My parents are hardcore Republicans and I went to a private, Christian college so I just assumed I was that way too and hadn't really thought through things. I was almost led down a path towards MGTOW/Red Pill due to my struggles with dating as a teenager, but I was fortunately able to break free of that. I still held several non-conservative positions like supporting Kaepernick or ditching religion.
But I think what really led me down the right path was my first job out of college. I took a job at a start-up where all the employees were vastly underpaid market value while the executives made a killing. We all got the spiel that once our company hit it big everyone would get due compensation but that never happened. The company started doing OK but then hit a snag and started firing a bunch of people. I was the only one on my team of 3 to survive the layoffs but they soon hired someone else. I was supposed to train him as I was the leader of the team. I found out that he was hired away from some hedge fund and that he made almost double my salary.
After that I immediately went looking for another job and never looked back. That was also the only job where I really put in a great deal of effort and was super invested in the success of the company, because I honestly believed I'd be rewarded for it. Now I do just enough to keep the job and keep them happy enough, I don't go out of my way for anything. Funny thing is now I make a lot more money but do a lot less work. I didn't really get radicalized fully until 5-6 years after that experience but it definitely provided the foundation for it.
My parents are hardcore Republicans and I went to a private, Christian college so I just assumed I was that way too and hadn't really thought through things. I was almost led down a path towards MGTOW/Red Pill due to my struggles with dating as a teenager, but I was fortunately able to break free of that. I still held several non-conservative positions like supporting Kaepernick or ditching religion.
But I think what really led me down the right path was my first job out of college. I took a job at a start-up where all the employees were vastly underpaid market value while the executives made a killing. We all got the spiel that once our company hit it big everyone would get due compensation but that never happened. The company started doing OK but then hit a snag and started firing a bunch of people. I was the only one on my team of 3 to survive the layoffs but they soon hired someone else. I was supposed to train him as I was the leader of the team. I found out that he was hired away from some hedge fund and that he made almost double my salary.
After that I immediately went looking for another job and never looked back. That was also the only job where I really put in a great deal of effort and was super invested in the success of the company, because I honestly believed I'd be rewarded for it. Now I do just enough to keep the job and keep them happy enough, I don't go out of my way for anything. Funny thing is now I make a lot more money but do a lot less work. I didn't really get radicalized fully until 5-6 years after that experience but it definitely provided the foundation for it.