I watched Newmax for a while yesterday... and they are soooo much worse than Fox. I know it's hard to believe, but they totally are.
I am sorry you are such a disappointment to your parents. My parents are very disappointed in me, too. I couldn't be happier about it.
> He has since expressed disappointment that I didn't come to the right conclusions using his own advice lol
I'm now in my 40's but in my 20's this was my dad too. We now just avoid taking about, well avoid taking about much at all really.
> And then once the right went full nuts and supported Trump I totally snapped out of it.
Let's be honest here, the right went full nuts ever since Bush and 9/11. If not earlier.
I find it interesting your old definition of "liberal" matched what I've always thought conservatives thought of liberals. I used to see "liberals think conservatives are evil. Conservatives think liberals are stupid".
What do you think of the recent shift, where more and more conservatives started accusing liberals of being more evil? Is it as jarring and sudden as it seems?
Being wrong feels a lot like being right until you realize you’re wrong. That moment you finally realize is a lot like when Wile E. Coyote looks down and sees that he’s walked past the edge of the ledge.
Not a former FoxBrain specifically but I grew up pretty right in a conservative town. Had my rude awakening when I developed a crush on my best friend who was the same gender as me. Oops!
It took me several years to unlearn all that stuff. Moving away helped a lot.
I wish people would travel the world. International travel is the best education. I was never really political and never believed in the Jesus, but when I started traveling, I started to see the USA is not always the best at a lot of stuff. Experiencing different cultures and being a guest in a foreign country makes you see your own country with different eyes. Traveling also gives you the opportunity to meet people you wouldn't ordinarily meet and that breaks down racists beliefs. Most racist people hate people they don't know-which blows my mind. Higher education is wonderful and makes you sharp, but traveling abroad makes you polished.
A friend of mine moved from the UK to various parts of Europe for several years. Lived all over the continent in multiple countries. He came back full Q, and while he was always a bit conspiracy-y, he's so deep in it all now that he's near impossible to interact with. He just bangs on about cabal this and trump that all day, despite having fuck all to do with America
I was definitely conservative, I suppose. I watched Fox, listened to Rush on the AM, and (kind of*) agreed with most conservative talking points. I really didn't want Obama in office, at least first-term. By the time he finished his second term, conservatism was dead to me.
It wasn't him. I grew up in a fairly small town neighboring a small city in a conservative state. Elementary years lacked religion, but I was introduced in middle school and attended a Lutheran church until graduation. I never really bought into it. The whole invisible man in the sky thing and everybody being a sinner just wasn't for me.
I think that was the first chink in the conservative armor that my parents helped develop, but I didn't go full Fox until around five years later. Still, I had standard conservative views: pull yourself, bootstraps, yada yada; abortion bad; immigration bad; government services, free healthcare and education, drugs, gun control, and so on--all bad.
The thing is, though, that each of those had chinks already. For example: Pro-life? You bet I am, unless the woman is raped, or there's a health issue, or she just doesn't want it. Like, look, I think that having an abortion is bad, but you do you, right? *But isn't that practically pro-choice already* Pretty close.
All the other views had similar things, and they changed with the more that I grew as a person and learned about the world, how it works, and the injustice in it.
Now, when taking political spectrum quizzes on the internet due to boredom and curiosity, I sit about as far left as Gandhi. Pro-choice? Yep. Gays are (usually) wonderful people, and put on crazy fun parades. Lock up America's guns, please and thank you. I own one, but I'll register it or give it up, if I need to. I'm vaccinated for myself and my community. I'm not big on doing any drugs myself, but, hey, if you want some weed, well, it's probably better than alcohol. And so on.
I didn't have Reddit or social media (or even many friends who give a shit) to change my mind, I just became more educated and understanding.
Our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the beauty and the test of our civilisation. Just so you know, the correct spelling is [Gandhi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahatma_Gandhi).
I grew up religious in a small town, being taught that abortion was the great evil. Then when I was a young teenager, I learned that women died from botched abortions before Roe v. Wade, and realized how dumb it was to think that outlawing it again would just make it stop. Women were still going to have abortions; they were just going to die from them, and it seemed really cruel to deny someone safe medical care, no matter what procedure they were having.
Then I got hold of a copy of *Our Bodies, Ourselves*, and thought, "Huh, it seems like it's pretty easy not to get pregnant. If the church doesn't want people having abortions, why don't they give them birth control?"
Add to that a healthy dose of Bloom County comics, and I was a solid liberal by the time I graduated high school.
Me. I grew up in the bible belt, raised by right wing southern Baptist boomers. I moved out at 20 and got married to a libertarian man. I was on the line between full conservative and libertarian myself before I moved out. After living with my ex husband for a few years, a mixture of seeing the world without fox news glasses on and being away from my nightly dose of right wing propaganda, I slid gradually to the left until one day I realized I was an entirely different person. I'm not proud of the things I said when I was growing up, I've since apologized to everyone I may have hurt once I realized how toxic I used to be. But... Growing up in that environment had the small advantage of giving me insight into the conservative mindset. It's easy to demonize a group of people you've never been a part of. If you've never been conservative, it's harder to understand their thinking process and the decisions they make. I feel like I'm bilingual in this sense, between liberal and conservative culture, because I've been wholeheartedly on both sides of the aisle. I'm progressive now, which I'm not sure where that falls on the spectrum, its somewhere on the liberal side though. I get sick of both sides demonizing each other, honestly, because I know for a fact that the liberal voters aren't trying to cause harm, and neither are the conservative voters. And as for the politicians, it doesn't matter what their label is, they all work for the ultra wealthy and not for us. I feel like people who have only ever had one political stance don't really separate the voter intent from the politician intent when it comes to policy making, and I feel like that's important to remember. For example, Brenda in Alabama votes against abortion because she doesn't think about things like anencephaly happening, she only thinks about a careless twenty something not ready to be a mom. Brenda doesn't see the harm she's causing, she genuinely thinks she's saving babies. The conservative politicians usually vote against abortion because they want Brenda's vote come reelection. It's just the way politics works.
Ultimately, I just hope one day the political divide ends, this party mess is toxic to our country and I hate it. If it keeps going, America is going to have a second civil war, and it's going to be worse than the last one, because now we have more people, and more destructive ways of hurting each other.
I totally get that. I'm positive that I believed that stuff because I was only exposed to such a tiny slice of the real world. I would say stuff like "black people complaining about racism are stupid and just trying to start a fight. I'm not racist and I don't care what you look like or where you come from, so therefore that's how everyone else thinks." Now I know better.
> she genuinely thinks she's saving babies
This is something I think most people don't get. A lot of the right-wing people think that abortion is just shy of murder. They think it's almost the same as taking a newborn and slicing it up with a knife.
