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Culture War Roundup for the week of July 31, 2023

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I do of course think that being intelligent enough to change your mind is a good thing, but I think that it is an even better thing to have been right from the beginning.

From a moral point of view? Of course. You have 20 more years on the side of the angels.

From a writer's point of view? I'm not so sure. For a local example, see Resident Contrarian's post on having a middle-class income:

You’d think that the ability to [write a post like this] would be universal among people who haven’t been poor at all since they have more time at decent pay-rates than anyone else, but you’d be at least partially wrong. They know what it’s like to have money, but it’s all very usual; the stuff about it that’s weird or different skids off of their awareness without biting like a dull file on hardened steel. It’s not their fault - it’s just normal.

Similarly, you know what it's like to be a classical liberal, but (presumably) it's just normal.

You make a good point about how one can sometimes better understand a view if one has not always held it. Point taken.