ATS Changed My Political Leanings

Sometime in 2014 I came out of the shadows and began posting here on ATS. Prior to that, I had followed these forums for a number of years. I cannot remember what the catalyst was that caused me to take that next step, but I've been fairly active on here ever since then.

I notice that over 10 years ago, I subscribed to a much more liberal/progressive type of belief system. Granted, that was in my late teens and I've been exposed to a lot, and learned even more since then. However, I wonder if anyone else has a similar experience, where ATS may have helped you to better discover your own beliefs or principles.

To cut to the chase, I believe my time on ATS helped me to better define my beliefs in terms of politics, but also the big picture and how I understand the world in general. I would consider myself as more of a conservative than a liberal, but I also am not a fan of a lot of these labels since we all can fall into the trap of making generalizations.

Does anybody else have thoughts on this subject?

Some of the dynamics worth considering are:

• Nature vs. Nurture - inherent beliefs versus formed beliefs
  
• Political beliefs evolving due to aging
  
• Confirmation Bias
  
• Groupthink
  

Thanks ATS friends

For me personally i was raised to be a nationalist, the whole separation of Quebec from Canada.

Now that i am in my 40s, i tend to vote green party or ndp, i tend to give my vote to the smaller parties to give them a chance to get there voices out there, i never voted liberal or conservative, they just seem like the same evil, there just polished turds.

Oh and ats has reinforced my view on nationalist voters, there just people who repeat the same propaganda that our ancestors used, blame the poor, immigrants, government, but never take responsibility for there own faults.

i find it strange that you frequent a right leaning website, possibly regularly for 10 years, to now be leaning right.

is politics just a proxy.?
would you lean left again if you frequented a left leaning site for 10 years subsequently?

I think age has changed me.

Although, I never really had a political home.

I am a fiscal Conservative.

I am a social liberal.

Meaning: If you go home and close your doors,

I could careless what you do.

Just stop spending the Country's money faster than we can print it.

a reply to: odzeandennz

i find it strange that you frequent a right leaning website, possibly regularly for 10 years, to now be leaning right.

I live in Vermont (the 4th most liberal state, according to Business Insider). I can tell you from almost 30 years of living here that I am in the minority in terms of my political beliefs.

My family members, my partner's family members, my friends, in general I do not subscribe to the same way of thinking that I am surrounded by in my physical environment.

ATS has changed me into a Intergalactic Planetary Monarchist.

COME SAVE US REPTILIAN SPACE POPE

a reply to: FamCore

Political leanings should be driven and navigated with an individual’s moral compass.

Since all political parties have at least something of value to offer, choices should be by issue, not agendas.

Since I didn’t think this way when I first joined about 10 years ago, I’d say ATS has contributed to my political maturity; but it’s also left me dumbfounded at times, depending on the thread and saId poster.

It only makes sense that if you are around a certain culture, like the conservative culture on ATS, that it will make you more like the culture you are engrossed in over time. If a conservative were to join and participate in a liberal forum and stay there for a decade or a half, it would influence their thinking, too.

a reply to: FamCore

Although I have always considered myself to be a conservative but over the years I have come to the personal opinion that within every liberal there is a conservative just screaming to break out. If or when that may happen all depends on the individuals life experiences. If that liberal ever personally witnesses or experiences a truly catastrophic event in their life that is a direct result of that liberal ideology the conservative will emerge. That's my take and I'm sticking to it.

a reply to: FamCore

There's a tendency for older voters to skew conservative. That's a voting pattern that can be observed. What's less certain is why. Do people become less tolerant of change with age or do people of different ages have similar tolerances to change and it's just that older people have experienced more societal change? Some mixture of both, something else entirely?

a reply to: FamCore

i see.

what or how has this evolution come about?
the policies? the facts? the core beliefs? American values? values in general?

what were your stance on say gun control, and how has it changed. as we know its 2 very different tangents between the two parties, did you flip on this issue along with others-pro choice -?


i really cannot fathom how someone in the public change political affiliation in a predominantly (basically) 2 party system.

