Current Events > Do you think people have the capacity for real, meaningful change?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Discuss, please.

It's ridiculous to think people don't have the capacity to change

Absolutely.

I think most people make meaningful changes naturally as they go through life.

Nah

gmanthebest posted...

It's ridiculous to think people don't have the capacity to change

Is it really? The US prison system has few options for rehabilitation, and no matter the crime, people generally consider ex-cons second class citizens worthy of scorn. Or consider for example how people struggle with addictions or bad habits.

darkmaian23 posted...

Is it really? The US prison system has few options for rehabilitation, and no matter the crime, people generally consider ex-cons second class citizens worthy of scorn. Or consider for example how people struggle with addictions or bad habits.

why are you automatically assuming that change means "for the better?".

watch a rich, outstanding guy go poor and resorting to drugs or crime and ending up serving life in prison.

meaningful change right there!

Of course not. But no one's helping the situation anyway, so why complain.

Yeah, because I did it

People are capable of real, meaningful change, but imo people tend to hold onto biases for years even after they've adopted a new point of view and tried to move on with their lives. Improving yourself and making positive changes is one thing, but there's always a little bit of crust around the edges and it's not difficult to let it back in and control your life again. People can regress as much as they progress, the amount that someone can change depends on the person and how hard they're trying.

An important factor is why someone has decided to change. Say you fall out with a friend, and they work on themselves specifically to try and mend your friendship. If you don't want them back in your life, and they revert to whatever state they were when you fell out, were they trying to change for the right reasons? Would their change of heart have held up if the relationship had been salvaged, or would they slip back into old habits once they were confident that things were back to normal? Changing for someone else can probably work out positively sometimes, but I don't think a selfish want is a good foundation to build a new worldview and it doesn't seem sincere if you dump it because you didn't get that selfish want.

Ultimately, my belief is that change - large and small - is a continuous process that someone has to dedicate themselves to if they want to see results. It isn't a switch you flip, though there are moments of crystallisation that can get someone started on the road to real, meaningful change. Change is a process that requires constant vigilance and effort - and the question then becomes, who has the fortitude and strength to make the decision to change and see that process through? Most people can't keep that process up for long stretches of time. I sure can't.

I've changed over time, but I still have negative biases that I have to work through, and long bouts of anger, fatigue and depression makes it really easy for me to justify getting lazy and letting it slide. That desire for change is real, as is the effort I'm making. But it's an uphill climb because there's a lot of regressive things that don't just go away because I've decided I want to be better. The process might never end for me, or for anyone else. But it's worth it to try, and it's that commitment that I think leads to real, meaningful change in the long term.

tl;dr people have the capacity for change but it's really fucking hard and they've gotta stick with it for a long time to see results

darkmaian23 posted...

Is it really? The US prison system has few options for rehabilitation, and no matter the crime, people generally consider ex-cons second class citizens worthy of scorn. Or consider for example how people struggle with addictions or bad habits.

"b-but US politics" dude just shut the fuck up