I wouldn't, for one. There is a reason why the word "callow" is often associated with "youth." Most of us grow, over time. We learn more, our horizons expand. We see things far removed from our homes. We find out that life is not as simple, the choices are not as clear-cut, than what we thought as youths. As adults, we learn, often at no little cost, that between the starkness of right and wrong, black and white, there is an astonishing shading of gray; what is the right path, the correct thing to do, is often opaque when the decision has to be made. That is one reason for the saying "hindsight is 20-20."
So I am not at all comfortable with the current effort to pillory Sarah Palin for what she said and did when she was eighteen. There is enough material in her recent life, beginning with her mayoralty of Wasilla, to sink her forever. Bashing her over what she said and did when she was a teenager is, to my view, a low blow. It is a blow worthy of professional sleazebuckets such as the likes of Newt Gingrich, Karl Rove and the Swift-Boaters.
Take a little free advice from me: Knock that shit off.
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5 comments:
I would say yes and no. You're correct, when I was 18 I said and did some dumb things. But I didn't do or say anything that was out of line with my general personality. I was still intellectually curious, enjoyed music, rode a motorcycle, wrote well, was upset about injustice, and was still so non-violent that I had trouble killing a cockroach, much less have any inclination to harm my fellow man. None of that has changed in the past thirty years. There's some things I said or did that I wish I could take back, but the core values, the core personality, are still the same.
So I agree that the specifics of what exactly Sarah Failin' did as an 18 year old are irrelevant, but I submit that what they say about her general personality is not. I was not a racist at age 18 and am not one now. I didn't care what gay people did in the privacy of their own bedrooms when I was 18 years old and don't care now. Core values and your general personality simply do not change that much as you age, even if the fuzzy details do. So if she got drunk and said some things to a classmate that hurt her classmate that's one thing, that's just youthful stupidity. But if she was an out-and-out racist at age 18... well. We're not talking about youthful stupidity then. We're talking core values. And I submit that's still relevant even today.
- Badtux the Personality Penguin
I'd have to disagree with that, BadTux. I've known a lot of people who have had major changes in attitudes and values since they were 18. I'd have to say that it depends on the individual; people are different and react in different ways to experiences in their lives.
For example, Bob? Don't need to name names, just curious as to what you think is "a major change in attitudes and values"?
- Badtux the Curious Penguin
BT
Sounds like you are separating basic personality from words/actions one may have made at some point in life. But are basic personality traits the same as learned attitudes? Or words/actions? I think not. And learned attitudes/core values can be changed by learning new ones. I don't think they usually are changed but they can be. One doesn't loose the ability to keep learning but many have lost the desire to.
I've seen people go from bigotry to acceptance of others, some that went from statism to libertarian, deeply religious to atheist. Some values are taught, others are learned from experience. There are people that, through experience, changed from what they were taught by parents and family, and with it their whole outlook on life. I wouldn't say they are the majority, but they are still a substantial number.
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