Have You Ever Changed Your Mind About Something Deeply Held?

Revoltingest said:

@Jose Fly & I disagree about the possibility of
changing the mind of global warming deniers.
He says it can't be done. He's wrong of course.

But this set me a'wondering about the titular question.
It could be about GW, religion, politics, guns, etc.
What effected the change?

Click to expand...

"Effectualized".

BSM1 said:

I thought it imperative that I avenge a friend who was assaulted with a beer bottle to the back of his head (which, having sucker punched the guy, was well deserved by said friend). When finally facing the attacker, and realizing I barely passed his belt buckle in height, I rethought my entire position...in a hurry if memory serves.

Click to expand...

I would have rushed in and bitten his knee!

Revoltingest said:

@Jose Fly & I disagree about the possibility of
changing the mind of global warming deniers.
He says it can't be done. He's wrong of course.

But this set me a'wondering about the titular question.
It could be about GW, religion, politics, guns, etc.
What effected the change?

Click to expand...

If someone is a denier then there is almost no chance of changing their minds. If they are an actual skeptic it is not all that difficult. There is an easy test. If they can only deny scientific papers by claiming that they are politically motivated then one is dealing with a denier. If they read the papers and try to understand what they say they may be a skeptic. Sooner or later a skeptic has to accept the massive evidence for an idea. A denier will never change.


When it comes to well accepted scientific ideas being a skeptic is a temporary phase. If one is a denier it is permanent. Recently I had a discussion with a person that claimed to want to learn about evolution, but it soon became clear that he would not let himself learn. He was pretending to be a skeptic, but he was just another denier.

I am increasingly of the belief that large-scale changes about one's viewpoint is neither something someone can do to you or something you can do yourself, not in a conscious way anyway. Changes in belief can certainly happen, but do so without conscious control. 'I am convinced/not convinced' happens regardless of will or want.

Regiomontanus said:

I was blinded by ignorance (i.e., atheism) for most of my life. Thank God I came to my senses.

Click to expand...

An interesting statement: you were "blinded by ignorance" for not believing what is not in evidence, and coming to your senses means accepting what can't be evidenced as true!

I accept it as my failure of imagination, but I really cannot understand that at all.

Revoltingest said:

He says it can't be done. He

Click to expand...

We need more worth your mentality. Too many say this-and-that can't change in a person, but I'm one of many who prove those unchangeable things can change. I used to be such a Bible Thumping Fundamentalist. Evolution was a tool of Satan and just a theory anyways, homosexuals needed to pray and change or they were going to Hell. Public school needed prayer and Bible study. Noah's Ark was real, and the Earth only 6 to 10 thousand years old.
But I learned the world wasn't out to get us, there is no war on Christmas, and I never knew religious persecution (not until after I turned apostate). I was also open to new information/real facts (it was a slow process though), and started to realize at least major parts of what I learned was just silly, then I learned how much of the OT was borrowed from the contemporaries of the ancient Hebrews who wrote the Tanakh. And my life got off to a very rough and difficult start, it was constantly going downhill, and in a perpetual cycle of going from bad to worse to ****ty to even ****tier. Combine that with the vivid nightmares of going to Hell, and eventually even though I clasped and grasped and clinched very hard to keep my faith, it crumbled, and walked away.
Or, the song version

Audie said:

I would have rushed in and bitten his knee!

Click to expand...

I wished I had thought of that...

Subduction Zone said:

If someone is a denier then there is almost no chance of changing their minds. If they are an actual skeptic it is not all that difficult. There is an easy test. If they can only deny scientific papers by claiming that they are politically motivated then one is dealing with a denier. If they read the papers and try to understand what they say they may be a skeptic. Sooner or later a skeptic has to accept the massive evidence for an idea. A denier will never change.


When it comes to well accepted scientific ideas being a skeptic is a temporary phase. If one is a denier it is permanent. Recently I had a discussion with a person that claimed to want to learn about evolution, but it soon became clear that he would not let himself learn. He was pretending to be a skeptic, but he was just another denier.

Click to expand...

ADigitalArtist said:

I am increasingly of the belief that large-scale changes about one's viewpoint is neither something someone can do to you or something you can do yourself, not in a conscious way anyway. Changes in belief can certainly happen, but do so without conscious control. 'I am convinced/not convinced' happens regardless of will or want.

Click to expand...

I think these two posts, when taken together, actually say a great deal.

When we have questions, we are constantly provided with information (some true, some not, some irrelevant) that may help us answer. But it depends on what we're trying to do -- if trying to really learn something, then we may look hard at as much of it as possible, but if already convinced, one way or another, then we are far more likely to incorporate only what confirms our convictions. This confirmation bias can be very, very strong. And this is especially true when core beliefs, such as religious ones, are in question.

Regiomontanus said:

I was blinded by ignorance (i.e., atheism) for most of my life. Thank God I came to my senses.

Click to expand...

I'm still doing the ignorance thing.

Audie said:

"Effectualized".

Click to expand...

Strong with you the werditude is.

Revoltingest said:

@Jose Fly & I disagree about the possibility of
changing the mind of global warming deniers.
He says it can't be done. He's wrong of course.

But this set me a'wondering about the titular question.
It could be about GW, religion, politics, guns, etc.
What effected the change?

Click to expand...

