Spyke

Not OP, but also an annoying adolescent atheist. After actually giving it some thought, I realized I was contextualizing the concept all wrong. Just because most people seem to contextualize God as a Santa Claus figure (bearded man who lives above us and judges our conduct, with fitting consequences) didn't mean I had to accept that context.

There have been many very intelligent people across history who had many interesting things to say about deity. Few of them were using the Santa Claus model.

2

Same. At some point I became friends with pretty religious people who were also some of the most intelligent and nice people I had met. My beliefs that religious people are just dumb people who cannot understand the complexity of the real world kinda fell apart then.

I returned back to my pre-teen opinion, still an atheist but with compassion for other people's beliefs. No need to constantly force my opinion into it or needlessly be a dick because we disagree. I've had many interesting discussions since then with very religious people. I still don't fully get it, and to me it still reeks of indoctrination, but I've accepted that it's fine to disagree.

13
lemmy.world

When I was like 12, I thought chain wallets were the shit. Unfortunately my parents wouldn’t let me have one. I ended up hooking a bunch of Disney keychains together and wore that as my chain wallet. This was often worn with my favorite sleeveless neon green shirt and my lucky black and white checkered shorts.

39
SuzyQreply
sh.itjust.works

When I was 14-15 I wanted a wallet chain, but they were banned at my school. I made one of of safety pins that looped down past my knees. Somehow my linked safety pins were ok...

18

I had a chain watch because I thought they were cool. It was a cheap, but probably better quality than it needed to be ( the chain broke quickly), it was from hot topic. Also it was an attack on titan chain watch

2
ECB
feddit.org

I went through a pretty big libertarian phase way back in my late teens.

Not the 'deregulate everything' type, but rather more of a 'everyone's place in society is governed by the choices they make' social-darwinist sort of angle.

Once I got out and experienced real life more (and learned about all the little nuances behind everything) I realized just how wrong I was.

Nowadays I'm a big leftist/socialist

29
ganymedereply
lemmy.ml

seems like i'm mostly telling people in this thread not to feel bad about their prior cringe...

i really didn't follow this closely AT ALL. but i feel like back in the day libertarian ideas were much more left of center than they are now. to my inexpert perception, it feels like libertarianism (and alot of other things) have been co-opted by conservatism over the years.

4

For the record the word Libertarian has a different meaning in the US to that used in the rest of the world.

4

Maybe it's just me, but libertarians have always been a weird bunch, because there are some large gaps between those who fall under its banner. I've seen anarchist commune types as well as the 'government better watch out because I'm the only owner of THIS land' prickly sorts at the same event. It's not so much that the ideals of libertarian thought have been taken into conservative realms, but that the sorts of libertarians who could align with the 'conservative' drive to make the government small and speak up loudly are now getting their moment in the spotlight.

3
lemmy.world

I was that nerdy kid that would tell anyone at every possible opportunity that thier iPhone was locked down garbage and they should switch to Android. Now I find any kind of vocal brand loyalty incredibly cringe as it just reminds me how I used to be when I was 14.

23
ganymedereply
lemmy.ml

which version of the hollow earth are we talking? if you mean a giant hollow shell, then yeh i'm not sure how well supported that is.

if you mean the honeycomb earth idea, where there could be myriad of huge deep caverns. then i'm kinda open to that possibility.

(not that my geoscience knowledge extends beyond highschool geography and the odd wikipedia article - so would welcome an opportunity to discuss with someone adept.)

3
ganymedereply
lemmy.ml

may i ask why you believed that and why you stopped believing?

what piece of knowledge changed things for you?

surely you already knew all the reasons why that sounds pretty fantastical, even back then?

4

All of my teenage years were cringe but at some point I changed my clothing style to be more like that one dude in class who took drugs, sprayed graffiti and was always in trouble. Because he once said to me I could draw pretty good.

12

I love it. Don't be ashamed, you were telling the world you were open to trying new things and being adventurous. Finding your own style rather than following the mainstream is sexy. I used to be that way and slowly confirmed and now I'm trying to get back to my younger self, where I cared less about what others thought.

18
PwnTra1nreply
lemmy.world

There was this kid my friends referred to as “top hat kid” cuz he wore a top hat and trench coat. Yours seems less cringe than that.

3

Homestuck phase 😬
I like to think I was in the middle of the cringeometer for that fandom but who knows.

6

It becomes a cringe adult phase when you get older.

3

My anime days.

This was back before anime really took off in the US, so most people had no idea what it was. This was before the term "weeaboo" was invented, but I'd have been called one if it had been.

3
lemmy.ml

@op looking back, what was the specific cringe aspect of what you described in your story?

that you'd hope for this seemingly impossible outcome, of being a positive force in an established group with a clear bigoted direction?

or that you feel foolish for relapsing into believing religious topics again?

or something else?

2
lemmy.ml

My cringe only grew more powerful as I aged. King of cringe my whole life.

Unfortunately I was blind sided by blue conservatives jerking themselves off over what trump will do to people they dislike. I have since lost my crown.

0