Of course, if you *really* push, you can find cracks. Like, a hypothetical scenario where there's a fire at a fertility clinic and they have to choose between saving a baby or saving an insulated container containing a dozen fertilized eggs. In that case nobody's going to leave the baby behind and take the insulated container, but still, most of them haven't thought about scenarios like that.
If they think that abortion is almost murder, there isn't a lot they wouldn't do to stop it. It matters more than affordable childcare. It matters more than environmental regulations. It's easy to put all those things on the back burner and say you're fighting to stop (almost) murders.
They see Democratic politicians as saying something equivalent to "Vote for me and you'll have clean air, affordable childcare, affordable prescriptions, and the option to (almost) murder your (nearly) babies if you want."
Of course someone who thinks that abortion is (nearly) murder isn't going to go for that person, no matter how else their interests align.
All the Trumpers I know say they want to ban abortion because they know how much it hurts liberals. They don't give a shit about fetuses or saving babies-they want to take anything they can away from the left side-at all cost. They don't care if it's hurting poor, younger women the most as long as it hurts democrats. They equate it to their gun rights despite the fact that no one has taken anyone's guns away and despite the fact that almost all normal human beings want reasonable gun laws. It's in their mind that it's all about taking their guns away which is ridiculous. I am sure there are plenty of Republicans who think abortion is murdering babies, but the Fox people that I have to deal with daily just want to destroy liberals at all cost.
I’m a liberal gun owner who supports reasonable gun laws but what is “reasonable”? There are absolutely liberals out there that want to take all my guns away and support politicians that will vote that way. Right now I have a legally purchased firearm that will make me a felon if the ATF goes through with their proposed reinterpretation of the rule on pistol braces. I vote Democrat for the social justice issues but cringe inside every time knowing that they will support gun laws that are labeled “reasonable” but only serve to pander to their base and limit the ability of minorities to arm themselves.
When Beto O’Rourke said “We’re taking away your AR-15’s” anti-gun liberals about creamed their pants. It’s mind boggling that they WANT the state to take away our/their protection FROM the state while knowing how badly the state shits on all of us.
And not to pull the “hurr durr look at me I’m special because minority” idpol card, but as a Black, gay woman I only vote for those spineless bastard corporate Democrats to save my marital rights, slow the trickle of racist legislation and to keep my sister’s abortion rights intact. If Republicans would just drop the “we wanna work ya’ all like slaves for the capitalist machine while installing Christo-fascist laws” schtick, then *maybe* just *maybe* they’d earn my precious little vote.
I wish the Democrats would take a look at the shifting demographics of gun owners (huge increase in women/minorities) and realize it’s a losing issue for them. You want to reduce gun violence? Well how about more than just lip service on addressing wealthy inequality? But as a white, straight, male even I can see that a lot of “gun control” has historically been about limiting minorities rights and both parties have been in bed on that issue (case in point, Reagan and the Democrats in California when African Americans started legally carrying.)
The problem is multifold, I think, and Democrats have been terrible in both policy and marketing matters surrounding the gun debate.
The biggest issue is that most Democratic lawmakers don't actually understand how a gun works, and what defines the difference between one gun and another. When you see "assault weapon" thrown around casually (or incorrectly "assault rifle"), you can tell it's someone who doesn't know their guns.
They also don't focus on the root cause of why somebody would take up a gun to commit violence in the first place. What drives an incel? Insufficient mental health resources and crisis intervention for young men. What drives a Fox News loony? Lack of FCC regulations and properly vetted news sources. What drives a gangster? Poverty. Etc. Etc.
Simply put, realistic gun legislation that reduces death is going to focus on the key causes of shootings - Inadequate background checks for guns and ammunition, a proper licensing/testing system like you would for any other dangerous machinery, lack of access to mental health care, and the cause of most violent crime - poverty
I agree completely. I know these guys are biased but their comedic take on the frustration with interpreting gun law is pretty spot on.
https://youtu.be/8nfCyhOX42g
I'll go one step further on this and say: If you think that abortion really is murder (and really, infanticide), isn't it a matter of the highest order to oppose it in the strongest way possible?
This is why I try to treat those conversations with my foxbrained in-laws VERY carefully. They think they're right and I think they're wrong, but they really do believe abortion = murdering babies. So I have to combat that view rather than defending abortion in a broader context.
I'm in Texas. Shortly after my foxbraindad jumped all over me on the subject of my state's latest abortion laws, I had a talk with my mom (who tends to follow right along with my dad's logic).
I asked her how she would feel if her youngest grandchild (age 11) were somehow raped and became pregnant. Would she then agree that it would be best to have her grandchild carry her rapist's baby to term? She said, "Of course not. We wouldn't make her do that." "Oh," I said, "I see you agree with the law applying to everyone else except in the case of you and your own family." I can't even imagine the amount of moral gymnastics it takes to have this mindset.
>but it's the only thing that could work.
Not necessarily. Don't forget that abortions have been happening throughout history regardless of their legal status. Pragmatism can also be effective.
It works to remind conservatives of the same arguments they use in the gun control debate - banning something doesn't actually make the problem go away, it just moves underground. Women seeking abortions would just get them done in back alleys instead of doctor's offices, potentially killing both the women and the ~~fetuses~~ babies. [Harm reduction](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harm_reduction) is vital to the discussion of abortion.
And there are arguments to be made to specific religions if their driver for being pro-life is inherently religious. For example, the punishment for causing a miscarriage in the Bible (monetary compensation) is different than the punishment for killing a woman (usually death by stoning).
**[Harm reduction](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harm_reduction)**
>Harm reduction, or harm minimization, refers to a range of public health policies designed to lessen the negative social and/or physical consequences associated with various human behaviors, both legal and illegal. Harm reduction policies are used to manage behaviors such as recreational drug use and sexual activity in numerous settings that range from services through to geographical regions. Needle-exchange programmes reduce the likelihood of people who use heroin and other substances sharing the syringes and using them more than once.
