They can.
When it comes from people changing from being dickheads, I think it can take some people rock bottom, or being confronted by a chad who they perceive as worthy of respect to change to change them.
My mom is/was a racist Trumper, until my chad uncle confronted her and told her she was being a dick. He told her that he wouldn’t continue to talk to her if she didn’t change.
She did take heed and ended up not voting for Trump in 2024.
Most people who are like my mom won’t listen to somebody like me. She sees me as not worth listening to because I’m not a man.
And this is why I think only a recovered narcissist male who has seen this happen in real time (and who is also a chad) will probably be successful as an opponent against Trump.
Yes in 2 ways:
- Gradually through the years, so slowly they don’t even notice it
- If they internally decide they have to do it, for some motivation of their own
What will never ever happen is that people change if others demand it from them. If you hear someone saying “I promise I will change” - no they won’t.
I disagree with your last statement. Is promising to change not evidence of the motivation to change?
Some people lie about their intentions or don’t plan to change as quickly as expected, absolutely. But to assume everyone who has promised to change won’t feels unfair.
Yes, have you never changed?
I have, in small ways. I think it’s less about changing but more about opening up though. I’m not sure my value system ever changed but it has been challenged again and again with new ideas and things I never knew to consider.
It depends and I judge based on what a person has done.
Can a murderer change? Well, they’ve taken a life or maybe numerous lives so I place them on the irreversible pile. Those who can’t change because let’s say, they might’ve had multiple chances to change prior to murdering and they blew them all.
Can an addict change? Possibly, if they haven’t gone far deep into the addiction. There will always be some kind of change opportunity for them and they haven’t done irreparable damage yet.
You have to evaluate people by levels and where their stances are in life.
Yep, but they have to want it and work at it for positive results in many cases. Negative change can happen pretty easily through unwelcome events. That’s my overly simplistic answer.
They can for sure.
If you are asking if a racist can become less racist, yes, but only if they spend time around people of other races often (and is willing to be open minded)
I’ll tell you that, if I didn’t immigrate to the US, and I was in China, I’d probably be very xenophobia against non-Chinese people, due to the lack of exposure to other people.
So in this timeline, I’m a Social Democrat that is accepting of LGBT+ people and people of other races.
In the other timeline, the one in which I did not immigrate to the US, who knows, maybe I’d be some Han-Supremacist Chinese-Nationalist?
When I think about stuff like the multiverse and stuff, its kinda unsettlling how different the diverging timelines could be.
I mean, there are probably “racist” versions of yourselves in another timeline, just saying. 👀
Yep. I’ve changed.
I’m worried the baby thinks people can’t change
Look into Neuroplasticity.
People can change if they’re willing to put in the effort to do so.
I’m an old guy. I started my life as a right-wing Conservative Christian. I’m now. Both an atheist and an anarchist. So yes people change. My journey has been six decades long.
That’s a crazy journey. Would you say the values you held, when you were a christian, were bad? Or that your values changed?
I have espoused views in my life I’m not proud of, but I think the same can be said of anyone.
Part of my journey was a search for intellectual consistency. Their are people of faith who are able to do that, I am not one of them. When it comes to politics, there are two contemporary thinkers (Ken White and Radley Balko) who forced me to re-evaluate my beliefs.
I believe there are many Conservative thinkers who hold their positions in good faith. Sometimes they are even correct! I believe there are also many Liberal thinkers who hold their positions in good faith, sometimes they are right also.
So to answer your question, I don’t think my values were bad, some of my thinking about how to implement those values definitely was though.
As with most people we morph over time.
I guess that’s what I am kinda curious about. I think some christians have good values that fit into the chrsitian world view but then they are isolated by christianity and never expand those values. I don’t think they are inherently bad or anything they’ve just been so insular they’re afraid to grant the outsider the same consideration as the in group. I dunno.
I have certainly changed over the years. The change can be attributed partially to growing as a person over the years, and partially to major, life-altering events.
Some things, people cannot change, except by getting worse. Someone who is suffering from dementia, certain personality disorders, etc., may learn techniques to cope and even thrive, but there’s nothing that can restore lost brain function, or undo childhood developmental issues that fundamentally affect the brain.
If they can’t we’re definitely fucked so it’s better to assume yes.
