"Minor" political events that had a big impact in shaping your outlook

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

"Minor" in this case meaning ones that aren't obvious and everyone will say, like the Iraq War, election of Trump, etc.

For me it was the Russian invasion of Crimea and eastern Ukraine. That totally made me realize I wanted nothing to do with the so-called "anti-imperialist left" as they spewed propaganda in favor of Russian imperialism. And Snowstalker's posts at the time also made me realize how dumb Marxism is.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Jim McGreevey's resignation. I was living in New Jersey at the time and it taught me both that not everybody who's a member of an oppressed group is a good person and that many of the people around me, including people I liked and still like, were capable of a level of casual bigotry that I still find shocking to look back on.

[Lambsbread]

When I was a...sophomore?...in college, the Pennsylvania State College & University teachers union went on strike and I got to witness pretty much the entire campus come together in support of our professors. I was already very pro-public education and public higher education, but it made me really appreciate the value of the education I was receiving and how much my professors shaped my life.

[Joe Biden 2024]

When I was a...sophomore?...in college, the Pennsylvania State College & University teachers union went on strike and I got to witness pretty much the entire campus come together in support of our professors. I was already very pro-public education and public higher education, but it made me really appreciate the value of the education I was receiving and how much my professors shaped my life.

I was a freshman at the same time and the strike made me much more pro union.

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

The Duke lacrosse incident was the most influential event of my childhood. Much more than a war or election. Eye opening stuff about how our leaders are not looking out for us.

[Kingpoleon]

October of 2012 - after watching a couple of Kasich interviews, I became a Kasich shill at the ripe old age of ten.

[Chunk Yogurt for President!]

When Obama wanted to attack Syria in 2013.

[heatcharger]

The Northam controversy earlier this year really soured me on the Democratic Party establishment -- a lot of politicians I viewed positively apparently have no understanding of what normal people care about. Just totally craven and shockingly beholden to liberal outrage. I guess I also learned that liberals had zoomed past me on racial sensitivity and due process issues. They already had, I just wasn't paying attention.

As a result I hardly care about the outcome of the election next week and am now inflexible in supporting Joe Biden.

[All Along The Watchtower]

Not one specific event, but hearing some people at school repeatedly call Al Gore a liar during the 2000 presidential campaign was something I didn't understand at a young age but with hindsight...

[Pyro]

The first major demonstration/protest I had ever taken part in was on Sept. 21st, 2011 against the looming execution of Troy Davis. I was involved in a lefty college organization at the time and we decided to join up with other local groups and call attention to the Davis case. The conclusion of the story (the SCOTUS decision not to delay the sentence) basically solidified my views on racial justice and the death penalty. It also introduced me to collective organizing which made it less intimidating to get involved in Occupy Wall St.

[Crumpets]

The Isla Vista attacks in 2014 made me a much more overt and hardcore feminist than I had been previously.

[Yellowhammer]

The Kavanaugh confirmation, though that probably counts as a "major" political event.

[McNukes™ #NYCMMWasAHero]

The Obama tax hikes and gun control EOs.

[TJ in Oregon]

Going to a Kasich campaign event more or less destroyed my faith in the 'moderate' wing of the GOP as the entire thing was basically smug virtue signal after smug virtue signal and ranting about how we need to throw social conservatives under the bus.

A couple other incidents that reshaped my outlook from the same period were the 'basket of deplorables' fiasco and the Access Hollywood Tapes. Prior to the basket of deplorables, I had been viewing Trump as utterly unacceptable on the basis of purportedly hating 25% of America and then Hillary came out and announced she also hates 25% of America. This was a rather equalizing moment. The Access Hollywood tapes incident was interesting because on it's face it should have pushed me against Trump, but it actually pushed me toward Trump. And the reason was because it was so incredibly hypocritical for so many people I know who spent years boasting about every sexual misdeed, yes, including rape jokes, suddenly and so wildly swing against Trump for doing the very same thing they did. That was the first point in 2016 when I was angry on Trump's behalf and if the election were then would have voted for him. In the end, some other minor event (in this case it was Pope Francis making Archbishop Cupich a cardinal of all things) led me away from supporting Trump by convincing me I couldn't support him in good conscience. But the above undoubtedly left a lingering impact of my opinion of him and his detractors that affects how I take newer allegations. Given the Republican establishment's hand in the Access Hollywood fiasco, it further undermined my trust in them also.

[John Dule]

I once watched a debate between a Bay Area rent control """activist""" and a guy who owned a housing complex in Santa Cruz. He made dozens of sound economic arguments and her rebuttal was essentially "We need to worry more about being morally right than economically right." The Berkeley liberals clapped. I wanted to vomit.

