Do people who are bigoted ever change?

[undeterred]

Poll question: Do people who are bigoted ever change?

And if so, how do they change?

[aikoaiko]

1. If George Wallace can change, anyone can.

My 2 cents

[The_Commonist]

2. That's exactly what I was going to say.

He and my grandfather both.

[Jack_DeLeon]

37. My flawed understanding of that situation was...

that he was pretty moderate for his times it was just that he appeared to be a hardcore bigot because he used the issue of segregation to win votes.

That being said, yes I believe anybody can change, for a variety of reasons, that is not to say that many do.

[dipsydoodle]

3. The guy who wrote

Amazing Grace may be a good example of a convert.

[Jackpine Radical]

14. John Newton--from captain of a slave ship to inspirer of Wilberforce

and the abolitionist movement in Britain.

Not a bad example.

[dipsydoodle]

17. Was blind and now can see

[dkf]

4. People can be moved through sympathy and empathy.

On the other hand badgering and assertions of the other person's evilness doesn't work.

[CTyankee]

5. They eventually die off. It is the end of the line when they don't replace themselves

in society. Despite your photo, younger voters are trending toward more liberal, inclusive policies than their older conservative parents. It's not my opinion. It's the polling data.

[undeterred]

9. I doubt these children dressed themselves.

You're right, the younger generation is bewildered by exclusive policies.

[xchrom]

6. if the rewards of being bigoted are painful enough -- then yes. nt

[Radical Activist]

7. Why can't I just vote "yes"

There are many ways people change. You're making me pick one.

[undeterred]

12. I agree, there are many ways.

:hi:

[surrealAmerican]

27. That's what's keeping me from voting here too.

Most people's opinions evolve over time with their life experiences. These can include many factors.

[patrice]

8. I don't think so, but the real question is who is actually bigotted and who isn't.

Some bigotries are quite subtle and strong; others "bigotries" appear strong, but turn out to be quite weak given the appropriate circumstances.

[terrya]

10. I want to weep looking at that picture in your post

[patrice]

32. .

:hug:

[racaulk]

11. Other: A combination of the choices in the poll.

I think bigoted people can definitely change, and I have seen it happen in my own life. People can change through being educated by others, and through any number of life experiences that can alter their thinking. However, I do believe that for a bigoted person to change their point of view, they must first be *open* to changing, which is something that is completely internal to each individual person.

[kenny blankenship]

24. Yes, education, life experiences (+reinforce), shame (-reinforce), changes in law leading attitudes

all of these combine to produce change in social practice and lead people out of bigotry, one by one.

[undeterred]

34. I am surprised there are few votes for change in law...

Some people equate the law with morality and never question it. This cuts both ways. Some people think marijuana must be 'bad' because its illegal. On the other hand, laws promoting integration and interracial marriage probably changed a lot of peoples minds. Sometimes the law comes first, then the change in social attitude follows.

[Sebastian Doyle]

13. Bigotry comes from ignorance

Ignorance is not interchangeable with stupidity, though most stupid people are ignorant. Ignorance means that you simply don't know any different. And since the subject of bigotry is in the context of Rick Warren's homophobia in this case (or the Phelps KKKult's) then many of the homophobes are ignorant because they don't know any gay people (or at least they don't THINK they do) as human beings, so they have no actual reality to refute the bullshit stereotypes they hear in their right wing churches or KKK meetings or whatever. Same can be said of backwood Appalachian hicks who have never met a black person, believing racial stereotypes, or about any other form of ignorance, for that matter.

[madeline_con]

15. Other, sort of...

spell edit

It's a toss up between

"People only change their minds because of their life experience."

and

"People can be educated out of bigoted beliefs."

The two seem to go hand in hand. Once the kid gets out into the world (start school, IOW), they often change their minds.

The home schooled sometimes live cloistered existences that never allow their minds or hearts to open. :(

[customerserviceguy]

16. Voted for life experience

I was quite bigoted about gay people a couple of decades ago. Even though I was exposed to a lot of positive education back in the mid-1970's when I attended the University of Washington, I still didn't change. It was in actually dealing with gay and lesbian folks that I actually learned that I was wrong about them.

Now, I didn't have parents (like those poor tykes in the picture obviously do) that were actively prejudiced against gay people, so they might need some education to go along with the life experience when they finally leave home. The good thing is that during the teenage and/or young adult years, most people question the belief structures of their parents, especially when they are quite out of the mainstream.

I'll bet the parents of those girls think they don't know a gay or lesbian person. I've always maintained that if EVERYBODY came out on one day, damn the consequences, that the narrow-minded bigots would be shocked for a week or two, and then begin to come around a bit. And I'd bet that the people who came out of the closet would be equally amazed to find out just how much support they had, both from folks coming out, and the reaction of straight people to them.

