Has a stranger's reply to you on social media ever changed your strongly-held belief(s)?

I was very big on masculinity, not like man better than woman stuff, but like man don't wear pink, men don't carry purse on shoulders, men don't wear makeup etc etc.

And someone told me," Is your masculinity so weak that wearing pink will make you feminine."

That implied I'd be so close to feminity that wearing pink will turn me over into feminine. And I was pretty comfortable with my masculinity, so only conclusion was these notions are toxic and I should do what I like and what is comfortable, I'm not gonna be less of a man for wearing pink.

What's really funny is that for centuries pink was a masculine color, because it's a much stronger color than blue and stands out more. Only in the Victorian era was that changed around.
- Funny indeed
As a woman I had a similar interaction. I was def a "pick me" for far too long.

Yes, but not in a way you might think.

When it comes to the death penalty, I've always been on the "against" side of the fence. But for very heinous crimes, I believed I understood why families of victims would want to pursue that.

On an online forum, I encountered such a family member. They shared the crime in great detail, and how they felt about the assailant. The way they discussed it was very ugly, selfish, and overly punitive. It was clear they no longer viewed the person as a human being. They weren't able to process the trauma. This changed my belief that there are rational arguments for the death penalty from family members.

Then you might think of it as a "get out easy card" for the condemned. Instead of suffering locked up for the rest of his life, pop, an easy way out...
And I'm not even starting on the number of killed innocent people... How do you even try to justify that.

Yes.

I had an incorrect understanding of the history of Israel and Palestine, and someone corrected me once.

I honestly thought it was a conflict whose roots went back millennia, but I way off, and appreciated being corrected.

Yup. Rare, but has happened multiple… oh wait, you said “strongly held.”

Even then, probably yes, but not a single… hmmm. I would say the closest I’ve come was this person talking about what it’s like to be trans. They said it’s like going into a shoe store, and you just can’t find a shoe that fits. Everyone is telling you you’ve got to buy a shoe that doesn’t fit. Why can’t we be ok with everyone deciding what fits?

They said it more eloquently than that, but it made the issue click for me. I was never against; I just didn’t understand, and they helped me understand.

Then much later someone pointed out the scientific data on SRY and that helped the data side of my brain. (The data didn’t change my acceptance, just furthered my understanding. I’m fully onboard and think it’s crazy that everyone else isn’t.)

Great question! (Mostly I have dropped out of online discussions, straw man arguments are so common it’s exhausting and not worth it.)

If Reddit counts, yes. I became a vegetarian many years ago because of an argument I had there. I've changed my mind about something small many times since then.

The sad thing is that's extremely rare. People are way too willing to just memoryhole a situation where they were definitely wrong, to preserve whatever other life priorities.

Oh, yah, all the time. And then another stranger will change it back. I’m pretty impressionable.

No you're not.
- O my god you’re right!
- Sure they are

I think I would be more receptive to having my opinions changed if I actually encountered a rational and calm person who presented facts and not immediately assume I held a strawman position or argued in bad faith.

Nope.

Most of you are lost children, and I recognize it as such.

You're indistinguishable from the other posters here. You know that, right?
- Not true, but people like you will believe what they want in order to avoid admitting they're average (and how low average is.)

Well just the other day I had commented about how I wanted to be a car salesman and work for Malfunctioning Eddie because the Thundercougarfalcon bird has so much eagle in it.

But then a kind stranger reminded me that it was in fact the Beta Romeo that has so much eagle.

So now I don’t know what job I want to get assigned in the year 3000.

No. Unless I go out there to look for answers my mind won't be changed.

Not directly, and sometimes not in the direction the responder probably intended.

Comments have introduced me to new ways of viewing topics, exposed blindspots in my way of thinking, bolstered my existing opinions, and otherwise motivated me to question and / or do more independent research.

Beliefs about what? Grammar: yes, Computer stuff: yes, Politics: slightly

Only like once did I ever do a full 180.

I was originally Pro-Choice, but I had an existential crisis at around 18 and my stance became Pro-Life but with exceptions to [SA] or if it endangers the woman's life.

Then I started looking up the arguments on both sides. It was a r/"ChangeMyView" post, the OP (someone else posted, not me) was Pro-Life and believes in the exception if the fetus was result of rape. Then someone in the comments pointed out its contradictory to belief a fetus as equal to a person, but also make exceptions "when it's convienient".

So I thought about it and I slowly became pro-choice again.

I mean, I still believe abortions to be a sad thing, ending a potential life is a tregedy, but I also recognize that giving the government the power to regulate reproductive rights is a much greater evil than a voluntary abortion that a woman choses.

I see fetuses as a sort of in a stage between "not alive" and "alive", a potential person, not a fully developed person, not yet. I think the life of a fully developed human being should take priority over a potential human being, one that we can't even be sure if he/she will die before reaching school-age (aka: infant mortality). I mean, the fetus's existence is kinda tied to the pregnant woman, it can't thrive outside of the womb for like a large portion of a year (I mean... unless we somehow figure out how to safely take out the fetus and put it in an artificial womb). I'm pro-choice, not because I like abortions, but because its the lesser evil compared to the alternative.

As for my other beliefs, no they never really changed. The specifics and nuances is influenced by the world around me, including a tiny bit of influence from the internet, but mostly its formed by internal logics of my brain. For example: I was pro-gun when I was a teen, still am pro-gun now. And not as in the right wing perspective either, I lean left, I did not grow up in a gun household, so its not because of that either. I just don't trust the government and I wish people left-of-center started to arm themselves. I really hate the Democrat's anti-gun rhetoric (I'd still vote for them because its harm reduction for the social policies). And this belief was later renforced because I had a bad interaction with a cop, and was unjustifiably arrested. We should just have people form well-regulated militias to enforce the laws, I rather trust random people (with training, of course) than a cop. I live in a deep blue liberal city and I know these people would probably be more reasonable than an average cop, but then again, unfortunately, these liberals are too afraid of guns... 🤦‍♂️

C'mon, can't we just form a militia? I hate these cops.

No, because I’m right and everyone else is either stupid or trolling.

/s

Yes. Well, maybe not strongly held, but comments on the Internet painted transexuals in a way I had never heard before. I grew up in a small town in the 80s, so even 40 years later, it was still a new strange topic for me.

Maybe not one single response but a number of them probably.

Yeah, I've been reading a lot of YouTube and Reddit comments and I'm starting to wonder why we're allowing the woke, lamestream media to ban comedy?

Strongly held, no, but my strongly held beliefs are a weird set of things informed from personal experience. You could convince me that golf is not a stupid waste of time (maybe it's not) before I'll have any internet stranger convince me that ghosts aren't real.

I'm always willing to admit being wrong when I'm wrong, and of the data don't support me, I'll couch it as tentative or a theory.

Not one single comment, no. At least not as far back as I can remember. Over time, though.