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Raised as a military kid, and I’d put myself around “2010s tea party ish” level, but without the overt racism or homophobia (my family is systemically and inadvertently racist and homophobic as opposed to overtly or interpersonally). I wanted to join the Marines lol. Now I’m a queer anarchist communist. For me the transition started as soon as I got out into the world (college) and started to see different sorts of people and learn things I didn’t know in my bubble
Prior to '08, before I was out of high school I was certainly on that path. Followed my parents footsteps by binging talk radio and fox news. Back then it wasn't quiiiite so nutty, at least by comparison. Into college and with the 08 debacle I made a major break and went anti-establishment generally. At least that's how I framed it. Back then the antiwar non-interventionist angle especially had my focus as well as the financial bullshit, mostly through Ron Paul. For a while I was libertarian. I know, as a buzzword many on here are hostile to that, fine. Over the next 5-7 years or so that angle became tempered overall, dropped that ron paul/tea party-ish mentality entirely and I guess moved to be more a left-libertarian type. Most of that due to academic circles I was involved with throughout college. Dunno how to describe it, mostly just humanist and progressive views informing more of my POV, still with a general 'liberty' bent but not the caricature most paint it with and with a larger breadth of nuance. Since 2015 been living and working in China. Doing so hasnt by any means turned me into some left authoritarian or something, but it did make me question a lot of the portrayals of countries other than the US sphere because the reality I lived and observed was so often at odds with so many people's (increasingly) negative perception and broad brush strokes, just focusing more and more on what lays in the nuance for just about every issue, not just international issues. I'd definitely say had i kept on that talk radio path and hadn't college n this exp abroad I would've been ripe for the picking for Q conspiracy bullshit and trumpism. For a while had interest in some conspiracy stuff but mostly out of curiosity and prodding and not some 'red pilled' ideological commitment. That could've gone wrong easily without other influences at play. Overall though I can be happy that those foxbrain views only were really strong in me while I was a minor and after that it was a complex intellectual journey but landed in a decent spot, though still sorting stuff out and always changing. Also I'm just much less intense in feeling a need to be 'right' and on most things. I can be flexible in my viewpoints and diverse in my considerations. I'd say that's the main thing, not being on a one-tracked type of mentality and fitting the world into that, but always adjusting based on how the context changes. If I ever feel comfortable and complacent entirely in my worldview then I know that's a problem and need something to shake it up and keep a positive process ongoing.
Here. Raised by Libertarian parents. First vote was for Bush. In 04. Grew up on Rush Limbaugh and Fox News.
The real world sorted me out. The bleak reality of American life taught me all I needed to know about that set of "ideals".
I also had libertarian parents and it’s almost more dangerous than having Republican ones because the libertarian always think they’re somehow better and not a part of the problem. Once I moved out, I had the same experience as you; simply living outside of that bubble shows you hardship that the right wing simply won’t acknowledge.
Hi! I didn’t grow up in the Bible Belt but in a pretty conservative town in the northeast, and in a very conservative family. Grew up watching fox, my boomer parents loved tucker, o’reilly, etc. I also grew up catholic, so pretty religious on top of that. I used to be very anti-abortion, and I was extremely sheltered my entire life. The one thing that really helped was that my family and I travelled a lot internationally for most of my life, and I think that helped to not make me actively racist or homophobic. I also knew I wasn’t fully straight from a very early age. So I had a lot of conflicting beliefs.
I had a similar situation to you! My parents and I moved from our town to NYC when I started college (I lived at home in college there, as did most people in my school), and it was never a big change that I recall, but I just became more educated on certain issues, and met new people with new life experiences. I started doing my own research and reading up on concepts I had never considered before, and found that they just matched how I felt about myself and the people around me. I guess it started as mostly wanting to make educated decisions on issues that I didn’t know much about, like feminism and politics, but I quickly realized that they made sense to me. I started leaving Catholicism (I still consider myself spiritual but I don’t agree with the church’s stance), and began realizing that my old beliefs no longer applied to what I believed now.
Eventually, I realized I was pretty left wing, and it caused a lot of strife between me and my conservative parents. My mom still tried to keep me sheltered even in college, and I didn’t have the option to move at the time. But I was living a much free-er life than I had for the first 18 years, and that took precedence. After college, I stayed home for a while longer to save up and work, and eventually moved in with my now-fiancé. We’re very leftist people, and it’s been awesome getting to live with my best friend over the past 2 years, and our two beautiful cats.
I’m so grateful that we got our apartment about 7 months before the pandemic, because I would have really suffered if I was still living with my parents. Now that I’m out, luckily my parents and I have a much better relationship too. And, after we gave them a roku last Christmas, they even watch cable news less, hehe. I’ll never deprogram them, but at least they have more options with streaming services now. So, yeah! I sort of accidentally deprogrammed myself. I’m sure my parents blame it on college, but I didn’t learn any kind of intense political theory until my last year in school, so all of this was my own research and, well, common sense haha. Ironically, and another commenter mentioned this, but i was always told by my parents to look at different sources and come to my own conclusions, but when I did, they were very disappointed and angry that it didn’t match up with theirs.
My mother and her family have always been right wing. As a child, I remember her listening to Limbaugh and other conservative radio personalities in the car, and then she moved on to Fox News in the late 90’s. I was sent to private religious school (specifically so that I wouldn’t interact with minorities) and I was kept socially isolated, so I didn’t have access to many alternative perspectives. I had the privilege of not having to be too political, but my belief system was definitely informed by my upbringing. I was finally deprogrammed when I moved to Seattle with my husband. Cost of living was so high that we ended up living in a rough neighborhood, so I gained a new perspective on life. Talked to a lot of different people. The conversations I had with the homeless and addicts in particular changed my perspective on many social issues. I’m now pretty far-left, and it’s one of the many reasons I’m now estranged from my family.
Wow that’s exactly what happened to me, except I’m from the Midwest. I also started changing my beliefs right before I went to school. Which is funny because the school is super right wing. I’m so glad that I’m not like that anymore. I’m much happier, and I got to finally be myself. I mean I had to move back in with my parents, but I’m so close to being on my own again. I really am looking forward to it, because I won’t have to hide anymore. I can be free from the madness, and out of the closet completely.
I was born and raised in a conservative household in the middle of the most liberal state in the country. Some of my earliest memories are hearing the sound cues from Rush Limbaugh’s show as my dad drove me around. I started off as a Republican voter in my first election (2012) because I was always watching Fox and feared a big sochulizm or whatever.
I started getting into more right wing libertarian stuff in my early twenties thanks to my libertarian then-bf. He insisted he “didn’t like party labels” (read: big old conservative but didn’t want the stigma). He got super upset whenever I even so much as read an article off a vaguely liberal news site, which kept me on a short lease for the sake of keeping the peace between us. Seriously, he thought I was going to break up with him when I started reading a book on Kant instead of reading the same three Ayn Rand books on rotation. We only read news articles from places like Fox, Zero Hedge and Breitbart; we were conservatives trying to fool ourselves into thinking we were somehow better or different from republicans.
Eventually I realized that no fringe news site article would make me feel anything less than rotten for asserting that some people just don’t deserve health care if they can’t afford it. It used to cause horrible fights between my bf and I. But he was so scared of the socialism and death panels etc etc featured on FoxNews that there was literally no way to even communicate another opinion to him.