[Sorenroy]

The 2017 North Carolina budget process: specifically, the Republican's actions during it. Republicans only opened debate on the budget at midnight and then called a special recess that lasted until 3 AM because they were bothered by Democrats proposing amendments. When they came back, Republicans called for a vote on an opioid bill that secretly slashed the budgets to NC's food desert program but only in areas encompassed by Democratic districts.

I don't think it necessarily changed how I vote or act politically more than it hardened what I already believed. The North Carolina Republican Party is an absolutely disgusting organization willing to attack children and the needy because they were bothered by the process of debate.

[Santander]

Pulse nightclub

[HisGrace]

Some people will say I'm late on this, but the Republicans playing politics with the Iran deal was when I became convinced they'd clearly jumped the shark, with Trump then coming afterward.

A couple that others have said.

Duke Lacrosse. I was maybe 13 at the time, I heard about it and thought it was awful. Then it started to sound like there was maybe some doubt as if they did it, and I didn't know. Then when the evidence really started coming in I changed my mind and thought it was clearly fabricated. Even when I was basically a kid I was able to mold my opinion after the changing facts. Meanwhile, even after all the evidence had come in you had all these feminists running around saying that everyone "just loved rape" if they didn't think they did it ("rape loving scum" for a direct quote from one article I remember) and then there was that popular hot take that that was what they deserved for hiring a stripper. My first encounter with the braindead demagoguery of what would later be known as "SJW's".

I'll also second Troy Davis. I was already anti-death penalty but seeing a clearly innocent man get executed made the issue a much higher priority for me and convinced me it was something that really needs to be changed. Also around the same time there was a longform article in one of the glossy magazines (maybe The New Yorker) that went back and proved that an incident where a guy was executed for burning down his ex wife's house was actually a gas fire. There's this talking point that innocent people "never" get executed because juries are so "careful". These two are probably just the tip of the iceberg.

[BP🌹]

The Northam controversy earlier this year really soured me on the Democratic Party establishment -- a lot of politicians I viewed positively apparently have no understanding of what normal people care about. Just totally craven and shockingly beholden to liberal outrage. I guess I also learned that liberals had zoomed past me on racial sensitivity and due process issues. They already had, I just wasn't paying attention.

As a result I hardly care about the outcome of the election next week and am now inflexible in supporting Joe Biden.

So... you're okay with blackface?

[Farmlands]

Two in particular. Politically speaking, I grew up around forums where populism was the dominant ideology. However, the transgender troop ban and Trump's response to Charlottesville, soured me on it and switched my predisposition towards a candidate from being based on rhetoric, to grounded on policy.

[President of the great nation of 🏳️‍⚧️]

Mostly the never ending ass blasting the Republicans gave given trans people, especially over the past four years

[OSR stands with Israel]

Mitt Romney's RNC Speech in 2012 if that counts since he didnt win.



If not I lol have no idea

[Orser67]

Not a completely minor political event, but the 2010 elections had a huge impact on me as a "welcome to reality" moment. After 2006 and 2008, I was convinced that Democrats would be the permanent majority. Since then, I've become convinced that elections are largely cyclical.

Also, McConnell's remark that his chief goal was to make Obama a one-term president made me lose a lot of respect for the Republican Party (though, in my experience, I still dislike the Republican Party less than many other Democrats). My opinion on passing laws shifted from "let's try to write 'objectively' great laws and convince Republicans to sign onto them" to "let's pass legislation however we can since Republicans aren't going to do anything useful anyway."

[Fuzzy Bear]

Kate Steinle's death, and the surrounding circumstances of the person responsible being in the country due to "Sanctuary Cities".  This reframed my views on immigration.  The immigration issue to me is not primarily one of what policy ought to be (on which I am flexible).  Ms. Steinle's death, and the circumstances around it caused me to see that the issue is one of people refusing to enforce existing laws that have been legitimately enacted, and have never been legitmately repealed.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

The Trump era has really been a great sorting (morally speaking) for Americans of all political stripes and I can't begin to tell you how many people I know in my own life - some of whom I formerly respected a great deal - who have shown who they really are deep down in the worst way.  It's been very disappointing how many people (not just Trump supporters, you also see it with Democrats who adopt a horrifically social darwinist attitude about WWC folks, like I've literally heard multiple people refer to the Opioid crisis as "natural selection"). 

Maybe I was just being naive before, but I've really been shocked by how many Americans seem to have such a casual disregard for human suffering and really don't care about anything else but looking for an excuse to say some version of "hahahahaha, you're a stupid loser" to people they disagree with.  It really gives new meaning to the banality of evil.