What is Your History of Views?

[IMPress Polly]

Thought I'd do something a tad different today and ask everyone what sorts of social and/or philosophical opinions they've had in the past that have led them to how they think now. Just a little 'getting to know each other better' exercise. You can use any approach to this or any approach you want. Use a diagram, write out an explanation, or whatever!

Personally, being someone who actually likes labels and categorizations for the sake of simplicity, I'll divide my personal history of views into three basic time periods:


2001-7

Main Social Priority: Anti-Imperialism
Secondary Social Priority: Privacy Rights

Political Trajectory: Vaguely Marxian -> Libertarian -> Generic Progressive -> Anarchist Communist -> Democratic Socialist
Religious Trajectory: Non-Religious -> Wiccan -> Satanist -> Gnostic Christian -> Zen Buddhist -> Daoist

2007-15

Main Social Priority: Global Poverty
Secondary Social Priority: Animal Liberation

Political Trajectory: Classical Maoist -> Bob Avakian Thought -> Third Worldist -> Democratic Socialist -> Futurist Marxist
Religious Trajectory: Atheist -> Daoist -> Agnostic

2015-Present

Main Social Priority: Women's Liberation
Secondary Social Priority: Earth Liberation

Political Trajectory: Anarchist Communalist
Religious Trajectory: Agnostic -> Atheist


Yeah, one gathers that my outlook on life and politics has been kinda all over the place over the years, but mostly in fringy left type places. That's just who I am. I'm an experimenting, risk-taking kind of person on a level that most people aren't. Most people tend to get only loosely interested in most any given thing and really devote themselves to only one or a few things. I, on the other hand, really don't do a lot of things half-heartedly. But that also leaves room in my life for relatively few interests at any given point. I have passions and care about almost nothing besides them. And because I devote so much of myself to my passions, I also tend to discover their faults and shortcomings fairly quickly (often the hard way), which results in my moving on to the next thing.

I would say that the period from 2011 to 2014 was the best period of my adult life to date. I ditched my last personality cult (the Leading Light Communist Organization), landed my current job as an educator, and life just seemed to be finally starting to fall into place a little more for me than it had up to that point. Hey, my worldview even moderated a little! I began to accept ideas like gradualism and electoral politics and a fairly optimistic view of the future. Events of the last several years, however, both in my personal life and just in the world, have pushed me back toward the fringes again in terms of my thinking. Phenomenon like the Islamic State and the ascendancy of strongman politics throughout much of the world in recent years, along with accelerating rates of depression and suicidal tendencies particularly among women and girls, have made women's liberation a top priority of mine and developments surrounding the environment haven't wound up going the more positive direction I thought they would have by now, but just the opposite, and that has pushed me away from what they call bright green (i.e. sustainable development) type thinking and toward deep green (i.e. anti-development) politics.

Spiritually, I've just simply given up. When I say that I'm an atheist, I don't just mean that I don't believe in a God of any kind, but also that I really reject the idea of the supernatural entirely. That's where I am on that journey at present. It's a new place for me in a way. When I regarded myself as an atheist in the past, I always had some kind of logical substitute in place; cults of personality that I was subscribing to that fulfilled my need for a deeper sense of purpose. I don't have any substitutes for a God or a divine force going on this time around. It's lonely and discouraging, but the only honest place I can be anymore.

So what about you? What sort of social and/or philosophical opinions have you held in the past that have led you to how you think now? And how DO you think now?

[Peter1469]

Fiscal conservative.

[Common]

I was raised in a diehard democrat family but for none of the reasons most democrats are democrats today. My family was democrats because democrats looked out for the working guy, the little guy that got out of bed every morning and went and busted his ass to keep his family afloat. I started to change during my time in the military but by the time Jimmy Carters fiasco of a Presidency I really started to flip. I became a swing voter and voted back and forth for a long time.

Obama pushed me solidly to the right and not for the easy out liberal Card Players reasons. I outright thought he just sucked as Potus and most of what he did hurt the country. Since the progressive left and their viciousness had made me even more steadfast to the right against it.

Catholic all my life practiced catholic until late adulthood, now non practicing catholic

[Chris]

Centrist -> libertarian -> free-market anarchist -> localist?

Catholic (elementary school) -> Atheist -> Agnostic Atheist

[IMPress Polly]

Centrist -> libertarian -> free-market anarchist -> localist?

Catholic (elementary school) -> Atheist -> Agnostic Atheist

What's an agnostic atheist? How does one be both of those things simultaneously?

