One of the weird things about politics is that there seems to be a resistance to changing your mind. In fact, it seems to be a badge of honor to double down on something over time, even when evidence shows you're wrong.
A classic quality of a bona fide scientist is the ability to take on more data until you can prove or disprove a theory that you're testing. I would say that some are thrilled by a negative outcome, because now they can talk about something with more certainty either way. For aspects of everyday life, I imagine that this can be harder, because we're emotional creatures. Still, I may be disappointed when something that I hope is true turns out not to be, but I'd rather have that over constant engagement of cognitive dissonance.
This phenomenon of doubling down seems to get worse as people age, which logically is the opposite of what I would expect. As we get older, we have more experiences, we take on more information. I enjoy learning new things, and take pride in living a life of constant learning. I've also tried to be comfortable with what I don't know, in no small part because my step-father insisted that he knew everything, and I resented that. I do my best to try and see the world through a lens of discovery and wonder, because it still surprises me.
I'm starting to feel though that I am not typical. I mean, I know I'm not neurotypical, but again, it seems like this is the way we should operate as we get older. But I look at how Boomers have tended to lean significantly conservative, and that surprises me. When I say "conservative," I'm not really referring to a cohesive ideology as I am a tendency to get stuck in a certain way of thinking. It would seem to me that, at that age, they would all be more open to literally everything that isn't comfortable. They have more data.
When I am talking about an ideology, in the political sense, yes, I'm talking about the belief that immigrants are bad, people of other religions are bad, queer people are bad, people of color are bad, and all of those groups collectively threaten their way of life. When thinking critically, of course we can quantify why none of that is true, and when you remove the critical thinking, you're usually only left with some combination of hate and mistrust.
The hate and mistrust is just as surprising as the inelastic mindset. I can't imagine being in my 70's or later spending any energy on hating anyone. I can't do it now, I certainly don't want to when I have less time left!
Most of these areas of conservatism seem to be about cultural issues. I've always considered myself as politically moderate, which is to say skeptical of both parties, and not at all interested in the cultural stuff because it does not affect me, and I'm not interested in negatively affecting anyone in those marginalized groups. It's bizarre to me that such a sentiment is considered "liberal." If caring about other people is liberal, I'd love to readjust that expectation to making it about being human.
In any case, I want to continue changing my mind. But I can only see one logical conclusion in that process... I will continue to want to care about people and advocate that they live free of the marginalization that is the focus of half of Americans now. Because so far, new information only confirms that marginalizing groups of people does not benefit me, and throughout human history it has not improved our outcomes. It has, objectively, caused only worse outcomes.
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