As only 21, haven’t had too many life-altering paradigm shifts, but here it goes:
Religion - went to Catholic HS, became non-practicing Christian upon graduation, after five years of university can call myself agnostic.
Censorship - was firmly against it, but now it seems there’s too many stupid people saying too many inane things, without looking at the greater consequences of what they’re spewing, and am hesitantly supporting it. But once I hear some politician say “sex and violence” (equivocating the two, as always) are the causes of evil again, I’ll probably change my mind. Or at least retch.
Drug/Alcohol Policy - against all forms of drug/alcohol use in HS (wasn’t I the fun one!), to acceptance of other people’s right to do what they want with their bodies. Also now in favour of the legalization of marijuana (but nothing harder).
Music - mainstream in HS, then brief phase where listened to only obscure independent artists, now some combination of mainstream rock and independent music.
The DH - like SNenc, originally for but now strongly, strongly against. Funny how one begins to appreciate pitching duels as they get older.
I think it’s pretty funny that I’m the odd man out with the direction it went in, but my religious ideas changed, and they were partly affected by this board! Strangely (in the context of everyone else’s experience), it was reading the posts of zev_steinhardt and cmkeller, which helped me to decide to become a (more) observant Jew. I think it was the high regard in which they were (and are) held here, and their honest, heartfelt and consistent statements, which helped to nudge me in a direction I was equivocating over.
Religion: Christian fundie to doubting Christian moderate to agnostic to liberal amalgam of many Christian sects to skeptical Christian moderate/conservative.
Politics: Strict conservative to highly liberal to moderate.
Pretty much all my other views follow some sort of circular path like the above. In addition, most of this was primarily forming an identity, so I’m not really sure if this was change or just figuring things out.
Religion: Went from somewhat Catholic to serious lapsed Catholic to agnostic to extremely conservative fundamentalist Christian to very Catholic.
General politics- from very liberal to ultra conservative to fairly middle of the road-more liberal than most of my friends, more conservative than most of my family.
Abortion-from highly pro-choice to pro-life, but still believe it must be legal. While I cannot conceive of any situation in which I would have an abortion, I cannot and will not make that choice for anyone else.
I’ve made some circles in most of my beliefs and swung from one extreme to another, only to find that I am fairly middle of the road on most issues. It can be interesting-especially when my friends and my family get together.
Religion:I went from catholic,to just believing in some kind of higher power,to believing in no higher power to believing that theres no way to really figure out if there is or there isn’t
Death penalty:From thinking its never okay,to thinking sometimes,to not knowing if its okay or not
Abortion:Went from its never okay,to very few exceptions for it,to it depends on the exact situation
After witnessing an undercover camera recording public executions in Afghanistan (two men were hanging from a soccer goal post while people milled around and one woman was made to kneel on the ground while a man put a gun to her head and blew her brains out), I can now say that I am very uncertain about the correctness of this. It was so nakedly brutal.
Abortion: Went from unwaveringly and strongly pro-choice to reluctantly but still strongly pro-choice. I think that casting the issue as simply a woman’s right to choose is sticking one’s head in the sand regarding the morality of the practice, but I do not think it can or should be banned.
Death Penalty: Went from strongly against to supportive in cases where there is no question the person committed the crime and the only issue is whether mitigating factors or defenses are involved (i.e., “yes, I killed him, but it was self-defense” or “yes, I killed him, but he had abused me for years so take mercy on me,” etc.). I am strongly opposed to it whenever the defendant claims he/she did not commit the act. IOW, I think we need absolute certainty rather than simply beyond a reasonable doubt of guilt, although I know that’s not the legal standard. I am also opposed to ever executing kids under the age of 18, retarded people, or the mentally ill, because I think a necessary part of the punishment is understanding the punishment.
Social policies generally: Went from knee-jerk, hand-wringing liberal to moderate–government is not a panacea and throwing money at a problem won’t necessarily solve it.
Foreign policy generally (I’m American): Went from knee jerk, hand-wringing liberal to slightly right of center–we are the only superpower left and we (along with the other Western democracies) are superior to China, North Korea, Iraq, etc. We can’t and shouldn’t do whatever we want, but we get to tell France and their ilk to piss off if we feel like it. (that was a joke, for the humor-impaired among you…)
Abortion: Went from being against abortion in all cases to completely pro-choice.
Death Penalty: Used to be for it completely. “Fry the fuckers” I would say. Now I am so very against the idea of the death penalty that I plan on going to law school specifically so I can fight it.
Religion: I used to be a very active member in the LDS Church. Some of you may remember when I first joined, I was one of Jesus’s biggest cheer-leaders. Now I’m very close to being a hard-core athiest.
Homosexuals: Used to believe they were wrong with a capital “W”. Maybe they were born that way, but that doesn’t mean they couldn’t change, right? It’s like bein gal alcoholic, right? Of course now I realize how silly, naive, and ignorant that is.
Children: Wanted to have a dozen. Then I decided to never have any kids at all, ever. Now I’m thinking maybe one or two eventually won’t be so bad.
I would like to note that I give full credit to the SDMB and specifically Great Debates for how I now view the world. Maybe it seems like GD is kind of pointless because it “never convinces anybody”. Well, it convinced me in a big way.
