Do you think that living in a foreign country for a long period of time changes people? Two very conservative friends of mine lived overseas for a long period of time and it changed them. After living in the UK for a year, one friend became a doula after her first child. She shunned the US trend to have C-sections in most pregnancies and lack of care for pregnant women compared to NHS and their system. Obviously not my topic of interest, but I'm listening to what you have to say. on US pregnancy experiences. To make a long story short, they came back to Colorado Springs after their contract in the UK was over, and they couldn't wait to get out of there and he got new work in Germany.
The other ex-conservative lives in Saudi Arabia and after several years there is considering retiring either there or Cairo, or Costa Rica. She likes having her own drivers and servants. Says she feel safe b/c the beheadings shut down all of the crime,
Another conservative friend of mine just travels a lot and hasn't lived in these countries. She is still a Trump supporter.
What do you think? Does seeing the world make you more open to other cultures and less conservative?
10
Enjoy being online again!
Welcome to the community of good people who base their values on evidence and appreciate civil discourse - the social network you will enjoy.Create your free account
31 comments (26 - 31)
Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.I have always wondered what the people we think of as conservatives are conserving.
JanGarber
Level 7
Sep 19, 2018
0
When Jimmy Carter was running for president he said that he was a fiscal conservative, meaning I suppose that he wanted to conserve a free market economy.
Many conservatives want to conserve the right to keep and bear arms.
Others want to conserve the right to free speech, freedom of religion, the right to assemble, etc.
IMO, a conservative can also be liberal, and vs versa.
i lived in japan for a decade. i think every experience changes someone somehow, and i did not have a dramatic change such as believer to atheist (i was already an atheist) or conservative (there is no such thing anymore; ther are only regressives) to liberal (i was born a liberal). it did help me get over my painful shyness, though.
g
genessa
Level 8
Sep 18, 2018
0
Sounds like your friend that went to Saudi Arabia is NOT less conservative lol. Besides her reasons for wanting to be there, Saudi Arabia is mostly a conservative society.
It hasn't seemed to change your Trump supporter friend either. It depends on how long they stay in those areas I guess.
Though I do think that over time someone will probably change in the environment they are in. I don't know by how much though.
Piece2YourPuzzle
Level 8
Sep 18, 2018
0
Most conservatives parrot "Sharia law" to torture liberals(even though a lot of us are religion free) and blast Muslims and any other religion besides Judeo-Christianity. They also hate any sort of universal healthcare. My friend is officially fine with friends/colleagues/servants of other nationalities/religions- yes Muslims too. She is also pro-universal healthcare( or at least the Saudi system,). No way in hell were either of them going to back a public-funded healthcare sysrwm before going overseas.
@UrsiMajor You didn't mention her accepting universal health care in your initial post, or maybe it was my misunderstanding because of the spacing of your text. Maybe conservatives are just full of it and they push back against more liberal practices because they are just confrontational or competitive just to fulfill that psychological need. Maybe they just need to experience the benefits of things just like any other human to see it's practicality. Maybe they find new things to be confrontational about after accepting something they used to fight against. It's an interesting thing to think about though.
@Piece2YourPuzzle The friend that visited the UK became a fan of NHS or National Health Service.. That's the UK's form of universal health care,, I have another friend that lives in the UK and swears by the NHS.. She was a liberal before she got dual citizenship though.
This posted twice - I responded to the OTHER one. good comments!!
silverotter11
Level 9
Sep 18, 2018
0
Enjoy being online again!
Welcome to the community of good people who base their values on evidence and appreciate civil discourse - the social network you will enjoy.Create your free account
Share this post
Categories
Agnostic does not evaluate or guarantee the accuracy of any content. Read full disclaimer.