I loved the part when some people of any race are raised or indoctrinated in cults, or racist, sexist, homophobic, or nationalist communities, or even religious extremism, etc, and when they’re exposed to the world and ideas beyond their own they begin to realize that what they’re part of is horrific and then they seek to escape and make amends for their past beliefs.
It’s almost like it’s possible for rehabilitation to occur.
You are quite literally arguing against rehabilitation. And you are using right wing talking points unironically used to target minorities in the United States.
I was raised in poor ass fly over country where the only black people I saw until high school was a family that lived down the street that kept to themselves at all times and avoided us like the plague.
I was a believer in Church and gave my $1 allowance to the church quite often. My dad used to listen to Rush Limbaugh on the radio. We lived very close to an Air Force base so most of the people I knew were affiliated with the military in some fashion.
I thought America was #1 and we should just bomb everyone else into the stone age.
As I got older I stopped believing in the hypocrisy of church and saw it for the fairy tales it consists of.
I started doing large amounts of drugs including alcohol (it’s a drug not something special). I began stealing. I fantasized about death all day every day.
I dropped out of school.
Everyone around me told me I was destined to spend my life in prison or just end up dead very young.
After the thousandth fight with my girlfriend, who went to stay with her parents in Canada for a month over Christmas, I binged harder than I’d binged in a long time.
The day before she came back I decided to dry myself out for a week.
I went the week without drinking or drugging. Then I decided to go for another week. Then another. My girlfriend nearly lost her mind with joy after the first week and by the first month it was like we had a new life starting.
We ended up moving to California, far away from the sticks I’d love in my whole life and I really began to see just how incredibly destitute this country really is.
I’ll never not be embarrassed at how ignorant I was thinking this country was what the fairy tales in the propaganda say it was. I met people who had totally different opinions and were from countries that had been and still are being decimated by the US.
I started reading books that I would never have touched before. Howard Ziim’s A People’s History of the United States smashed all my previous programming and made me begin to look critically at everything.
I’m still facing my programed ignorance every day but I’m still learning and changing.
I feel reformed and/or rehabilitated but it never ends. It’s different for us all but we can change.
I’m happy you’ve come so far, you can live your best life comrade. Its alright to be embarrassed of your past and where you started, but its alright as long as you keep moving forward. Thank you for sharing your story.
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I loved the part when some people of any race are raised or indoctrinated in cults, or racist, sexist, homophobic, or nationalist communities, or even religious extremism, etc, and when they’re exposed to the world and ideas beyond their own they begin to realize that what they’re part of is horrific and then they seek to escape and make amends for their past beliefs.
It’s almost like it’s possible for rehabilitation to occur.
You are quite literally arguing against rehabilitation. And you are using right wing talking points unironically used to target minorities in the United States.
I was raised in poor ass fly over country where the only black people I saw until high school was a family that lived down the street that kept to themselves at all times and avoided us like the plague.
I was a believer in Church and gave my $1 allowance to the church quite often. My dad used to listen to Rush Limbaugh on the radio. We lived very close to an Air Force base so most of the people I knew were affiliated with the military in some fashion. I thought America was #1 and we should just bomb everyone else into the stone age.
As I got older I stopped believing in the hypocrisy of church and saw it for the fairy tales it consists of. I started doing large amounts of drugs including alcohol (it’s a drug not something special). I began stealing. I fantasized about death all day every day. I dropped out of school.
Everyone around me told me I was destined to spend my life in prison or just end up dead very young.
After the thousandth fight with my girlfriend, who went to stay with her parents in Canada for a month over Christmas, I binged harder than I’d binged in a long time. The day before she came back I decided to dry myself out for a week.
I went the week without drinking or drugging. Then I decided to go for another week. Then another. My girlfriend nearly lost her mind with joy after the first week and by the first month it was like we had a new life starting.
We ended up moving to California, far away from the sticks I’d love in my whole life and I really began to see just how incredibly destitute this country really is.
I’ll never not be embarrassed at how ignorant I was thinking this country was what the fairy tales in the propaganda say it was. I met people who had totally different opinions and were from countries that had been and still are being decimated by the US.
I started reading books that I would never have touched before. Howard Ziim’s A People’s History of the United States smashed all my previous programming and made me begin to look critically at everything.
I’m still facing my programed ignorance every day but I’m still learning and changing.
I feel reformed and/or rehabilitated but it never ends. It’s different for us all but we can change.
I’m happy you’ve come so far, you can live your best life comrade. Its alright to be embarrassed of your past and where you started, but its alright as long as you keep moving forward. Thank you for sharing your story.