[DGUtley]

Catholic > Catholic > Catholic
Union Democrat > Liberal big government Democrat > Republican > Fiscal Conservative libertarian

[Chris]

What's an agnostic atheist? How does one be both of those things simultaneously?

My reason for choosing atheism is agnostic. We can't know God, whether He exists or not, what He is, etc. Not knowing, I have nothing to put faith in, and so I choose atheism. The a- in atheism means without, not against.

[donttread]

Thought I'd do something a tad different today and ask everyone what sorts of social and/or philosophical opinions they've had in the past that have led them to how they think now. Just a little 'getting to know each other better' exercise. You can use any approach to this or any approach you want. Use a diagram, write out an explanation, or whatever!

Personally, being someone who actually likes labels and categorizations for the sake of simplicity, I'll divide my personal history of views into three basic time periods:


2001-7

Main Social Priority: Anti-Imperialism
Secondary Social Priority: Privacy Rights

Political Trajectory: Vaguely Marxian -> Libertarian -> Generic Progressive -> Anarchist Communist -> Democratic Socialist
Religious Trajectory: Non-Religious -> Wiccan -> Satanist -> Gnostic Christian -> Zen Buddhist -> Daoist

2007-15

Main Social Priority: Global Poverty
Secondary Social Priority: Animal Liberation

Political Trajectory: Classical Maoist -> Bob Avakian Thought -> Third Worldist -> Democratic Socialist -> Futurist Marxist
Religious Trajectory: Atheist -> Daoist -> Agnostic

2015-Present

Main Social Priority: Women's Liberation
Secondary Social Priority: Earth Liberation

Political Trajectory: Anarchist Communalist
Religious Trajectory: Agnostic -> Atheist


Yeah, one gathers that my outlook on life and politics has been kinda all over the place over the years, but mostly in fringy left type places. That's just who I am. I'm an experimenting, risk-taking kind of person on a level that most people aren't. Most people tend to get only loosely interested in most any given thing and really devote themselves to only one or a few things. I, on the other hand, really don't do a lot of things half-heartedly. But that also leaves room in my life for relatively few interests at any given point. I have passions and care about almost nothing besides them. And because I devote so much of myself to my passions, I also tend to discover their faults and shortcomings fairly quickly (often the hard way), which results in my moving on to the next thing.

I would say that the period from 2011 to 2014 was the best period of my adult life to date. I ditched my last personality cult (the Leading Light Communist Organization), landed my current job as an educator, and life just seemed to be finally starting to fall into place a little more for me than it had up to that point. Hey, my worldview even moderated a little! I began to accept ideas like gradualism and electoral politics and a fairly optimistic view of the future. Events of the last several years, however, both in my personal life and just in the world, have pushed me back toward the fringes again in terms of my thinking. Phenomenon like the Islamic State and the ascendancy of strongman politics throughout much of the world in recent years, along with accelerating rates of depression and suicidal tendencies particularly among women and girls, have made women's liberation a top priority of mine and developments surrounding the environment haven't wound up going the more positive direction I thought they would have by now, but just the opposite, and that has pushed me away from what they call bright green (i.e. sustainable development) type thinking and toward deep green (i.e. anti-development) politics.

Spiritually, I've just simply given up. When I say that I'm an atheist, I don't just mean that I don't believe in a God of any kind, but also that I really reject the idea of the supernatural entirely. That's where I am on that journey at present. It's a new place for me in a way. When I regarded myself as an atheist in the past, I always had some kind of logical substitute in place; cults of personality that I was subscribing to that fulfilled my need for a deeper sense of purpose. I don't have any substitutes for a God or a divine force going on this time around. It's lonely and discouraging, but the only honest place I can be anymore.

So what about you? What sort of social and/or philosophical opinions have you held in the past that have led you to how you think now? And how DO you think now?

Of course I've had different beliefs and causes over time but mostly

I was a republican until I realized they are as big a part of the problem as the dems.

Then I was with the "Independent Party" until I realize they are neither of those things

Now I am closest to a Libertarian at the national level and support the Constitution and BOR's as a whole. I am a non-interventionist bordering on isolationism. But overall believe in human service programs at the state level . I also fall out of the LP party lines by being anti-megacorp . I am also a localist. Further while I once supported prohibition for all drugs except MJ I now know the facts and and have become a strict anti-prohibitionist .

[donttread]

What's an agnostic atheist? How does one be both of those things simultaneously?

Ditto that question for me please.

[Chris]

Ditto that question for me please.

Post #7.