I was a wildfowler.
If I could have done so I would have lived out on the creeks and saltmarshes for ever. I lived for it. I loved it. I would never ever want to give up.

And then during one dawn I shot a curlew, it was legal to shoot curlew back then, and they tasted quite like steak. It fell in to the creek just out of my reach, and I have left my fowling punt a long way further up the creek.

It was cold. Freezing. The curlew lay in the water, injured, with its wings outstretched. It began to shiver, and this caused circles of ripples to radiate away from its freezing body. I shot it again to end its torment and the close range shot disintegrated it to pieces, inedible.

It was like a mind-punch that happened to me, as I realised I was a total moron to have taken that shot, and to have wasted the life of such a beautiful creature.

I walked back to my punt, rowed home, and never went out again. I sold my punt to a Maldon wildfowler who later became famous. . I hung my gun over the fireplace and years later I sold it to an antiques dealer who came around doorknocking in the hope of bargains.

That was the biggest change I ever made in my life, I think.
I don't knock wildfowlers and never have, but I'm sure that if they ever did something as stupid as that that it might change them too.

Revoltingest said:

@Jose Fly & I disagree about the possibility of
changing the mind of global warming deniers.
He says it can't be done. He's wrong of course.

But this set me a'wondering about the titular question.
It could be about GW, religion, politics, guns, etc.
What effected the change?

Click to expand...

For almost twenty years I believed that the Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses was indeed the only true religion but I had my doubts about a few doctrines and when I was called upon it by the elders in my congregation one elder said, "believe the governing body" and because I was taught that no man ought to be trusted I got up, said to myself out loud something about clearing out my closet of those ugly dresses and I walked out. I didn't even say, "goodbye". I haven't worn nylon stockings since.

Revoltingest said:

@Jose Fly & I disagree about the possibility of
changing the mind of global warming deniers.
He says it can't be done. He's wrong of course.

But this set me a'wondering about the titular question.
It could be about GW, religion, politics, guns, etc.
What effected the change?

Click to expand...

Yes, It is not easy and met with much resistance to the point of a breakdown with some deeper beliefs but it is possible. After you change the first it gets easier for the others.

Revoltingest said:

@Jose Fly & I disagree about the possibility of
changing the mind of global warming deniers.
He says it can't be done. He's wrong of course.

But this set me a'wondering about the titular question.
It could be about GW, religion, politics, guns, etc.
What effected the change?

Click to expand...

Generally, the less knowledge I have about something the more likely I am to have a change of mind.

As for the things I have had a change of mind, I can mention God and free will.

oldbadger said:

I was a wildfowler.
If I could have done so I would have lived out on the creeks and saltmarshes for ever. I lived for it. I loved it. I would never ever want to give up.

And then during one dawn I shot a curlew, it was legal to shoot curlew back then, and they tasted quite like steak. It fell in to the creek just out of my reach, and I have left my fowling punt a long way further up the creek.

It was cold. Freezing. The curlew lay in the water, injured, with its wings outstretched. It began to shiver, and this caused circles of ripples to radiate away from its freezing body. I shot it again to end its torment and the close range shot disintegrated it to pieces, inedible.

It was like a mind-punch that happened to me, as I realised I was a total moron to have taken that shot, and to have wasted the life of such a beautiful creature.

I walked back to my punt, rowed home, and never went out again. I sold my punt to a Maldon wildfowler who later became famous. . I hung my gun over the fireplace and years later I sold it to an antiques dealer who came around doorknocking in the hope of bargains.

That was the biggest change I ever made in my life, I think.
I don't knock wildfowlers and never have, but I'm sure that if they ever did something as stupid as that that it might change them too.

Click to expand...

If I may...

English is not my first language and every now and then I get to read a word I have never seen before. On this particular case I took it for granted you had mistyped 'wildflower'. It got me thinking: "Wild Flower ? What is that supposed to mean? Does that mean he used to live in the wild for a while like Tarzan ? How intriguing!". Then as I kept reading your story I noticed something was off. Google translate came for rescue and I have now learned a new word. Thank you.

Revoltingest said:

@Jose Fly & I disagree about the possibility of
changing the mind of global warming deniers.
He says it can't be done. He's wrong of course.

But this set me a'wondering about the titular question.
It could be about GW, religion, politics, guns, etc.
What effected the change?

Click to expand...

I use to believe abortion was OK. Didn't have a religion. And was going to be a success in the business world even if it cost me my wife and children (just like my dad).

Revoltingest said:

Strong with you the werditude is.

Click to expand...

The "English language", falsely so called,
is not big enough for me.
Attentive be and learn.

Revoltingest said:

@Jose Fly & I disagree about the possibility of
changing the mind of global warming deniers.
He says it can't be done. He's wrong of course.

But this set me a'wondering about the titular question.
It could be about GW, religion, politics, guns, etc.
What effected the change?

Click to expand...

I was a liberal democrat in college. A few years in law enforcement changed that.

Audie said:

The "English language", falsely so called,
is not big enough for me.
Attentive be and learn.

Click to expand...

Uh oh...another slave to etymology.
So English isn't "English", eh....it's a perfectly cromulent name.
As for not big enuf, it has little competition.....
Which Language Has The Most Words?

shmogie said:

I was a liberal democrat in college. A few years in law enforcement changed that.

Click to expand...

Congrats!