Can People Who've Been Raised in a Certain Culture Ever Truly Shake It Off?

[Outcast9428]

I've noticed that if somebody grows up in a very left-wing or liberal culture, or if they subsequently grew up in a more conservative one... That they ultimately grow up with the leftist, liberal, or conservative worldview even if they choose to be part of their society's counter-culture. On this forum for example, I'd consider @WanderingProtagonist and @Mercer to be conservatives. But they've grown up in California and even people who come from states like California and are legitimately conservative still end up adopting a liberal worldview simply because of how predominant it is in the area they live. Because of this, its like their conservatism never quite looks the same as the conservatism of people who have grown up in more conservative environments.

One such example is their opinion on the South. They say that the South is uneducated, poor, and backward... Mercer says it is bigoted towards anybody who is smart or different... Basically the same criticisms that liberals have of the Southern US. Meanwhile, here in Virginia, a surprising number of the leftists have oddly conservative views and behavior concerning sex even if they are leftists... They dislike hookup culture too, tend to be in monogamous relationships, and also advocate for violent pornography being banned. I even met one leftist at my job who says he hopes the culture becomes monogamous again and that hookup culture ends. The kind of polyamorous or cuckold relationships that seem common in California and Oregon are completely non-existent here.

I also notice a lot of conservatives from California, or Florida in the case of my ex-girlfriend... Think the South is poor simply because it doesn't have the glitz and glamour of the big states. We don't have giant shopping malls, or really tall buildings. In my area, you cannot find a house within a 50 mile radius of where I live that's more expensive then $2 million dollars. Houses that are that fancy simply don't exist here. You can't find them in the city either. Houses in California also have this very modern look to them that you don't see with any houses in the South.

I think a lot of conservatives from the big states have a hard time detaching themselves from all the glitz and glamour. I also notice that while both of them dislike leftism, a part of them still seems afraid of authentic conservatism. I think there is a fear lingering in the hearts of conservatives from progressive states that, if actual conservatism really returns that we'll basically remove everything that's fun, make life really boring, or that actual bigotry and intolerance might return as well. So this causes conservatives from progressive states having a hard time actually leaving their home state.

@Winston Asks, why do people stay even when they're depressed and dislike the status quo. The truth is, familiarity is intoxicating. People really have a hard time detaching themselves from what is familiar. And I think some people develop the mindset that they'd rather be a conservative living in a progressive society then be a conservative living in a conservative society, but having to deal with everybody else being further to the right then they are. At the end of the day, they may dislike progressivism or liberalism, but actual conservatism feels too alien for them to accept.

Its also why nobody seems interested in going abroad to the Middle East... Even though the Middle East definitely has super traditional women, the culture is so alien that almost everybody is afraid of it.

I remember when I went to college, and ultimately, the reason why I did not socially succeed there was because the liberalism that everybody else seemed to easily adjust too, I simply couldn't. It was too alien to me. I could not subconsciously accept that it was acceptable and even expected at my college for you to just tell a girl straight up that you wanted to have sex with her. The idea of just grinding on girls I haven't spoken a word to was too alien to everything I had grown up with. I had grown up being told that you hide your sexual feelings when initially meeting a girl. That you are never supposed to just tell a girl you want to have sex with her. That you need to pretend you're not trying to have sex with her but rather that your intentions are romantic only. And only after you have secured her love and affection is it really okay to let her know of your sexual interest in her. So the concept of just telling random girls I met that I want to have sex with her or have a threesome with her and her friend was shocking to me and I couldn't accept it. I also felt really suffocated not being able to tell jokes that people at my college thought were inappropriate. Growing up, the teenagers I knew joked about everything. People joked about sex, about race, about women and gay people. It was perfectly fine to joke about pretty much any taboo topic. And I felt really restricted not being able to tell those jokes anymore without people going all silent and giving me dirty looks. Even jokes about sex were, weirdly taboo, for a culture that promoted so much casual sex.

I feel like even the concept of women working is kind of alien to me. It just feels unnatural to me for both parents to be working full time. My mom was a housewife, she apparently did work before I was born but she stopped working when I was like 5 so I barely remember her ever working. My subconscious seems to compel me to believe that women ought to be at home and that women working is unnatural and strange. Even when I was a little kid and playing Sims, I used to refuse to let the mom work. I felt like it wasn't right for the mom to be working.