It's far more likely that you were seeking answers, found truth and changed your political leaning all on your own.

You have sided against the power structure. Not against the left or right. Those years you listed were a lib under bush, then changed to conservatives under obama.

Just wait... the gop owns every branch of government. As things continue to stay broken, the other sides arguments will make more sense.


I have watched it happen, and I think most would agree the number of trump supporters willing to argue his case has slowly lessened..

We are conspiracy people. You can’t have conspiracies while your political party is in power without them being in on it.



a reply to: FamCore

a reply to: FamCore

"Granted, that was in my late teens and I've been exposed to a lot, and learned even more since then..."

If you are a conservative when you are young, you have no heart. If you are a liberal when you are older, you have no brain..."

Before coming to ATS, I would have considered myself more right leaning.

Now, after talking to Trump supporters for the last year, I wouldn't touch anything right wing with a 10 foot pole.

originally posted by: theantediluvian
a reply to: FamCore

There's a tendency for older voters to skew conservative. That's a voting pattern that can be observed. What's less certain is why. Do people become less tolerant of change with age or do people of different ages have similar tolerances to change and it's just that older people have experienced more societal change? Some mixture of both, something else entirely?

Oh, it is certain... people start to experience the real world and realize libs are living in a fantasy land.

a reply to: FamCore

ATS has evolved in my life to become one of my main sources of news and discussion of relevant topics, to include politics. This has helped reinforce my libertarian ideals, but has also helped me realized that I didn't go from default California liberal (I lived there for the first 19 years of my life) to a conservative, like I thought after I voted for Obama in 2012, but that I truly have libertarian ideals (for the most part).

So, in that sense, it helped me define my political approach to society, but it hasn't changed it.

I do believe that age has a lot to do with it, though. I was a "liberal" all through my late 20s, but that was because I wasn't really a political person. When I started paying attention, based on the fact that my wife deployed to Iraq in the midst of a war and I had a son at the time, I realized that there were major problems with how Bush was doing things, and this made me thing that voting for Obama was the only appropriate response.

Then I REALLY started paying attention and using critical thinking, and realized that Obama was just as bad, just from a different approach. I honestly didn't realize that I was libertarian-minded until I took a political-spectrum test that I accessed via a comment on here, which placed me deep in "libertarian" and slightly to the right. This expanded my learning about libertarianism, and really sparked my vigor for protecting rights and liberties.

So, I think that age/progressing through life's situations changes more than the exposure to online forums, but one certainly can see how this exposure could be good and bad in finding one's self.

Confirmation bias and groupthing are two examples of how this site can be a negative, depending on the individual's critical thinking skills. Unfortunately, I think that the average level of critical thinking on this site is going downhill, so groupthink and confirmation bias is becoming a replacement, causing fighting this approach to topics to be an uphill battle in many forums more often than not.

Kudos for admitting this and inquiring about it...it's often hard to admit that political leanings have changed in the modern political climate.

a reply to: odzeandennz

My personal political beliefs have evolved as a result of a roller coaster in my personal life that I am still currently going through... living in many different states (culture shock as well), going through the court system myself, paying for and successfully graduating from college, and tragedies such as losing a sibling because of medical malpractice.

To look at the issue of gun control, that is not something that has changed for me. I am a supporter of responsible gun ownership and self-defense.

I will say that the feeling of divide in the country has grown a lot over the past 5 years or so, specifically when it comes to things like "White privilege". I recognize that racism is alive and well in the US, but nowadays it seems that being discriminatory or stereotyping white people is completely acceptable, especially in higher education/academia.

a reply to: JoshuaCox

It sounds like you are painting the picture of a "pendulum" that swings back and forth based on political and socioeconomic fluctuations

I can see how that could be true thanks for illustrating that idea

originally posted by: ausername
It's far more likely that you were seeking answers, found truth and changed your political leaning all on your own.

Indeed, that's the conclusion I've come to as well. ATS is only one of many places I go for my news and discussions. I generally go through multiple sources for anything I read on ATS to confirm legitimacy or likelihood.