well, yeah. but do you actually remember? and if you do, was it that you read about it all in a book?
it becomes pretty apparent, to me, that on reflection of my own personal life experiences, ideas didn't change me first, what made me prediscposed to having my crack foundationed *grin* is my experiences in life. ideas mattered after that, and it would go back and forther, feeding off each other forever more.
and i think, what doug is getting at is something i happen to suspect also, when people change their mind or seem to, when all that happens is that they read a book or heard a speech, is that this "change" is superficial and people revert to foundational ways of thinking and *behaving* when the shit hits the fan. (which is what, I think, accounts for the volatility in voting and race -- the bradley effect)
this never became so readily apparent to me as observing blogwars -- especially when you were privvy to what people said behind the scenes. all the blather about anti-racism was just that: blather. lacking in any actually socially-engaged political practice, *with others* and not sitting around commenting on blog posts, whatever mind changing they'd gone through was superficial enough to evaporate the minute their wee tender egos were challenged a bit. *because* they actually lacked experience engaged in activities that would reinforce ideas.
i'm ranting. i cut myself off and flee the house and the computer for R and R.
*poof*
http://cleandraws.com Wear Clean Draws ('coz there's 5 million ways to kill a CEO)