My move from left to right: gradually, then suddenly

Many things in life happen in the above fashion. This quote, "Gradually, then suddenly," was Ernest Hemingway's response to an inquiry about how bankruptcy happens. Thankfully, my experience was not so life shattering as becoming insolvent, but it was a drastic alteration in my world view, in how I see myself, my community, and my friends. As with most people, I was heavily influenced by my surroundings as a child. Born in New York City, I practically had the political label progressive and democrat placed on my birth certificate. (Aside, anyone who listens to Dennis Prager will get the joke, haha). Going though elementary school, middle school, and then high school, I had ideas implanted in me to such an extent that I didn't even question their legitimacy. A perfect example is the tricky topic of abortion. Had you asked me during my teenage years, I would have been firmly on the side of "anyone should be able to get an abortion," "no one should tell what a woman can do to her body," and "abortion is healthcare and a human right." It was almost inconceivable to me that anyone could oppose this view. In my mind--I'm ashamed to say--the only people who were outrageous enough to be prolife were backward, religious (another topic for another post), and unscientific country bumpkins. Looking back now, I almost can't understand how I was so stuck in my own silo, in a mindset that frequently is encountered in inhabitants of the coastal areas of the United States.

However, as I grew, as entered college and worked my way to senior year, I started to slowly question my previous beliefs. It wasn't that I was grapping with these thoughts in a life or death struggle every day, far from it. It was more like I was becoming unsure, even indifferent, of the positions I once held. Possibly this was due in part to my studies, which were completely unrelated to cultural and social issues. Despite these nascent thoughts, I was still firm on my beliefs. Regarding abortion, taxation (another topic, another time), education, healthcare (certainly another topic), and capitalism, I was pretty much still on the political left. But the seeds of doubt were planted, because where before I was convinced, now I wasn't so sure. Transient flashes of uncertainty flew through my mind on some issues, despite my best intentions to tell myself that these were canards and not to be taken seriously. I "knew" that abortion was a good for women and mankind. But...now that I thought about it...what exactly was being aborted?

And then, it happened. In my 1st year of medical school, I saw a video by Jordan Peterson, a clinical psychologist from Canada.

He was talking about why men and women seemed to pursue different fields and chose different lifestyles. He was asked for his thoughts on the idea that women were discriminated against and thus were paid less than men. This was a 20+ minute video, and I really did not intend to watch more than a few minutes. But his answer caught my attention. Certainly there is an overrepresentation of men in CEO positions and high paying jobs like lawyers. Certainly the average salary of females is less than that of males, but what explains this? Is it the patriarchy, as so many instinctually believed? No, according to Jordan. The answer is much better explained by the intrinsic differences between men and women that lead to different choices and inclinations. According to Jordan, most women don't find working 100 hours a week, having to wake up at random times during the morning, and not having children to pursue a physically and mentally demanding career desirable. It is usually men who will fight, work ungodly hours, and suffer through days of not coming home to get that higher position, to get that next raise. Of course this doesn't at all mean that women are not capable of achieving the exact same results. The difference is choice. And why men more frequently choose one thing and women another is based on thousands of years of interactions with nature (perhaps even millions if we can see the connections between our biology and that of other species farther up the evolutionary tree, maybe lobsters?). Before I knew it, I was 3/4 through the video.

This period of time marked a change in me. I heard points of view that had never been presented to me, nor had I ever looked for them. A whole new world was opening up to me. And this was only just the beginning. My move toward the right (almost like Dave Rubin's, another joke if you get it, haha), happened because I started to question previously held beliefs. I started to realize that there existed explanations that were not only different from the ones I heard in my teenage years, but they were in contravention to my entire worldview. This was truly a wakeup moment.