Left Wing, Right Wing

[blueeyedboy]

I've always wondered how we become left or right wing. What specific thing is it that makes us follow certain political ideas. For me, it was the massive unnecessary inequality in the world that made me sit up and take notice.

Any thoughts on this?

[Delirium]

You socialization is largly determined by you family (or similar group) and your basic socioeconomic condtions during your early childhood. As children get older schools play an important role in creating views on the state, capitalism, etc..

These early developments structure your later development politicly. For the majority of people they are similar to thier parents, but this is by no means abolute.

[LuXe]

Originally posted by Delerium [email protected] 18 2006, 03:19 PM
You socialization is largly determined by you family (or similar group) and your basic socioeconomic condtions during your early childhood. As children get older schools play an important role in creating views on the state, capitalism, etc..
I was raised in a capitalist, RICH, christian family.

Still I am a communist. I belive the school, and other social relations made me who I am. Also, as the starter of the thread, I opened my eyes to neo-colonialism (imperialism) and the differences and poverty in the world.

[Delirium]

Originally posted by LuXe+Oct 18 2006, 10:21 AM--> (LuXe @ Oct 18 2006, 10:21 AM)
Delerium [email protected] 18 2006, 03:19 PM
You socialization is largly determined by you family (or similar group) and your basic socioeconomic condtions during your early childhood. As children get older schools play an important role in creating views on the state, capitalism, etc..
I was raised in a capitalist, RICH, christian family.

Still I am a communist. I belive the school, and other social relations made me who I am. Also, as the starter of the thread, I opened my eyes to neo-colonialism (imperialism) and the differences and poverty in the world. [/b]
Yes all of us here are most likely exceptions, the majority of people raised in your position would be capitalist and christian.

[RedAnarchist]

My family have never really been religious, and we're a typical working-class family. I started to read a lot about the revolutionary left and so on, and I began to take more notice of what was going on in the world.

[miguel_32]

From young, being from a working class family I could never understand why other people could afford such nicer things than my family ever could. Then a few years back my grandparents opened my eyes to che guevara and suddenly things started making more and more sense to me.

[Hit The North]

Originally posted by Delerium [email protected] 18 2006, 04:19 PM
You socialization is largly determined by you family (or similar group) and your basic socioeconomic condtions during your early childhood. As children get older schools play an important role in creating views on the state, capitalism, etc..

These early developments structure your later development politicly. For the majority of people they are similar to thier parents, but this is by no means abolute.
So how do we account for variation within families? I'm a revolutionary socialist whereas my brother is a Tory and my sister is vaguely new labour.

At the outbreak of the Iraq war I knew the Government were selling us a pack of lies about WMD, whereas my brother was convinced that Saddam was about to nuke us :rolleyes: .

We've had the same upbringing and went to the same school, so what gives?

I like to think it's a matter of intelligence. :)

I mean, has anyone ever met an intelligent right winger (who wasn't also a sociopath)?

[BreadBros]

Originally posted by Citizen Zero+Oct 18 2006, 10:16 PM--> (Citizen Zero @ Oct 18 2006, 10:16 PM)
Delerium [email protected] 18 2006, 04:19 PM
You socialization is largly determined by you family (or similar group) and your basic socioeconomic condtions during your early childhood. As children get older schools play an important role in creating views on the state, capitalism, etc..

These early developments structure your later development politicly. For the majority of people they are similar to thier parents, but this is by no means abolute.
So how do we account for variation within families? I'm a revolutionary socialist whereas my brother is a Tory and my sister is vaguely new labour.

At the outbreak of the Iraq war I knew the Government were selling us a pack of lies about WMD, whereas my brother was convinced that Saddam was about to nuke us :rolleyes: .

We've had the same upbringing and went to the same school, so what gives?

I like to think it's a matter of intelligence. :)

I mean, has anyone ever met an intelligent right winger (who wasn't also a sociopath)? [/b]
It'd be interesting to know what your parents politicial persuasion is and how both you and your brother relate to your parents. People can define themselves politically in comparison or contrast to their parents. Also, society outside of the home may play an important part.

[Hit The North]

Originally posted by BreadBros+Oct 19 2006, 12:04 AM--> (BreadBros @ Oct 19 2006, 12:04 AM)
Originally posted by Citizen [email protected] 18 2006, 10:16 PM

Delerium [email protected] 18 2006, 04:19 PM
You socialization is largly determined by you family (or similar group) and your basic socioeconomic condtions during your early childhood. As children get older schools play an important role in creating views on the state, capitalism, etc..

These early developments structure your later development politicly. For the majority of people they are similar to thier parents, but this is by no means abolute.
So how do we account for variation within families? I'm a revolutionary socialist whereas my brother is a Tory and my sister is vaguely new labour.

At the outbreak of the Iraq war I knew the Government were selling us a pack of lies about WMD, whereas my brother was convinced that Saddam was about to nuke us :rolleyes: .

We've had the same upbringing and went to the same school, so what gives?

