What do you say to these people?

[The Man]

Two quick questions for you guys.

I know a majority of Communists are young, and so I wanted to ask you guys that do you think you will change your views as you grow older?

What do you say to people that say "Your young. You'll wake up someday."?

[Susurrus]

"You're old, you've fallen asleep."

[Per Levy]

Two quick questions for you guys.

I know a majority of Communists are young, and so I wanted to ask you guys that do you think you will change your views as you grow older?

doubt it, everyday i wake up and see the world, i know why i am a communist, maybe i will move a little here and there in my views but not in my overall thinking.

[BostonCharlie]

What do you say to people that say "Your young. You'll wake up someday."?

Point them in my direction and say, "Well, there's a late middle aged Red for you. That's what I want to be when I grow up.":p

[freya4]

My parents are in their late fifties and they've been dedicated communists since their mid-twenties, and I don't think they're changing their views anytime soon. Besides, who cares what age you are? I think the reason why this website tends to attract a younger audience is because many people from older generations aren't as familiar with internet forums, or perhaps some just don't have the time. Anyways, I don't see how growing older would make you give up Communism. I would think that the more you experience and become directly involved in the system and its adverse effects, the stronger your belief in Communism becomes.

[tbasherizer]

My uncle pulls the age card on me all the time. In the interests of politeness, I don't go all accusing him of ageist chauvinism though. For personal reasons I'm familiar with, he's a fundamentalist Christian, and says I'll understand when I get older. The thing is, you cannot deconstruct the materialist worldview.

If the person you're arguing is religious and you're not, you could point out their indoctrination to their religion as being no better than any 'youthful misdirection' in terms of critical or independent thinking.

[Caj]

1.
do you think you will change your views as you grow older?

I doubt my views will change to any substantial degree. I'm fairly certain that I will always be an adherent to the far left. I could see myself possibly moving away from anarchism and more towards council communism or Luxemburgism, but even this I doubt. Who knows, though? when I became a staunch liberal when I was younger I was certain then, too, that my views would never diverge.

2.
What do you say to people that say "Your young. You'll wake up someday."?

I recognize it as an attempt to avoid debate when one knows they cannot win. If one was to say that to me, I would ask them to refrain from using ageist ad hominem argumentums and justify their position or refute mine without resorting to fallacious reasoning.

[Catmatic Leftist]

Using age as a distraction from the debate from the main point as a refutation of your argument is argumentum ad hominem, and should be criticized as such.

[thesadmafioso]

I used to run into that quite a bit in high school, and it was a most annoying argument as it never really dealt with anything of significance. I would generally respond by pointing out the basic concept of age not being a determinant factor when assessing the validity of a point.

You could always bring out some historical examples as well, Trotsky was only 19 when he was first arrested for leftist agitation. Of course, that's incredibly anecdotal and it isn't as solvent a point as the first which I mentioned, but it still provides you with a prominent historical instance through which you can project that theory onto.

[Luc]

Two quick questions for you guys.

I know a majority of Communists are young, and so I wanted to ask you guys that do you think you will change your views as you grow older?

What do you say to people that say "Your young. You'll wake up someday."?

Q1: My views will change according to the material conditions of society and further research into both capitalism and forms of Communism. That is what makes the left different from the right; scientifc inquiry vs. blind faith. :thumbup1:

(Disclaimer: I do realise some leftist are religous and maybe some rightist are atheists)

Q2: Not sure, I haven't got that yet but I might soon so perhaps something clever like Susurrus or disprove the notion of maturity and "waking up" as they might put it. Then I might say somthing like my answer to Q1.

[Ilyich]

The only communists who "wake up someday" are those who describe themselves as communist just to be a rebel for the sake of being a rebel. A case in point is Salvador Dali, who was a socialist in his youth just to shock people with his unconventional views. He later rejected socialism. Those communists who are serious communists and have a real reason for being a communist will likely remain communists their whole lives.