse faster.

The other side has refused to engage in good faith discussion on policy and has resorted to using government power and law enforcement against up, up to and including trying to arrest the leading Presidential Candidate.

We have and will continue to have conflict, until they moderate their behavior or they destroy us.


You might want to see this.

 

[luiza]

When was the last time you changed your mind about something politically important and admitted it?​

Asking for Miracle stories.

Like asking a blind person how they regained their sight .

One Fake St Paul is enough .

 

[Anomalism]

The more you can admit to, or celebrate any MAGA successes moving forward, the more credibility you will have.

That's the only way to earn credibility? Fine.

1.) Trump threatens the status quo. It wasn't just Democrats that hated him when he crashed onto the scene. It was also established Republicans trying to stop him. He disrupts their fog and indecisiveness by finally being somebody that says and tries to do the things conservatives have been saying for years.

2.) He's sincere. He means what he says and it's obvious. It's really hard to fake that, and even if some people can't name it, I think they feel it in their hearts when he speaks. That's why he's magnetic to people. That's why the crowds were so big. People were feeling his sincerity and resonating with it deeply.

3.) He's unconventional and isn't afraid to take risks. Not everybody likes those qualities, but I do. We're stuck in a partisan swamp. Unconventional risk taking might be just the thing that somehow drags us out of that, or at least opens a door.

4.) He has balls. He stood up straight when an unknown person had just tried to kill him with a rifle. He sat on Joe Rogan for three hours and had an unscripted conversation. He left himself wide open for examination and Joe did just that. That shows an incredible confidence in his own sincerity and methods. To me, that proves he's genuine even when it's risky. That's a rare and honorable quality.

5.) He's willing to change his mind upon absorbing new information. This is a big one for me. Some would call that indecisiveness, but I call it adaptability if it's done with genuine intent, and with Trump, I think it is.