I was listening to Noam Chomsky recently talk about several topics and he mentioned something with God in the name to describe when someone radically changes their viewpoint on something.

I think his example was in the terms of when hardcore capitalists switch to communism or vice versa.

Not hypocrisy as he was talking about genuine changes in beliefs. Does this ring a bell for anyone?






And no I don't generally agree with Noam but do think he has some interesting things to say from time to time.

"Road to Damascus" moment?

Ordhound04 said:

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"Road to Damascus" moment?

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Sounds more like a "come to Jesus " moment.

I usually use Come to Jesus as when you are being chewed out by your boss...like "here are all your sins and why you need Jesus"

Road to Damascus would be close but not what he used.

It was a similar idea though. A term used in predicting who will flip 180 degrees on something they are an ardent believer in.

Epiphany ?

Well if anyone runs across it in the future please try to remember this thread.

The interviewer asked him a question about postmodernism and how it relates to communism. His observation was people who are wildly committed to an idea are often the most likely to change their minds. He then used the term and went on to explain something about how to spot those type of people. I have spend a lot of time learning about postmodernism recently and it really is or at least was a big group of people full on into communism that in short order dropped it and went to Post. Now in my opinion postmod and commies are not that different but still.

I have gone through my youtube timeline and just can't find it. I would really like to know how he thinks he can spot people that will flip on major issues when they are fully committed.

Just an anecdote but a college friend of mine at A&M was 100% against the idea that psychology was a valid field of study. He was computer science at the time. His junior year he dropped CS and changed to Psych. Many other similar stories I can think of and everytime they were passionate about something then flipped to the other side.

Christians to atheists, atheists to Christians, Repub to Dem etc.

Thus I would like to know if people have actually studied the phenomenon and have any real insights to share.

Paradigm shift?

UTExan said:

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Paradigm shift?

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Paraclete shift.

Zeal of the newly converted?

gobsmacked?

A complete 360?

/Yogi Berra