Of course I have. My support for the death penalty is one that’s undergoing a lot of change. I haven’t changed my view towards being a death penalty opponent, but the legitimate flaws coming up are very worrisome.
I think that Atomicktom has it exactly right.
I went from being a socialist to a libertarian to a libertarian/conservative.
On little things I probably change my mind once or twice a day. I think it’s a good thing.
I found the old link, but the phot album it links to has changed over the years, and I have to clean it up and make a new link.
Well, I’ve changed my voter registration three times, and I’m probably going to do it again as soon as I have the time. This time I’m going to register as “Independent” so I don’t have to commit to anything.
My political views have changed greatly since my college days. A 4 year stint in the Peace Corps, way back-65-69, was testament to liberal leanings common to liberal arts majors, but life in general, and growth in body and mind have led me to a much more conservative view.
I use to be totally anti-death penalty. Now I realize that some people enjoy killing, will never repent or change, and will kill if they escape or are released from prison. Those people deserve to be killed for the sake of society.
If you need a cite, google “Ted Bundy.”
Many things…I guess I’m a flip flopper.
The one that stuck in my mind from Junior High/late elementary school and my first memory of changing my mind was UFO’s.
Was fascinated by them…read much about them…came to change my mind that they really weren’t there.
I’m wondering if it looks anything like this.
I feel somewhat similar. Although I think I’m on the fence about that one–honestly, I jump back and forth day to day.
I felt similarly about sex offenders and Megan’s Law. I used to think that either you let them out or keep them in, but that making them register seemed inhumane. I’ve since changed my mind and know that there are offenders who won’t reoffend, but I think that knowing who’s a sex offender is more important.
I read a lot of true crime, and I agree with you in principle. There are some real sadistic psychopaths out there. I eventually heard that the cost of keeping these guys in prison for life is less than the cost of execution. I have absolutely no sympathy for the serial murderers and child killers, but I don’t want us to pay an assload of money for their automatic appeals. Another factor is that some of the other countries which observe a death penalty can be less than savory, and I don’t really like the U.S. to “keep company” with them.
These two thoughts have caused me to change my opinion from pro-death-penalty to anti-.
The idea behind it costing so much is that once you go for the death penalty, the convicted person will have to fight and appeal up the court chain as far as he can until 40 years later he’ll eventually be unable to appeal any more–but will have worked up 40 years worth of court cases that all have to be financed by the government.
I’m not sure I believe that this is a valid argument for saying that it’s more expensive to have the death penalty. I would tend to believe that the person is going to fight life imprisonment and appeal it all the way up the chain as well.
Mr. Life in Prison does get out and kills more innocent people. What type of price tag is too high to prevent that from happening?
I went with a cop for ten years and met a lotta lotta cops. I never met one who didn’t believe in the death penalty for certain cases. FBI agent John Douglas, who was the model for Jack Crawford in Thomas Harris’s books, writes about one of the actors who played him in one of the movies saying he didn’t believe in the death penalty. Douglas played him an audiotape of two killers torturing a 15 year old girl to death. After he heard it, the actor was crying and stated “I have a 15 year old daughter. That could have been her on that tape.” He then changed his mind on the subject.
I’m a little shocked by this question. Anybody who hadn’t changed an opinion this way would have serious problems.
In some ways, lately, I’ve re-adopted opinions I moved away from years earlier; I’ve been wondering if I wasn’t trying to compromise on the wrong things.
I have little respect for someone who doesn’t change their opinion from time to time when presented with overwhelming solid evidence contrary to their belief.
I’ve done so many times. Probably at least a half-dozen times on the SDMB. That’s why I’m here. Fighting ignorance should cause changes in opinion.
I think as we grow, we all change our opinions - you can’t help it. The more you experience in life (both practically and anecdotally) the more facts you have available to form your opinions. Isn’t this kind of what critical thinking is all about?
I’ve changed my opinions on a few things once I started reading the dope - I’m not going to get into what they where (that’s personal) but in its battle to fight ignorance, it’s working on me. 
The biggest capital-I-issue I’ve changed my mind about is gun control. I used to be pro-gun-control just because I was, because of my generally liberal upbringing, etc. After talking to some actual gun owners and thinking about the bill of rights, I’ve come to the conclusion that people do in fact have the right to own guns (although I’m definitely still in favor of waiting periods, background checks, registration, and anything else that will make it easier to catch people who misuse guns, or stop people who are going to use them in a dangerous/irresponsible fashion).
Yes. This is what additional information is for.
For example I used to be against affirmative action, thinking that strictly equal treatment in a color blind way was the only proper course. Then two things happened. One, I got heavily involved in genealogy, and wound up thinking that I was not a self made man and an original thinker, I was little more than the next expectable step in my own family. And, two, I read Slaves in the Family, by Richard Ball. At that point I changed my belief to the following: there were several hundred years of government endorsed and enforced and franchised, highly organized, pervasive, savage mistreatment specifically on the basis of ancestry, and nobody reasonable would claim that a generation or two of greatly improved access to the law and to public life was a sufficient attempt at setting things back to an equal footing. So, while I’m not sure what to do, I imagine things like affirmative action may be a good part of the program, and I’m all ears.
As a teen I was a homophobe. I thought that anyone who was gay was a freak of nature who was wholly deserving of the worst ridicule and scorn that could be dished out. Why? Because it was the cool thing to do. Everybody hated fags, and since a lot of people seemed to think I was gay myself (I was just a little late with noticing girls) I felt I had to reaffirm my heterosexuality by bashing gays.
As I got older I learned that gay people are far more common than I had once thought and that they’re just like anyone else, other than that they prefer to be in the company of members of their own sex. They hold viable jobs and make positive, productive contributions to the good of society, plus, many of them are great artists and musicians (I would have been horrified as a teen if I had known that Rob Halford of Judas Priest was gay). They don’t force their sexuality upon me and they pose no threat to me, so what’s to hate about them?
I also used to think anyone who was religious was to be admired for his or her ability to lead such a clean and straight life, and I took anything they said or did in the name of God as indisputable and irrefutable gospel without question. As I have gotten older I have come to realize that a lot of people who are religious are complete nutjobs and what the things they do in the name of their chosen diety are ludicrous and dispicable. This is not to say I am a Christian-turned-athiest, but I have taken a much more crtitical view of such matters and have become increasingly skeptical about the claims made by religious zealots.
Sure.
UFOs
Loch Ness Monster
God
Santa Claus
Efficiency in Government
Homosexuality
Iraq War
Legalized marijuana
You name it.
Oddly enough, I had a similar experience that changed my mind, over a period of time, from being a fervent supporter of affirmative action to pretty much an opponent. All because I met a number of highly qualified, hard-working and highly competent people who’d lost work contracts, lost seats in college and lost out on jobs because of affirmative action. That in itself wasn’t enough, but studies that show the concept simply hasn’t done what it was supposed to do turned me against it. The point is, it was because I kept my mind open to new information.
Funny how two open-minded people can exchange positions on the same topic because of their willingness to take in new information.