I like to think it's a matter of intelligence. :)

I mean, has anyone ever met an intelligent right winger (who wasn't also a sociopath)?
It'd be interesting to know what your parents politicial persuasion is and how both you and your brother relate to your parents. People can define themselves politically in comparison or contrast to their parents. Also, society outside of the home may play an important part. [/b]
My parents were split. My Dad is a semi-skilled worker and has tended to vote Labour. My Mum (from an almost identical proletarian background to my dad) became an aspirational member of the petite bourgeosie and has wavered - voting for both Thatcher and Blair. Both my mum and dad voted Tory throughout the 80s. My mum with a lot of enthusiasm, even joining the local Conservative Association.

My brother is six years my junior, so our peer groups have been different and so have our parents fortunes during certain formative stages in our growing up. So it's not like we're twins or anything and there are obvious outside factors to take into account.

Nevertheless, I think both my bro and myself have different automatic emotional responses to events. For instance, if my brother saw TV news footage of a riot, he would instantly side with the police and be anxious about the threat to order. Whereas I would automatically be on the side of the demonstrators and feel exhilerated that they were taking on the old bill.

Also, whereas I'm a cynical fuckturd, my brother really, really wants to believe the voice of authority.

Are these differences between us at root psychological?

[Comrade_Scott]

I think its what your exposed to growing up that decides. for 14 years i used to wish everyday to live in the U.S and do the "american thing" gloat!! but one day at the doctors office i read this article on che and i did research read the manifesto and i felt for the first thime my eyes were open. exposure is the key thing that decides our political stance thats what i belive.

[LoneRed]

My family was working-class, christian, increased last 10 yrs, divorce,


I dont know how i came out the way i did.

[Nusocialist]

I was always left-wing,but what turned me into a socialist was a deeper understanding of capitalism.

[Cryotank Screams]

Originally posted by [email protected] 18, 2006 11:14 am
Any thoughts on this?
The vast majority of it boils down to Memetic engineering.

[UrbanNinja]

I've been growing up in a rich, upper-middle class, capitalist, christian household my entire life. i never really agreed with it, i remember asking my father (when he told me about all these marketing schemes he'd worked up) "what about the people who buy in?" and he would just say something along the lines of "what about them?" and this, along with many other points, made me lose respect for him and his political views. and then last july i found a copy of the manifesto online, read it, and realized that there is a better way.

[Taboo Tongue]

Noticed that the US Government was lying to me, then was interested in Communism and communism, and other alternatives to what I saw as America. But at this time my father had a manager job at a pipe coating plant, him being disolusioned with a petty-bourgeois ideology, and that rubbing off on me made me think I am "Middle class," thus making Marxism less appealing (not to mention I was 14 so reading Marx was mind boggling hard).
He lost that job later that year due to some owners of a company, that the one he worked for depeneded on, sold their plant for real estate land, forcing us to move to a cheaper place in the US.
That made me notice that I was second rate to those people and created the material conditions for me to be interested in, and (progressivley) better understand Marx. And I kept walking left until I hit RedStar2000 just stopping short of Anarchism.

Why are using the damn Capitalist Socio-Economic classes UrbanNinja? They're tottally crap. My dad made crap compared to those owners but that's not why we were subordinate, it's because they owned what he worked on to feed himself.

[MolotovCocktail988]

My mom and dad divorced when i was 3 and i currently live with her and her side of the family. They are christian and there not rich but there pretty well off. My dad's family have no specific religion and are middle class.

[Rusty Shackleford]

Son of a divorced parent. who is a member of law enforcement. yes... i know... woo... i was raised with no instruction on politics or religion. i saw what happened to us when we got fucked over. my parent is not a racist at all, and is actually some what of a whistle-blower when bad shit happens in the workplace. its made life a bit harder(management tends to retaliate when someone calls them out on something) but i see that my parent is NOT conservative, im guessing non-aligned. ive also stated my political opinions, with NO opposition. on the grounds that i have a right to believe what i want.

its been a gradual realization for me. ill have to thank my European history class for making me realize what a twat i used to be (right wing) that was just the beginning though.

it really all depends. i think school was a pretty big factor though. without education, id probably be on Stormfront in a few years :laugh::laugh:

[Sprocket Hole]

Hmm, I was brought up pretty interestingly, I was raised by my petty-bourgeois grandparents for the early years (mum was young) and they always side with cap-interests. Then from age 2-8 or 9 my working class mother raised me. She raised me to explore everything, question everthing, and I was never coerced into any lifestyle. She's pretty non-aligned, but has always had contempt for the rich and never trusted the govn't.

Then till I was about 15 I lived with my working class father (who was a tool) and petty bourgeois stepmom, dad never really did much teaching, but my stepmom was a hard authoritarian/republican/sociopath etc etc

I broke a lot of my materialistic upbringings from early on when I was living with my dad, and all my best freinds lived in some pretty shitty impoverished parts of the neiborhood. I got most of my early politics from punk music :laugh:.. But that evolved. I had from then on, coupled with my mums teachings was anti-authoritarian. A few years later when we moved up from southern california to northern we where staying with my stepmoms bourgeois as fuck parents. I slowly got into zeitgeist-style thought, but was non-alligned. When I moved with my mom in saint louis, I stumbled upon some Communist stuff, read it and was a marxist-lenninist for a shortwhile.

