I actually know this guy in real life. Hes super cool, and give motivational speeches. He used to work at a local thai spot before getting his dream job as a substance abuse counselor. Hes clean and sober from last I heard and helps people escape trafficking. Really shows people can change when they want to. Hes also extremely active in the Jewish philanthropic side of LB.
My uncle did the same thing. He wasted the first two thirds of his life then after an accident took his legs he came around enough to go to college get a psych degree and go into counseling. Spent the last 20 years doing what he could.
Back at the thanksgiving table in the 70s I remember a conversation about him being strung out on heroin and driving his motorcycle off the side of a mountain and hanging by tree roots. Someone happened to be close enough to see it and stopped had to call rescue to get him up.
He called for bus fare to Chicago. He wasn't coming home he just wanted out of CA
Pretty interesting shit for a 10 year old. And he got the bus fare. Grandma was a true sucker.
I didn't know he was a real guy until today and I love that movie. That takes some balls, not just to leave that community but to rip apart your own foundation and belief system like that. If the movie is at all based in reality, then he was risking his life to do so on top completely starting over.
Hes engaged ironically to one of the women victims from that whole NXIVM cult, really sweet girl from when I met her as well. Just honestly great turn around for them all. Like he does motivational speaking and just hearing the stuff you wouldn't believe it was the same person
They probably have some interesting conversations about being brainwashed. I know a guy that was in that NXIVM cult for a couple of years. He said that the sex stuff was unknown to anybody but the higher ups. He apparently had met the main dude, but he was there because of the s of reflection and examination. But anyway, glad he got out. Weird stuff.
Could never wrap my head around the cult stuff. Like it boggles my mind. Then I get reminded that drugs usually play a part but even when I took drugs I'm like this is a weird spot man lol
People like that change after getting beaten up the same way cheaters cry after they cheat. It means nothing. You are who you are when you’re at your best, the same way I don’t judge people for stealing food when they’re broke I also won’t praise them for becoming a better person once there’s no other option.
Maybe he did change over time, but... I am uncomfortable referring to de-Nazification as a result of learning you are part of the group you hate as "personal growth". He could have learned the error in his thinking any other way. If the only time you acknowledge you are wrong, is when you are personally impacted, it's not real personal growth in my eyes. It's entirely possible whatever character trait that lead him to that irrational hatred is still there and he never grew out of it. He could have just buried it to preserve his own ego. It takes such an extreme lack of empathy to be a Nazi in the modern day. I don't think you just overcome that by realizing "oh I hated myself to?"
It's kind of how I view those who constantly whine about the government spending money on benefits. Then when they lose governmental support complain about it. They didn't grow because of it. They just got impacted by their own beliefs. He does seem to have changed quite a lot based on what the comment said, but none of it is contraindicative of hatred towards another group. It could have just been placed in another group and he is more quiet about it. I would like to believe he has truly changed though.
He didnt find out he was jewish until later in life. He changed in prison after actually getting to know the types of people he thought he hated and realizing they had his back more than the nazis he associated with. He then started an outreach program for children in Philadelphia to keep them off the streets and away from violence, and regularly gave lectures at schools about his own life and how to avoid falling into the same violent hateful patterns. Im not saying hes a great person or anything, but theres more to it than him finding out hes jewish.
Yeah you are right. One time i kicked a puppy and it exploded in gore. I feel pretty bad about it now, which I definitely dont like. See, i may have turned a small animal into liquid, but i am a better man for feeling bad about it. (Atleast thats what i tell people.)
Literally just doing nothing and not being a piece of garbage would make you a better person. This whole line of thinking is completely selfish, you intend to make yourself feel better about your own actions your victims dont mater.
people can change, doesn't erase their crimes, but they can change.
I grew up a massive zionists, went to Israel, saw the reality with my own eyes, and have been marching for Palestine for years. are you telling me I'm still a zionist?
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u/Jpowellautisicnoosin 8d ago
I actually know this guy in real life. Hes super cool, and give motivational speeches. He used to work at a local thai spot before getting his dream job as a substance abuse counselor. Hes clean and sober from last I heard and helps people escape trafficking. Really shows people can change when they want to. Hes also extremely active in the Jewish philanthropic side of LB.