When did you last change your opinion?

[Derek Smith]

sociopath said:

Whereas I came from the same (there was only one black family in town), and I think me and my old school buddies weren't bigoted because we had nothing to be bigoted about, and no experience of it.

And when one of our school friends came out, the general response was "ok, wanna beer?"

A player came out as gay in my lad's rugby team. They almost exactly mirrored your conduct. They were praised for their conduct by some, but the guys were a bit confused. They didn't give a damn, he was a mate, so what was there to big up?

[CubanPete]

thewarlock said:

This.

I'm wrong, all the time.

You're married too.

[rodericb]

AJL308 said:

Stick Legs said:

On a darker note: Racism. I grew up listening to the views of my father, and took on board some of his attitudes.
I am proud to say that I have banished it from my life now, but it is sad how entrenched certain views can be when drip fed over your whole childhood.

A good point. In relation to that, I believe that the number of true racists we have in the UK, as a percentage of people overall, is very small indeed. I think it was always the case, to be honest. Yes, there are still a lot of unpleasant words and behaviours around but I personally can't bring to mind a single person from my almost 50 years on the planet (other than perhaps one) who genuinely holds the belief that other races are inferior and should be eradicated or shipped off to foreign lands. I think that a lot of what we perceive as racism today is actually more an intolerance of other cultures (which is not the same and may or may not be justified) rather than intolerance of people due to their race or other biological factors.

Everyone is racist, or any other -ist you can think of, as that's human nature. It's the points of difference and how much you want to make of it that can become an issue. People would do well to accept that they are racist, even if in a tiny tiny form, and spend more time on pondering why people escalate the perceived differences into action.

[Ridgemont]

Iraq war: was pro for various reasons (geopolitical realignment mostly). Then watched a grade A clusterfk unfold led by people who believed they knew what they were doing but who quite clearly had no idea.

That said Syria almost demonstrated what happens with no intervention. But either way Iraq was a significant changing of mind.
Fool me once etc

[DRFC1879]

sociopath said:

DRFC1879 said:

I've certainly become far more open-minded over the last 20 years.

Coming from a fairly impoverished Northern mining town it was easy to be a bit bigotted. Suspicion/dislike of people of colour, homosexuals etc. was the norm. I cringe when I think of some of the things I said and believed as a teenager.

It wasn't really until I came into more contact with people from these minority groups that I realised they are just like anyone else. Most of them are absolutely fine, some of them are dheads. We're all people at the end of the day. I like to think that these days I don't judge anyone on anything other than their behaviour.

Whereas I came from the same (there was only one black family in town), and I think me and my old school buddies weren't bigoted because we had nothing to be bigoted about, and no experience of it.

And when one of our school friends came out, the general response was "ok, wanna beer?"

I get that but as there were probably half a dozen non-whites in my school year of 400 kids they did stand out somewhat and the labels that you'd hear growing up in the 80's were pretty much as you'd expect: "P-ki, nig-nog" etc. and anyone camp on TV was a "poof." As a child I didn't know any better but as I grew up it became very clear that those terms and the associated attitudes are just wrong on every level. I would guess that if I'd grown up in London, surrounded by people form all sorts of backgrounds the differences would have been less noticeable or remarkable.

[98elise]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

404 Page not found said:

I even thought Boris would do a good job.

The strange thing here is not that you've changed your opinion, but that you ever held that opinion in the first place. He's completely fked up every single job he ever held before that current one. He, along with Dido Harding, are world leaders in what we now call "failing upwards".

He put Corbyn and McDonnell firmly back in their box. Thats one job well done.

[MDMetal]

Covid, when it started popping up on the news I was definitely behind the sofa thinking the black detahw as upon us.

Once the data came through I've become a massive sceptic (not of the virus) in terms of our reaction to it. Totally overblown and the reaction has caused more hardship than the virus ever could.

I tend to hold opinions along the status Quo until I go look at the data and see whats actually happening.

Brexit was the same, totally remain up till the point there was a vote and I went to have a think....

[TwigtheWonderkid]

98elise said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

404 Page not found said:

I even thought Boris would do a good job.

The strange thing here is not that you've changed your opinion, but that you ever held that opinion in the first place. He's completely fked up every single job he ever held before that current one. He, along with Dido Harding, are world leaders in what we now call "failing upwards".

He put Corbyn and McDonnell firmly back in their box. Thats one job well done.

Even a stopped watch gets the time right twice a day.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

andy_s said:

I now think supercars are quite boring, if that counts

God, me too. Used to be obsessed with cars, but now I'm just not arsed. A mate who ownes a garage had a Lotus Carlton for sale, and knowing I'd always loved them, asked me if I wanted to pop over for a test drive. But he was 25 miles away and I couldn't be bothered.

If I won the lotto tomorrow, I'd by a 60s bubble car.

[Esceptico]

DRFC1879 said:

sociopath said:

DRFC1879 said:

I've certainly become far more open-minded over the last 20 years.

Coming from a fairly impoverished Northern mining town it was easy to be a bit bigotted. Suspicion/dislike of people of colour, homosexuals etc. was the norm. I cringe when I think of some of the things I said and believed as a teenager.

It wasn't really until I came into more contact with people from these minority groups that I realised they are just like anyone else. Most of them are absolutely fine, some of them are dheads. We're all people at the end of the day. I like to think that these days I don't judge anyone on anything other than their behaviour.

Whereas I came from the same (there was only one black family in town), and I think me and my old school buddies weren't bigoted because we had nothing to be bigoted about, and no experience of it.

And when one of our school friends came out, the general response was "ok, wanna beer?"

I get that but as there were probably half a dozen non-whites in my school year of 400 kids they did stand out somewhat and the labels that you'd hear growing up in the 80's were pretty much as you'd expect: "P-ki, nig-nog" etc. and anyone camp on TV was a "poof." As a child I didn't know any better but as I grew up it became very clear that those terms and the associated attitudes are just wrong on every level. I would guess that if I'd grown up in London, surrounded by people form all sorts of backgrounds the differences would have been less noticeable or remarkable.

This

There seems to be some crazy revisionist behaviour on both sides of the racism issue. On the one hand you have the nonsense narrative about the presence of non whites in the UK - prior to WWII there were almost none. Even growing up in the 70s, if you didn’t live in very specific parts of the UK you would rarely meet non white people.

On the other hand you have people claiming that there wasn’t much racism in the past. Nonsense. The few non whites in my school received constant racist abuse - up to and including physical abuse. People of my parents and grandparents, even (or perhaps because) if they had no direct experience of non whites were routinely racist.

I suggest anyone doubting should read Burmese Days by Orwell (based heavily on his time in Burma). The attitudes towards the Burmese and Indians is pretty shocking by today’s standard but was the norm for the time.