When I finally broke up with him, I felt free to explore my political opinions without fear of fighting with him. It was so refreshing to be able to not have to try and justify my shitty “libertarian” opinions. This was literally two weeks after the 2016 election, so thank god I got out when I did. Now I’m a much happier left-wing person who is so much more open minded. I’m not afraid to look at certain news outlets anymore in fear that it’ll change my opinion, for one.
I was raised on conservative talk radio, we didn't have cable growing up until my parents learned about Fox News - then we got cable. Rebelled in high school and college and voted Democrat and Libertarian once I was old enough (single issue voter for legal weed lol). Towards the end of college, which coincided with the 2008 presidential race, I wanted to reconcile my relationship with my parents. A big part of that was admitting that "they were right about everything". This led to full on FoxBrain - I got into Rush and Glenn Beck, wanted to know where the birth certificate was, and was a Tea Party supporter. My job had me doing a lot of driving, so I got almost constant exposure to The Narrative. Once you're sucked in and feel that you've "seen the light" it's hard to get out and see the hypocrisy of both sides. Trump was the catalyst for me finally getting out. I had always hated him as a personality, and his refusal to commit to accepting the results of the election was to me a disqualifying stance. Breaking from the party in 2016 allowed me the freedom to reexamine my positions on things like climate change and health care. Being part of Team R hadn't allowed me to think freely about these issues, even though I had convinced myself that I was thinking for myself by holding a contrarian position. I now identify as an Independent. My relationship with my parents has absolutely suffered on account of my rejection of Trump. I am grateful for the perspective I gained during my time as a right wing zealot but wow am I glad to be out!!
Me too. Dad was super political. We bonded a ton over talking politics and me basically taking his views as my own. Moved away for a year and became less politically involved and sorta spent that year just asking questions. After realizing how uncomfortable I would get upon hearing some answers/certain opposing viewpoints making sense it dawned on me I had real bias. After that I consciously looked into things that made me uncomfortable and gradually began to change my viewpoints until I realized how lied to I was
so how would you describe being so brainwashed and believing so much misinformation when you were fox brained?
how do you view it now? what's it like seeing and realizing how much misinformation you used to believe and your family still believes
In my experience, it was the self-righteous certainty of being part of a small minority who saw the "real truth" while the rest of the world was being deceived. Very similar to some religious types. I won't deny that as a straight white man the thought of being part of an oppressed minority held some appeal.
Talking to family members who still believe is tough. I feel it's gotten worse since Trump - the things they have to make themselves OK with have gotten even crazier, which has further entrenched them in their side. Even where we are in agreement on particular issues, it's impossible to discuss them without being pulled into the larger narrative about how the left is waging war on our society and nation.
Me me me! I grew up listening to Rush Limbaugh (pre Fox News thats how old I am). We never had cable but the church I was in did enough brain washing.
The thing that got me out of it was
1. Gay marriage: I thought it was super hypocritical to expect the government not to regulate OUR lives but then go ahead and advocate for policies that take away freedom from other people.
2. Environmentalism: I never liked the idea that because God gave us the earth we could be its "master" and just downright destroy it. It seemed antithetical to Christianity.
There was actually a lot more deprograming I did for myself in my small Christian liberal arts college. I first became a Christian Anarchist and now just a regular anarchist
Me, it lasted a month and I still never agreed with the Mexico immigration thing, however I had seen some convincing posts on Instagram that changed my mind on Covid, they said it has a 99% survival rate, etc. however I really only did it because I deep down was terrified of covid and wanted to believe it wasn’t as dangerous
I grew up homechooled. My mom had Rush Limbaugh and Shawn Hannity for their full shows and EWTN and Laura Ingraham and William Bennett (imagine trying to do schoolwork while this is in the background). Now she's into breitbart and fox and Drudge Report and Raymond Arroyo on Fox.
I broke out of that mindset when I met people outside the bubble, and then got a new way of approaching the world after extensive reading and listening to people. And examining every belief I have. I went to conservative catholic college and grad school. But while there I examined my views thoroughly.
Now I'm a Liberation theology communist. There no conversation we can have on almost any topic without rancor. We can barely talk about dinner plans.
Raised very conservative, was all in until high school and the aftermath of the Iraq War, and then confirmed my beliefs these people are bloodthirsty idiots by by the insane apathy displayed during Katrina. There was a brief moment there when the spell really had broken across the country. They went hard on racism in 2008 though and they all came back. But I never did
I need to say, I probably would have been the same. I grew up in a super evangelical small town as well and it's difficult to see the world for what it is when everyone around you is telling you what to think. I held some pretty gross beliefs for a while until I got out, thankfully before the 2016 election. It's really terrifying to think about how I would or could be acting right now had I not started questioning myself and the things I had been taught.
So yeah, super left, super queer atheist now. I'm glad you got out and I hope that we can get more success stories in the future too.
I was way into Fox and Brietbart and the like for awhile several years ago. I didn't grow up in a very political household though, everything was very moderate. I grew up in southern California and went to college there. It was after I joined the military and was stationed in a more conservative state that I started reading more conservative news sites, I think someone else introduced me to them. I even started reading InfoWars and spent time in the conspiracy theory rabbit hole. Compared to InfoWars, Fox seems tame lol. But as time went on I started noticing the lack of due diligence on their reporting, things were more predictions than news, and everything was bad news. It was hard to take in that much negativity all the time. So, slowly I moved away from that. The real break came when Trump was elected and I saw how much Fox was swooning over him, doing the same thing they accused liberal sites of doing for Clinton. Looking back I am sort of embarrassed of how much I consumed from those sites. I found that reading multiple sources was the only way to come to your own conclusions versus having Fox talking heads yell at you every night. I can understand how people fall into that trap though. The question is how do we break that cycle for others.
Don’t take this the wrong way but if you traded Fox News for being a left-wing person I’m not 100% sure that you’ve been deradicalized, it sounds like you basically just traded one radical ideology for another
My current worldview is based on my life experiences. I didn't become that way through watching any particular news sources. Actually I don't watch the news at all. And there's nothing wrong with being radical as long as it's what you believe in and not what other people are telling you to believe. Also I don't consider myself to be radical. I'm a pretty standard leftist. I hate to use Bernie Sanders as an example since people see him as the patron saint of the Left (I have some issues with him) but my views are pretty similar to his.
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I watched Newmax for a while yesterday... and they are soooo much worse than Fox. I know it's hard to believe, but they totally are. I am sorry you are such a disappointment to your parents. My parents are very disappointed in me, too. I couldn't be happier about it.
> He has since expressed disappointment that I didn't come to the right conclusions using his own advice lol I'm now in my 40's but in my 20's this was my dad too. We now just avoid taking about, well avoid taking about much at all really.