[undeterred]

20. Thanks for sharing that.

[customerserviceguy]

21. You're welcome

People can change, but for each of us it's an individual process. The purpose of racial integration is to give people life experience to go along with the training that we're all just human beings. It didn't always seem to work, but sometimes we have to be patient while the tree is growing, even if there's no fruit yet.

One month from today, the sweetest fruit gets picked!

[stillcool]

18. I don't know about others...but

I came into this world an empty slate and was deluged with so much shit that it took decades for me to come to terms with the fact that what "I" believed, and what I knew was bullshit. That it was all spoon-fed, and absorbed through the accidental environmental and geographical location of my birth. But the impetus for the most drastic changes in my life were born of necessity. I can't imagine being who I was way back when. Lots of crap that filled up that person was shed long ago. I don't know if you call that education or life experience. I think they're the same thing.

[QC]

19. Options 2 and 6. n/t

[TahitiNut]

22. Read my sig.

:shrug:

[Bjorn Against]

23. Poor kids.

That is such a sad picture, those kids are way too young to understand what the message on their shirts means. I can't believe that kids so young can truly be bigots, but they are clearly growing up in a very bad environment and it will almost certainly lead to problems later in life. Teaching kids bigotry is essentially child abuse.

[MrSlayer]

25. 2 and 5.

I was raised to be bigoted but my life's experience showed me the truth of things.

[Undercurrent]

26. Yes, they can.

I have a cousin, and a nephew who were both racist assholes. Really terrible in this one aspect of their personalities. They were good people otherwise, but they had a hateful blind spot that really made it hard to be around them at times.

Both changed.

It took my cousin, who is now close to 80 years old, decades to come around. He and my father have been like brothers, and best friends since I was a toddler in 1950. My father's steady internal compass, and consistent love finally brought him around.

My nephew is a young man in his 30s, but he has gone through a transformation too. Through a lot of love from the family he "woke up", and was able to learn why he had to hate other people to feel good about himself, and let go of the hate. btw: Not only did he vote for Obama but he campaigned hard for him too.

[HEyHEY]

28. Yes, I saw the moment my father did

One day he was about to say "Fag" in front of me when I was about 10. He stopped himself. Since then I've heard him stick up for gay rights and against such comments many times.

[riverdeep]

29. People can change.

The downside of this statement is that people can change for the worse, as well. Look at Michael Alan Weiner (aka, Michael Savage). He used hang around with Allen Ginsberg (and by some accounts was his lover) and was part of the Berkeley scene, and now he's one of the nuttiest wingnuts there is.

[Odin2005]

30. Yes, they can change. Look at Senator Byrd.

George Wallace had a change of heart after he was left paralyzed following an assassination attempt.

[rug]

31. Of course they can but not by honoring them for their success at bigotry.

[undeterred]

33. One of my relatives has been involved with the Boy Scouts

all his life. Years ago I asked him if he favored excluding homosexuals from the Boy Scouts and he said he did, because homosexuals are a 'bad example'. I asked him if teaching bigotry was a good example. He saw it as a moral issue and doesn't think he is a bigot.

This year his 17 year old son came out as gay. Of course he is having a tough time accepting this. It will be interesting to see how this affects his beliefs about homosexuality.

[Political Heretic]

35. It works like this I think:

Education can work idependently or in combination
Experience can work independently or in combination
Shame can work, but only in combination.

And the only reason I even say that about shame is because I remember when I was coming to understand LGBT equality in late high school, but before then I had pretty much been a homophobe kid or at least totally ignorant if nothing else. I remember how often friends use to use works like "fag" to mock each other.... then as I started seeing things differently but not having how I spoke catch up to what I was starting to believe, I remember I said that in front of a gay couple that I had made friends with first year in college.......was utterly mortified, humiliated, etc. They just laughed...probably because it was so transparently obvious the transition I was going through lol. I went white as a sheet and though I was going to die of shame.

Worked. That was an instant correction to my lazy ignorant use of a slur in casual conversation.

[Douglas Carpenter]

36. until the mid-60's liberals thought Gay people were sick and needed treatments - conservatives

thought they were criminals who belonged in jail. To have argued at that time that being gay was of equal value to being straight would have been seen as an extremist and fringe opinion even in most urbane and liberal circles.

Of course there were exceptions to this attitude. But that was pretty much the range of debate on the subject even in liberal circles. Even in the early to mid 70's for even a liberal politician in most urban areas to openly support the broadly defined concept of gay rights was extremely risky. Supporting gay marriage would have been beyond the pale and even gay rights organizations would certainly not have pushed the concept.

So if we contrast that range of debate to the range of debate today - I would have to say that things have changed a great deal.

On another subject, I grew up in Erie County, Pennsylvania an area that I remember in the 60's as being profoundly racist. Barack Obama carried Erie County on November 4, 2008 by a clear and decisive margin.

One thing is clear, bigotry can certainly dissipate over time. But it does take time and it does take people listening to each other.