Religion : Raised Catholic, then was brainwashed “born-again” by some folks when i was weak, then Hare-Krishna, then nothing. I guess i believe in the whole Star Wars “the force” type God now.
Abortion : Used to protest it, now I feel that being a man gives me absolutely no say in the matter whatsoever. Don’t tell me what to do with my body and I won’t tell you what to do with yours.
Vegetarianism : Was a staunch vegetarian for 4 years. Now I tend to cook entirely vegetarian, but i will eat a burger if it’s given to me.
Guns : used to be completely anti-gun. As the riots in Cincinnati raged only a few blocks from my house, i almost went and bought a shotgun.
Hip Hop : Used to hate it and consider it and Country Music to be the most dispicable forms of music. Now i listen to it almost as much as Jazz.
White Castle : Used to fear it, now i am a true believer.
Was raised going to (Methodist) church everyday. As soon as I got old enough to ask myself “Why do I believe this?” I stopped. Have been an agnostic ever since.
Until I got to college, I thought all drugs and alcohol were things “bad” kids did. Same for sex. I was such a goody-goody. I’ve loosened up a LOT.
I’ve always been kind of wishy-washy on the death penalty until just recently. We’ve got a huge investigation going on right now in OKC about a police chemist who is accused of falsifying DNA tests and commiting perjury for years, on hundreds of criminal cases. They’ve already released some people who were wrongly convicted thanks to her. That has just made it hit home for me that we can never be absolutely, 100% sure that someone is guilty. So I oppose the DP because of the risk of executing an innocent person.
I’ve been pretty consistent on my other beliefs, but I strive to keep an open mind.
Religion: Raised in an ex-Cathloic household, never went to church, but still believed in God and most Christian stuff. Realized that a lot of it didn’t make sense, went to athiest. Then agnostic. Then Wiccian. Realized that involved a lot more effort than I wanted to put into it. Now I’m a sorta pagan-taoist-animist-conglomo that makes me very happy.
Sex: Nope, not 'till I’m married. Ok, but only with the guy I’m gonna marry. OK, then with someone else, 'cause I’m not gonna marry him. Ok, I really need to get laid. I’m so proud of me.
Capital Punishment: I was originally in favor of capital punishment; now I’m against it.
Immigration: I used to feel strongly that immigration was economically damaging. Having studied the issue some more, I now feel immigration is very positive.
Economics: A mild happy-ideal-world-socialist as a kid, veered to libertarian when I started learning some more, then modified my stance towards a more realistic economic conservatism when I matured.
Politics: Used to belong to a political party; I am now strongly anti-partisan.
Quebec: Used to support “distinct society” type concessions; now I support a hard “we are all equal” line.
Gun control: Used to think guns should be banned, now I think firearms usage should be taught in school.
Drugs: used to think drug dealers should get the death penalty, now I support legalization.
Capital punishment: I used to be in favor of it, and now, while I still believe murder justifies capital punishment in a purely ethical sense, I don’t believe it can properly exist in a human justice system. Humans make mistakes.
My favorite beer used to be Heinekin. But I’ve taken a liking to Bass Ale.
Religion: Went from vaguely Christian to homegrown pagan to momentarily Catholic, to pseudo-Satanist, to Wiccan, to quasi-Wiccan-Christian-spiritual-agnostic.
Drugs: Went from drugs are evil to drugs should be legal.
Politics: Went from liberal to liberal-libertarian.
Marriage: Went from assuming it would happen to not wanting it to happen to looking forward to the possibility.
Music: Went from liking Disney songs to liking R&B and Dance/Pop to liking Alternative to liking punk and alternative.
Religion: Started out in Conservative Judaism, became Orthodox early on (when I was about ten). Gave serious thought to giving it up during some of my teen years (although I never did any serious rebelling). However, I am now happily Orthodox again.
Politics: Went from being a liberal with some conservative viewpoints to being a conservative with some moderate viewpoints.
Gun control: Used to be among the “guns should be banned” gang. Now in the middle, still unsure of which position I will take.
Capital Punishment: Was never anti-death penalty, but my attitude towards the DP has changed. I used to be the type who would be happy at executions. I have now grown up to realize that executions are a necessary evil and should be solemn occasions. They are not an excuse to hold a BBQ party outside the prison walls.
Designated Hitter: Used to love it. Now I can go either way on the issue.
Wild Card: I prefer the old system where a team had to come in first to proceed. These second-place finishers getting into the World Series just grates on me.
Term Limits: Used to be for them. Now am staunchly against them. I firmly believe that it is the electorate’s responsibility to vote out the dead wood at the voting booth. If the electorate is too stupid to educate themselves about the candidates and the issues, then the electorate gets the government that it deserves.
My feelings on this last one are so strong that I would have been for dumping the 22nd Ammendment even if it meant that Bill Clinton could run for a third term (and I am no Bill Clinton fan.
[blushing]
Thank you for your very kind words HenrySpencer. And the knowledge that I had some small part in helping you to become more observant means more to me than you can know. Thank you. ;j
Affirmative Action: used to believe it was a necessary evil…now believe that it creates far too many problems to be “necessary”
Gun Control: used to be highly in favor of handgun control. Now, I read gun control debates without posting…and try to educate myself. Check back in a year
Death Penalty: went from neutral to firm opposition.
I’m so proud of me.