Get Them While They're Young!

Such a dictum is no accident as young people are far more open to radical new ideas between the ages of 18 and their late 20's - beyond that less so. This is what the Left understands and why it has been so successful over generations.

A fool at 40 is a fool forever goes the saying and this is true regarding beliefs and ideological views. It is one thing for someone in their 20's to admit they got things wrong and change accordingly but the older people get the more reluctant they are to do so because they become hardened in their beliefs and more wedded to them as they have invested a lot into them in terms of their identity and self image.

This is why many people go from left to right at this stage as the latter is close to reality even though it is not good enough. But trying to get someone in their 40 or 50's to see life differently is nigh on impossible and not worth the energy so little will be the reward. Who would want to admit that they had spent their whole life believing something that has turned out to be not only un rue but manifestly false? So they double down on the error and are closed to all  discussion the matter and indeed get very hostile and defensive if the subject is pressed.

Personally even if I was on my deathbed I would want to know if I had been self deceived as it is better to die knowing the truth than never knowing it! Not that I   believe in an afterlife just that you could go out on an Eureka! At least I did figure it out in the end sort of thing.

Not to blow my own trumpet but I actually find it quite rewarding to have exposed either by oneself through introspection or by another, some former cherished belief that I was committed to which  has turned out to be mistaken. Putting one's views to the most sternest of tests -does that not either strengthen them if they withstand such remorseless scrutiny or send them to the garbage disposal if they do not -and good riddance! One has grown,one's knowledge has deepened -what's not to like?

But that all said it is best to start off on the right track as there is only so much life one has and its better to figure things out as early as possible.

For too many people it is more paramount to establish who is right rather than what is right.Tribalism is more important than reason. The highest bar for any judgement of right or wrong has to be reason, not one's intuition,feeling, emotion or mystical revelations.