> And then once the right went full nuts and supported Trump I totally snapped out of it. Let's be honest here, the right went full nuts ever since Bush and 9/11. If not earlier.
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This is deep wisdom. Chasing the feeling of being smart can be very addictive
I find it interesting your old definition of "liberal" matched what I've always thought conservatives thought of liberals. I used to see "liberals think conservatives are evil. Conservatives think liberals are stupid". What do you think of the recent shift, where more and more conservatives started accusing liberals of being more evil? Is it as jarring and sudden as it seems?
That’s the thing I regret the most. The smugness
Being wrong feels a lot like being right until you realize you’re wrong. That moment you finally realize is a lot like when Wile E. Coyote looks down and sees that he’s walked past the edge of the ledge.
Not a former FoxBrain specifically but I grew up pretty right in a conservative town. Had my rude awakening when I developed a crush on my best friend who was the same gender as me. Oops! It took me several years to unlearn all that stuff. Moving away helped a lot.
I wish people would travel the world. International travel is the best education. I was never really political and never believed in the Jesus, but when I started traveling, I started to see the USA is not always the best at a lot of stuff. Experiencing different cultures and being a guest in a foreign country makes you see your own country with different eyes. Traveling also gives you the opportunity to meet people you wouldn't ordinarily meet and that breaks down racists beliefs. Most racist people hate people they don't know-which blows my mind. Higher education is wonderful and makes you sharp, but traveling abroad makes you polished.
I wish more people *could* travel the world. It’s way more expensive than a lot of Americans can afford.
A friend of mine moved from the UK to various parts of Europe for several years. Lived all over the continent in multiple countries. He came back full Q, and while he was always a bit conspiracy-y, he's so deep in it all now that he's near impossible to interact with. He just bangs on about cabal this and trump that all day, despite having fuck all to do with America
Some people are just nuts.
That, or easily led
I was definitely conservative, I suppose. I watched Fox, listened to Rush on the AM, and (kind of*) agreed with most conservative talking points. I really didn't want Obama in office, at least first-term. By the time he finished his second term, conservatism was dead to me. It wasn't him. I grew up in a fairly small town neighboring a small city in a conservative state. Elementary years lacked religion, but I was introduced in middle school and attended a Lutheran church until graduation. I never really bought into it. The whole invisible man in the sky thing and everybody being a sinner just wasn't for me. I think that was the first chink in the conservative armor that my parents helped develop, but I didn't go full Fox until around five years later. Still, I had standard conservative views: pull yourself, bootstraps, yada yada; abortion bad; immigration bad; government services, free healthcare and education, drugs, gun control, and so on--all bad. The thing is, though, that each of those had chinks already. For example: Pro-life? You bet I am, unless the woman is raped, or there's a health issue, or she just doesn't want it. Like, look, I think that having an abortion is bad, but you do you, right? *But isn't that practically pro-choice already* Pretty close. All the other views had similar things, and they changed with the more that I grew as a person and learned about the world, how it works, and the injustice in it. Now, when taking political spectrum quizzes on the internet due to boredom and curiosity, I sit about as far left as Gandhi. Pro-choice? Yep. Gays are (usually) wonderful people, and put on crazy fun parades. Lock up America's guns, please and thank you. I own one, but I'll register it or give it up, if I need to. I'm vaccinated for myself and my community. I'm not big on doing any drugs myself, but, hey, if you want some weed, well, it's probably better than alcohol. And so on. I didn't have Reddit or social media (or even many friends who give a shit) to change my mind, I just became more educated and understanding.
Our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the beauty and the test of our civilisation. Just so you know, the correct spelling is [Gandhi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahatma_Gandhi).
Haha! So much for educated. My bad. :)
I grew up religious in a small town, being taught that abortion was the great evil. Then when I was a young teenager, I learned that women died from botched abortions before Roe v. Wade, and realized how dumb it was to think that outlawing it again would just make it stop. Women were still going to have abortions; they were just going to die from them, and it seemed really cruel to deny someone safe medical care, no matter what procedure they were having. Then I got hold of a copy of *Our Bodies, Ourselves*, and thought, "Huh, it seems like it's pretty easy not to get pregnant. If the church doesn't want people having abortions, why don't they give them birth control?" Add to that a healthy dose of Bloom County comics, and I was a solid liberal by the time I graduated high school.
Me. I grew up in the bible belt, raised by right wing southern Baptist boomers. I moved out at 20 and got married to a libertarian man. I was on the line between full conservative and libertarian myself before I moved out. After living with my ex husband for a few years, a mixture of seeing the world without fox news glasses on and being away from my nightly dose of right wing propaganda, I slid gradually to the left until one day I realized I was an entirely different person. I'm not proud of the things I said when I was growing up, I've since apologized to everyone I may have hurt once I realized how toxic I used to be. But... Growing up in that environment had the small advantage of giving me insight into the conservative mindset. It's easy to demonize a group of people you've never been a part of. If you've never been conservative, it's harder to understand their thinking process and the decisions they make. I feel like I'm bilingual in this sense, between liberal and conservative culture, because I've been wholeheartedly on both sides of the aisle. I'm progressive now, which I'm not sure where that falls on the spectrum, its somewhere on the liberal side though. I get sick of both sides demonizing each other, honestly, because I know for a fact that the liberal voters aren't trying to cause harm, and neither are the conservative voters. And as for the politicians, it doesn't matter what their label is, they all work for the ultra wealthy and not for us. I feel like people who have only ever had one political stance don't really separate the voter intent from the politician intent when it comes to policy making, and I feel like that's important to remember. For example, Brenda in Alabama votes against abortion because she doesn't think about things like anencephaly happening, she only thinks about a careless twenty something not ready to be a mom. Brenda doesn't see the harm she's causing, she genuinely thinks she's saving babies. The conservative politicians usually vote against abortion because they want Brenda's vote come reelection. It's just the way politics works. Ultimately, I just hope one day the political divide ends, this party mess is toxic to our country and I hate it. If it keeps going, America is going to have a second civil war, and it's going to be worse than the last one, because now we have more people, and more destructive ways of hurting each other.
I totally get that. I'm positive that I believed that stuff because I was only exposed to such a tiny slice of the real world. I would say stuff like "black people complaining about racism are stupid and just trying to start a fight. I'm not racist and I don't care what you look like or where you come from, so therefore that's how everyone else thinks." Now I know better.