Then when visiting Northern California one year, I met a guy who told me all about the Spanish Civil war, and I became a libertarian communist, and slowly advanced to where I am now.

My music tastes evolved alongside my radicalism as well:lol:

[Dooga Aetrus Blackrazor]

Here are some explanations:

1. Socialization: Most people get the initial views they hold from parents and society.
2. Experience: Individuals who have positive or negative experiences due to the current social system may bias their political viewpoints as a result.

For example, a child who succeeds may enjoy capitalism. An adult who can't provide for their family because of a union strike my dislike unions as a result. When people like or dislike something, they don't automatically think, "hey, how might I be wrong?" People take feelings for what they are until shown they are mistaken. They should probably be more self-reflective and open-minded, though.

Wealth: Individuals of particular wealth brackets will bias their views about whether income inequalities are unjust due to a lack of understanding. Rich say the poor are lazy. The poor say the rich are corrupt. The poor have a better argument, but the media isn't funded by them.

Compassion: People in wealthy situations may be motivated towards promoting communist thought. It's still particularly difficult for anyone to give up their wealth because of what wealth does. Once you've had an enjoyable experience, and gained the ability to sustain it, you don't want to give it up. If you had the chance to live as a billionaire for a day, I'm not sure you should say yes. It'll never happen again, and you'll be pissed off about it because it's "other people" who are preventing you.

Rationality: Cooperation can be a rational option for wealthy individuals. I'm not convinced communism actually sacrifices profit and individual gain for community good. I think it maximizes profit as well. I have yet to really formulate this idea. Marx might oppose it. Basically, I think historical achievements motivated by justice, compassion, curiosity, et cetera, have been of a much higher caliber than those motivated by greed. Scientific advancements, as far as I know, didn't happen because Einstein and Newton wanted a new house.

[mel]

My parents were lower-middle-class christian republicans, and I followed suit until I started learning about government deception, at which point I began drifting socialist.

I've noticed that right-wingers who actually do think about what they believe tend to be class-conscious...and they have a strong focus on tradition and their bloodline. They want to make more money so that their children can be born into a higher socioeconomic class than they had been, and they seem to think it's fair that entire generations have to suffer because if the family works hard enough, eventually they'll be on top.

Along these lines, it's interesting to note that most of these people have startling success stories about a parent or close relative that was born in near-poverty who managed to work 5 or 6 jobs, work their way through college, then go on to make a better than average living wage. It's difficult to convince somebody who believes they have truly representative evidence for the value of hard work that simply working hard is not enough...

Not much of that was directly relevant to the topics at hand, just my unreflected observations.

[mikelepore]

I have two siblings whose home environment and schooling was about the same as my own. They became what are usually called liberal. But I became a marxist. The only difference I can think of is that, when I was 14 years old, a stranger on the street corner handed me a marxist text in the form of a four-page leaflet, and I had the free time to consider its arguments very carefully. That event happened in 1968. That's a hell of a change in longterm lifetime direction to be triggered by one random event.

[und]

Well.. Both my parents are Marxists, and I've been hearing conversations about politics since I was a very little kid, so I guess it's quite normal for me to be interested in politics and also to be a communist. Another contributing factor could be the fact that my father was put in prison and tortured for two years, all for being involved in a protest which harmed nobody...

[Uncle Hank]

My family was the determining factor for me; especially my uncle and brother -- kudos to you.

[21st Century Kropotkinist]

I've always wondered how we become left or right wing. What specific thing is it that makes us follow certain political ideas. For me, it was the massive unnecessary inequality in the world that made me sit up and take notice.

Any thoughts on this?

Restricted? LOL! Anybody know why? Sounds a bit like a liberal to me, but harmless enough, no? A troll maybe?

[mel]

He made the post in 2006, my guess is for all of the stuff he posted in the period after making this one. Just take a look at his posting history.

[JohnnieGoodtimes]

I grew up in a middle class WASP family in the midwest. That being said up until the middle of high school I was conservative. My high school history teacher taught us from the perspective of the proletariat and encouraged us to research different revolutionary ideas. Around that time I also discovered Rage Against the Machine which got me looking deeper and deeper.

And now, I am converting my brother. He was a Bush supporter in 2004, by the time he was done with college he was a little more left leaning. I gave him Howard Zinn's "People's History of the United States" for graduation and he is moving more and more to the left. Now, I just have to get my sister involved. :D

[Q]

Are we recycling threads or something? This is ancient.

[Manifesto]

For me I heard about Che on t.v. and how so many people were calling him a murderer so I took an interest as to why and learned from there on in. Mostly though I turned to communism by how my brother raised me to hate the American government and opened my eyes as to how capitalism and imperialism really is.