Do you believe a person who claims they "used to be" atheist, democrat, an adventurer like you, etc. (meaning "on your side"), when they argue with you?

Not at all. It is one of those little gimmicks.

I think as a rhetorical tool it is suspect. But obviously there are real “converts” out there and converts tend to be zealous. We don’t like converts because they are people who rejected something we identify with and now rail against it. They are worse than people who have simply always been opposed to us.

I think in some cases, these people were more in the middle and simply gravitated toward the side they’d always been leaning toward. Others just want a group to belong to and hop from group to group. Bringing it up in an argument to try and sway you, though, I find that disingenuous. You can make your point without “I used to be stupid like you”. You’re not convincing me of shit that way.

And like, do I believe that Milo Yiannopoulos is straight now that he’s working for Marjorie Taylor Greene? Fuck no.

No.
Met women who copied whatever others stated that they were active in her beliefs, Hobby,Athletic activities,Movie ,music preferences and so on she stated that she did that too.

On questioning her on some a particular topic discovered that she in fact didn’t know or even engage in anything that she said that she was better at.

I no longer beleive her on anything as I see it as a maniputlion tactic to become friends.

Here lies finally caught up with her as others have caught her in lying and backstabbing others unfairly.
She behaves over the top friendly and accomodating but her real character is devious and questionable and its beome apparent more so as she amps up her false persona.
She appears to be too desparate to have friends especially the kind of friends that DO free things for her!
Moving HER furntiure,helpinh her clean her apartment, ( she sits on the side watching instead of helping those that assist her).

As a rule I trust and believe the people I interact with.
I feel a lot is said in between the lines, and through body language (that could potentially give away their ‘alternate facts’).
If it was me, wanting to say I used to be in the other camp, I would want it to not get personal, i.e. I would not say “I used to be like you (like, stupid/asleep/dumb/ignorant)”, but something to the affect of “I used to have an opposing view/I used to think differently”.

I believe them, but they are simply externalising an argument which they had with themselves and haven’t yet won.

I always give people benefit of the doubt, unless they give me reason to be convinced they are BS artists.

“I used to be as skeptical as you are” doesn’t carry much weight with me. Exception: my therapist said this about chiropractic, and I gave it a try and found that it helped. But I still have my doubts and will not become a proselytizer.

In other matters, I pretty much don’t respond to that. “I believe X, so you should too (and so should everyone else)” is, in my opinion, the root of one of the great evils in the world.

A friend of mine, brought up Jewish, religious, later on became an evangelizing atheist. What he said was “When you have an atheist, you have a lost true believer. Atheism is my religion.”

I’m not that dedicated to any belief (or so I think): I’m skeptical of my own skepticism. But I do try to keep an open mind and doubt everything fairly.

I do believe people capable of shifting their positions and beliefs. For example, there was certainly a considersbale inexcusable period in my own life when I actually believed myself indifferent to both politics and ideology. I was a fool.

It depends on the person and what they’re talking about.

I don’t think I’ve heard Republicans claiming to me to have been Democrats but converted to become Republican, for about 35 years now.

Oh actually, there was that Zuckface guy who claimed to be a Bernie Sanders supporter, but who later discovered the truly wonderful Trump and QAnon. It was true that he became my ZuckFace friend after seeming to be a Sanders supporter on Zuckface. But I couldn’t figure out why he was later spouting QAnon nonsense. I suspected he was either quite insane, or was just enjoying trolling people in a spectacularly absurd fashion.

@Zaku I was a card carrying democrat for years. Once I was older, had my own job and could fend for myself I realized I was really a republican that sided with the left on social issues. Now, I don’t recognize either party as aligning with my interests or beliefs. I’m not indifferent, just adjacent.

I believe it.

The only time I wouldn’t care is if they were Democrats 60 years ago in the South and then shifted in the 60’s, 70’s, or 80’s and try to tell me that line about the Republicans ending slavery.

My dad was a Republican for 40 years, now he will ONLY vote for Democrats.

I know people who found Jesus later in life. I’m not sure they were atheists, but they weren’t religious.

When they are trying to say they somehow now saw the light, and trying to convince me I should too, that doesn’t really sit well with me though. If they are just talking about their own journey then that’s fine.

I assume everyone unhinged is on my side.

The arguments are just foreplay because they all love me and want me.

For my mind.

Mostly.

untrust-ing unknow-ing
unlove—ed unhinged—ed