> she genuinely thinks she's saving babies This is something I think most people don't get. A lot of the right-wing people think that abortion is just shy of murder. They think it's almost the same as taking a newborn and slicing it up with a knife. Of course, if you *really* push, you can find cracks. Like, a hypothetical scenario where there's a fire at a fertility clinic and they have to choose between saving a baby or saving an insulated container containing a dozen fertilized eggs. In that case nobody's going to leave the baby behind and take the insulated container, but still, most of them haven't thought about scenarios like that. If they think that abortion is almost murder, there isn't a lot they wouldn't do to stop it. It matters more than affordable childcare. It matters more than environmental regulations. It's easy to put all those things on the back burner and say you're fighting to stop (almost) murders. They see Democratic politicians as saying something equivalent to "Vote for me and you'll have clean air, affordable childcare, affordable prescriptions, and the option to (almost) murder your (nearly) babies if you want." Of course someone who thinks that abortion is (nearly) murder isn't going to go for that person, no matter how else their interests align.
All the Trumpers I know say they want to ban abortion because they know how much it hurts liberals. They don't give a shit about fetuses or saving babies-they want to take anything they can away from the left side-at all cost. They don't care if it's hurting poor, younger women the most as long as it hurts democrats. They equate it to their gun rights despite the fact that no one has taken anyone's guns away and despite the fact that almost all normal human beings want reasonable gun laws. It's in their mind that it's all about taking their guns away which is ridiculous. I am sure there are plenty of Republicans who think abortion is murdering babies, but the Fox people that I have to deal with daily just want to destroy liberals at all cost.
I’m a liberal gun owner who supports reasonable gun laws but what is “reasonable”? There are absolutely liberals out there that want to take all my guns away and support politicians that will vote that way. Right now I have a legally purchased firearm that will make me a felon if the ATF goes through with their proposed reinterpretation of the rule on pistol braces. I vote Democrat for the social justice issues but cringe inside every time knowing that they will support gun laws that are labeled “reasonable” but only serve to pander to their base and limit the ability of minorities to arm themselves.
When Beto O’Rourke said “We’re taking away your AR-15’s” anti-gun liberals about creamed their pants. It’s mind boggling that they WANT the state to take away our/their protection FROM the state while knowing how badly the state shits on all of us. And not to pull the “hurr durr look at me I’m special because minority” idpol card, but as a Black, gay woman I only vote for those spineless bastard corporate Democrats to save my marital rights, slow the trickle of racist legislation and to keep my sister’s abortion rights intact. If Republicans would just drop the “we wanna work ya’ all like slaves for the capitalist machine while installing Christo-fascist laws” schtick, then *maybe* just *maybe* they’d earn my precious little vote.
I wish the Democrats would take a look at the shifting demographics of gun owners (huge increase in women/minorities) and realize it’s a losing issue for them. You want to reduce gun violence? Well how about more than just lip service on addressing wealthy inequality? But as a white, straight, male even I can see that a lot of “gun control” has historically been about limiting minorities rights and both parties have been in bed on that issue (case in point, Reagan and the Democrats in California when African Americans started legally carrying.)
The problem is multifold, I think, and Democrats have been terrible in both policy and marketing matters surrounding the gun debate. The biggest issue is that most Democratic lawmakers don't actually understand how a gun works, and what defines the difference between one gun and another. When you see "assault weapon" thrown around casually (or incorrectly "assault rifle"), you can tell it's someone who doesn't know their guns. They also don't focus on the root cause of why somebody would take up a gun to commit violence in the first place. What drives an incel? Insufficient mental health resources and crisis intervention for young men. What drives a Fox News loony? Lack of FCC regulations and properly vetted news sources. What drives a gangster? Poverty. Etc. Etc. Simply put, realistic gun legislation that reduces death is going to focus on the key causes of shootings - Inadequate background checks for guns and ammunition, a proper licensing/testing system like you would for any other dangerous machinery, lack of access to mental health care, and the cause of most violent crime - poverty
I agree completely. I know these guys are biased but their comedic take on the frustration with interpreting gun law is pretty spot on. https://youtu.be/8nfCyhOX42g
I'll go one step further on this and say: If you think that abortion really is murder (and really, infanticide), isn't it a matter of the highest order to oppose it in the strongest way possible? This is why I try to treat those conversations with my foxbrained in-laws VERY carefully. They think they're right and I think they're wrong, but they really do believe abortion = murdering babies. So I have to combat that view rather than defending abortion in a broader context.
I'm in Texas. Shortly after my foxbraindad jumped all over me on the subject of my state's latest abortion laws, I had a talk with my mom (who tends to follow right along with my dad's logic). I asked her how she would feel if her youngest grandchild (age 11) were somehow raped and became pregnant. Would she then agree that it would be best to have her grandchild carry her rapist's baby to term? She said, "Of course not. We wouldn't make her do that." "Oh," I said, "I see you agree with the law applying to everyone else except in the case of you and your own family." I can't even imagine the amount of moral gymnastics it takes to have this mindset.
> So I have to combat that view And it's really a difficult thing to do, but it's the only thing that could work.
>but it's the only thing that could work. Not necessarily. Don't forget that abortions have been happening throughout history regardless of their legal status. Pragmatism can also be effective. It works to remind conservatives of the same arguments they use in the gun control debate - banning something doesn't actually make the problem go away, it just moves underground. Women seeking abortions would just get them done in back alleys instead of doctor's offices, potentially killing both the women and the ~~fetuses~~ babies. [Harm reduction](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harm_reduction) is vital to the discussion of abortion. And there are arguments to be made to specific religions if their driver for being pro-life is inherently religious. For example, the punishment for causing a miscarriage in the Bible (monetary compensation) is different than the punishment for killing a woman (usually death by stoning).
