The Overton Paradox | Brilliant

As I have aged, and not necessarily gracefully, I've gotten far more liberal in my politics. I attribute this to the fact I want the world I leave to be better than the world I've lived in. That's it.

They’re trying to invent a new name for a phenomenon that’s already well-known in statistics: Simpson’s paradox.

I liked this, but I feel like it is just one possible explanation for the common observation that people feel more conservative as they grow older. And it may seem confirmed when society is growing more liberal. But what if this changes? After all there is no objective reason that I know of why societies will have to grow ever more liberal. When conservatism is on the rise, this may become reversed. What then? Older people will appear ever more radically liberal I guess? Hmmm, it is late here and I am too tired to think this through.

Also why is this in technology and not politics? Although, come to think of it, I am glad it is, because politics is so filled to the brim with US politics that I unsubscribed.

Really cool to see.

At age 18, a particular 7 students in a class are "liberal" and 3 are "conservative" (70/30%). In their 20s, one liberal commits suicide due to harassment about being LGBTQ (66/33), in their 30s one liberal dies from a drug overdoes (62.5/37.5), in their 40s one liberal dies from a workplace accident (57.1/42.8) and in their 50s on liberal dies from lack of health insurance (50/50). At their 40th high school reunion, half of the class is republican. "Oh, ya, people get more conservative as they get older." No one changed their position, yet looking at just the percentages, people would think that this phrase is true.

This is why the one time democrats got the trifecta, they pushed through healthcare reform. This is why democrats (should be/are) for workplace safety, drug decriminalization and drug treatment de-stigmatization, mental heath reform and LGBT "it gets better" initiatives. Democrats literately have been dying at a higher rate than the WASPs, and loosing this demographic warfare. Now things are turning around and people are surprised that democrats are winning the under 50s now, but it has been a multi-decade project to get to this point.