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People in the West are generally conditioned to be rule followers who defer to authority. This indoctrination starts as soon as children go to school where they are punished for minor infractions in their behaviour. Squabbles with other students that reach the stage of bullying are meant to be resolved by the authority figure (which of course often ends up in just punishing both parties). In many cases, socialisation is a foundation of western civilization, and in many cases allows for the development of behaviours that will lead to higher education, being a good citizen and having good life outcomes for the recipient. The same pathways however, can be programmed too deeply leading to oversocialisation, a lack of independent thought and even a lack of agency.
There is a significant amount of deprogramming needed for oversocialised people before they can undertake truly independent thought and action in the face of the current zeitgeist. To stand against the tide of the government, experts, friends and family requires a certain mental framework that takes time to cultivate unless you were resistant to the socialisation process.
I remember in my early 20's being fairly progressive and it actually being emotionally painful to hold beliefs that weren't in line with social expectations. I didn't really have a guide, but started trying to grapple with what I believed were 'difficult and unpleasant truths' in a difficult and painful process that eventually allowed me to vomit up a lot of progressive beliefs that weren't in line with reality. I lost deep friendships because of this change even though I was actually doing most of the process by stealth, and pragmatically just masking up to 'hide my power level'.
After seeing how much pain I went through to get to where I am, I can completely understand why many people would have aversion to challenging their socially acceptable beliefs. To be more specific, complete acceptance and encouragement of the self-identification of their children and trust in the 'experts' advice (child psychologists encouraging transition) is currently the socially acceptable belief among 'educated' progressives.
I can't really think of a good counter-body to all this except mentor/guardianship which encourages critical thinking and independent thought during a child's formative years. Don't allow oversocialisation to take root in your kids.
Edit: Added a couple of links.
Yes, this feels right. My focus has always been on what is true, or what can I learn and I've always been willing to entertain, if not actively share, ideas that are taboo.
The adaptation of knowing which way the wind blows and avoiding going against the ruling elite makes a lot of sense of course. Perhaps I have just been fooled by the 'end of history', of modern liberalism founded on enlightenment values.
I have a friend who literally never shares his political persuasion even when prompted. I assume this must be some hidden trauma in his genes that makes good sense over long timescales.
Of course it's frustrating because all it takes for the counter ideas to be made normal is the mass of people in the middle expressing them, as they used to only a blink of an eye prior.
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