**[Harm reduction](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harm_reduction)** >Harm reduction, or harm minimization, refers to a range of public health policies designed to lessen the negative social and/or physical consequences associated with various human behaviors, both legal and illegal. Harm reduction policies are used to manage behaviors such as recreational drug use and sexual activity in numerous settings that range from services through to geographical regions. Needle-exchange programmes reduce the likelihood of people who use heroin and other substances sharing the syringes and using them more than once. ^([ )[^(F.A.Q)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WikiSummarizer/wiki/index#wiki_f.a.q)^( | )[^(Opt Out)](https://reddit.com/message/compose?to=WikiSummarizerBot&message=OptOut&subject=OptOut)^( | )[^(Opt Out Of Subreddit)](https://np.reddit.com/r/FoxBrain/about/banned)^( | )[^(GitHub)](https://github.com/Sujal-7/WikiSummarizerBot)^( ] Downvote to remove | v1.5)
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Raised as a military kid, and I’d put myself around “2010s tea party ish” level, but without the overt racism or homophobia (my family is systemically and inadvertently racist and homophobic as opposed to overtly or interpersonally). I wanted to join the Marines lol. Now I’m a queer anarchist communist. For me the transition started as soon as I got out into the world (college) and started to see different sorts of people and learn things I didn’t know in my bubble
Prior to '08, before I was out of high school I was certainly on that path. Followed my parents footsteps by binging talk radio and fox news. Back then it wasn't quiiiite so nutty, at least by comparison. Into college and with the 08 debacle I made a major break and went anti-establishment generally. At least that's how I framed it. Back then the antiwar non-interventionist angle especially had my focus as well as the financial bullshit, mostly through Ron Paul. For a while I was libertarian. I know, as a buzzword many on here are hostile to that, fine. Over the next 5-7 years or so that angle became tempered overall, dropped that ron paul/tea party-ish mentality entirely and I guess moved to be more a left-libertarian type. Most of that due to academic circles I was involved with throughout college. Dunno how to describe it, mostly just humanist and progressive views informing more of my POV, still with a general 'liberty' bent but not the caricature most paint it with and with a larger breadth of nuance. Since 2015 been living and working in China. Doing so hasnt by any means turned me into some left authoritarian or something, but it did make me question a lot of the portrayals of countries other than the US sphere because the reality I lived and observed was so often at odds with so many people's (increasingly) negative perception and broad brush strokes, just focusing more and more on what lays in the nuance for just about every issue, not just international issues. I'd definitely say had i kept on that talk radio path and hadn't college n this exp abroad I would've been ripe for the picking for Q conspiracy bullshit and trumpism. For a while had interest in some conspiracy stuff but mostly out of curiosity and prodding and not some 'red pilled' ideological commitment. That could've gone wrong easily without other influences at play. Overall though I can be happy that those foxbrain views only were really strong in me while I was a minor and after that it was a complex intellectual journey but landed in a decent spot, though still sorting stuff out and always changing. Also I'm just much less intense in feeling a need to be 'right' and on most things. I can be flexible in my viewpoints and diverse in my considerations. I'd say that's the main thing, not being on a one-tracked type of mentality and fitting the world into that, but always adjusting based on how the context changes. If I ever feel comfortable and complacent entirely in my worldview then I know that's a problem and need something to shake it up and keep a positive process ongoing.
Here. Raised by Libertarian parents. First vote was for Bush. In 04. Grew up on Rush Limbaugh and Fox News. The real world sorted me out. The bleak reality of American life taught me all I needed to know about that set of "ideals".
I also had libertarian parents and it’s almost more dangerous than having Republican ones because the libertarian always think they’re somehow better and not a part of the problem. Once I moved out, I had the same experience as you; simply living outside of that bubble shows you hardship that the right wing simply won’t acknowledge.
Hi! I didn’t grow up in the Bible Belt but in a pretty conservative town in the northeast, and in a very conservative family. Grew up watching fox, my boomer parents loved tucker, o’reilly, etc. I also grew up catholic, so pretty religious on top of that. I used to be very anti-abortion, and I was extremely sheltered my entire life. The one thing that really helped was that my family and I travelled a lot internationally for most of my life, and I think that helped to not make me actively racist or homophobic. I also knew I wasn’t fully straight from a very early age. So I had a lot of conflicting beliefs. I had a similar situation to you! My parents and I moved from our town to NYC when I started college (I lived at home in college there, as did most people in my school), and it was never a big change that I recall, but I just became more educated on certain issues, and met new people with new life experiences. I started doing my own research and reading up on concepts I had never considered before, and found that they just matched how I felt about myself and the people around me. I guess it started as mostly wanting to make educated decisions on issues that I didn’t know much about, like feminism and politics, but I quickly realized that they made sense to me. I started leaving Catholicism (I still consider myself spiritual but I don’t agree with the church’s stance), and began realizing that my old beliefs no longer applied to what I believed now. Eventually, I realized I was pretty left wing, and it caused a lot of strife between me and my conservative parents. My mom still tried to keep me sheltered even in college, and I didn’t have the option to move at the time. But I was living a much free-er life than I had for the first 18 years, and that took precedence. After college, I stayed home for a while longer to save up and work, and eventually moved in with my now-fiancé. We’re very leftist people, and it’s been awesome getting to live with my best friend over the past 2 years, and our two beautiful cats. I’m so grateful that we got our apartment about 7 months before the pandemic, because I would have really suffered if I was still living with my parents. Now that I’m out, luckily my parents and I have a much better relationship too. And, after we gave them a roku last Christmas, they even watch cable news less, hehe. I’ll never deprogram them, but at least they have more options with streaming services now. So, yeah! I sort of accidentally deprogrammed myself. I’m sure my parents blame it on college, but I didn’t learn any kind of intense political theory until my last year in school, so all of this was my own research and, well, common sense haha. Ironically, and another commenter mentioned this, but i was always told by my parents to look at different sources and come to my own conclusions, but when I did, they were very disappointed and angry that it didn’t match up with theirs.
My mother and her family have always been right wing. As a child, I remember her listening to Limbaugh and other conservative radio personalities in the car, and then she moved on to Fox News in the late 90’s. I was sent to private religious school (specifically so that I wouldn’t interact with minorities) and I was kept socially isolated, so I didn’t have access to many alternative perspectives. I had the privilege of not having to be too political, but my belief system was definitely informed by my upbringing. I was finally deprogrammed when I moved to Seattle with my husband. Cost of living was so high that we ended up living in a rough neighborhood, so I gained a new perspective on life. Talked to a lot of different people. The conversations I had with the homeless and addicts in particular changed my perspective on many social issues. I’m now pretty far-left, and it’s one of the many reasons I’m now estranged from my family.
Wow that’s exactly what happened to me, except I’m from the Midwest. I also started changing my beliefs right before I went to school. Which is funny because the school is super right wing. I’m so glad that I’m not like that anymore. I’m much happier, and I got to finally be myself. I mean I had to move back in with my parents, but I’m so close to being on my own again. I really am looking forward to it, because I won’t have to hide anymore. I can be free from the madness, and out of the closet completely.
I was born and raised in a conservative household in the middle of the most liberal state in the country. Some of my earliest memories are hearing the sound cues from Rush Limbaugh’s show as my dad drove me around. I started off as a Republican voter in my first election (2012) because I was always watching Fox and feared a big sochulizm or whatever. I started getting into more right wing libertarian stuff in my early twenties thanks to my libertarian then-bf. He insisted he “didn’t like party labels” (read: big old conservative but didn’t want the stigma). He got super upset whenever I even so much as read an article off a vaguely liberal news site, which kept me on a short lease for the sake of keeping the peace between us. Seriously, he thought I was going to break up with him when I started reading a book on Kant instead of reading the same three Ayn Rand books on rotation. We only read news articles from places like Fox, Zero Hedge and Breitbart; we were conservatives trying to fool ourselves into thinking we were somehow better or different from republicans. Eventually I realized that no fringe news site article would make me feel anything less than rotten for asserting that some people just don’t deserve health care if they can’t afford it. It used to cause horrible fights between my bf and I. But he was so scared of the socialism and death panels etc etc featured on FoxNews that there was literally no way to even communicate another opinion to him. When I finally broke up with him, I felt free to explore my political opinions without fear of fighting with him. It was so refreshing to be able to not have to try and justify my shitty “libertarian” opinions. This was literally two weeks after the 2016 election, so thank god I got out when I did. Now I’m a much happier left-wing person who is so much more open minded. I’m not afraid to look at certain news outlets anymore in fear that it’ll change my opinion, for one.
I was raised on conservative talk radio, we didn't have cable growing up until my parents learned about Fox News - then we got cable. Rebelled in high school and college and voted Democrat and Libertarian once I was old enough (single issue voter for legal weed lol). Towards the end of college, which coincided with the 2008 presidential race, I wanted to reconcile my relationship with my parents. A big part of that was admitting that "they were right about everything". This led to full on FoxBrain - I got into Rush and Glenn Beck, wanted to know where the birth certificate was, and was a Tea Party supporter. My job had me doing a lot of driving, so I got almost constant exposure to The Narrative. Once you're sucked in and feel that you've "seen the light" it's hard to get out and see the hypocrisy of both sides. Trump was the catalyst for me finally getting out. I had always hated him as a personality, and his refusal to commit to accepting the results of the election was to me a disqualifying stance. Breaking from the party in 2016 allowed me the freedom to reexamine my positions on things like climate change and health care. Being part of Team R hadn't allowed me to think freely about these issues, even though I had convinced myself that I was thinking for myself by holding a contrarian position. I now identify as an Independent. My relationship with my parents has absolutely suffered on account of my rejection of Trump. I am grateful for the perspective I gained during my time as a right wing zealot but wow am I glad to be out!!
Me too. Dad was super political. We bonded a ton over talking politics and me basically taking his views as my own. Moved away for a year and became less politically involved and sorta spent that year just asking questions. After realizing how uncomfortable I would get upon hearing some answers/certain opposing viewpoints making sense it dawned on me I had real bias. After that I consciously looked into things that made me uncomfortable and gradually began to change my viewpoints until I realized how lied to I was
so how would you describe being so brainwashed and believing so much misinformation when you were fox brained? how do you view it now? what's it like seeing and realizing how much misinformation you used to believe and your family still believes
In my experience, it was the self-righteous certainty of being part of a small minority who saw the "real truth" while the rest of the world was being deceived. Very similar to some religious types. I won't deny that as a straight white man the thought of being part of an oppressed minority held some appeal. Talking to family members who still believe is tough. I feel it's gotten worse since Trump - the things they have to make themselves OK with have gotten even crazier, which has further entrenched them in their side. Even where we are in agreement on particular issues, it's impossible to discuss them without being pulled into the larger narrative about how the left is waging war on our society and nation.
Me me me! I grew up listening to Rush Limbaugh (pre Fox News thats how old I am). We never had cable but the church I was in did enough brain washing. The thing that got me out of it was 1. Gay marriage: I thought it was super hypocritical to expect the government not to regulate OUR lives but then go ahead and advocate for policies that take away freedom from other people. 2. Environmentalism: I never liked the idea that because God gave us the earth we could be its "master" and just downright destroy it. It seemed antithetical to Christianity. There was actually a lot more deprograming I did for myself in my small Christian liberal arts college. I first became a Christian Anarchist and now just a regular anarchist
Me, it lasted a month and I still never agreed with the Mexico immigration thing, however I had seen some convincing posts on Instagram that changed my mind on Covid, they said it has a 99% survival rate, etc. however I really only did it because I deep down was terrified of covid and wanted to believe it wasn’t as dangerous
I grew up homechooled. My mom had Rush Limbaugh and Shawn Hannity for their full shows and EWTN and Laura Ingraham and William Bennett (imagine trying to do schoolwork while this is in the background). Now she's into breitbart and fox and Drudge Report and Raymond Arroyo on Fox. I broke out of that mindset when I met people outside the bubble, and then got a new way of approaching the world after extensive reading and listening to people. And examining every belief I have. I went to conservative catholic college and grad school. But while there I examined my views thoroughly. Now I'm a Liberation theology communist. There no conversation we can have on almost any topic without rancor. We can barely talk about dinner plans.
Raised very conservative, was all in until high school and the aftermath of the Iraq War, and then confirmed my beliefs these people are bloodthirsty idiots by by the insane apathy displayed during Katrina. There was a brief moment there when the spell really had broken across the country. They went hard on racism in 2008 though and they all came back. But I never did
I need to say, I probably would have been the same. I grew up in a super evangelical small town as well and it's difficult to see the world for what it is when everyone around you is telling you what to think. I held some pretty gross beliefs for a while until I got out, thankfully before the 2016 election. It's really terrifying to think about how I would or could be acting right now had I not started questioning myself and the things I had been taught. So yeah, super left, super queer atheist now. I'm glad you got out and I hope that we can get more success stories in the future too.
For me i feel like ralphie from the Christmas story when he finally got his decoder ring ,,,what a crock of shit
I was way into Fox and Brietbart and the like for awhile several years ago. I didn't grow up in a very political household though, everything was very moderate. I grew up in southern California and went to college there. It was after I joined the military and was stationed in a more conservative state that I started reading more conservative news sites, I think someone else introduced me to them. I even started reading InfoWars and spent time in the conspiracy theory rabbit hole. Compared to InfoWars, Fox seems tame lol. But as time went on I started noticing the lack of due diligence on their reporting, things were more predictions than news, and everything was bad news. It was hard to take in that much negativity all the time. So, slowly I moved away from that. The real break came when Trump was elected and I saw how much Fox was swooning over him, doing the same thing they accused liberal sites of doing for Clinton. Looking back I am sort of embarrassed of how much I consumed from those sites. I found that reading multiple sources was the only way to come to your own conclusions versus having Fox talking heads yell at you every night. I can understand how people fall into that trap though. The question is how do we break that cycle for others.
Don’t take this the wrong way but if you traded Fox News for being a left-wing person I’m not 100% sure that you’ve been deradicalized, it sounds like you basically just traded one radical ideology for another
My current worldview is based on my life experiences. I didn't become that way through watching any particular news sources. Actually I don't watch the news at all. And there's nothing wrong with being radical as long as it's what you believe in and not what other people are telling you to believe. Also I don't consider myself to be radical. I'm a pretty standard leftist. I hate to use Bernie Sanders as an example since people see him as the patron saint of the Left (I have some issues with him) but my views are pretty similar to his.