[Neurons] 2024 Neurons #41 --- ON THE CHANGING OF VALUES

[Michael Hall]

From: L. Michael Hall

2024 Neurons #41

September 16, 2024

              

ON THE CHANGING OF VALUES

When Your Position Changes, so do Your Values

 

If Neuro-Semantics and NLP is about anything, it is about change.  It has
been since the publication of the first book which was sub-titled: A Book
about Communication & Change. That's what got the founders interested in it
in the first place-they could not explain all of the changes that were
occurring in the Gestalt Class that Richard and Frank conducted.  

 

So when Kamala Harris said that her "values have not changed" my ears perked
up.  The statement occurred in her interview on CNN with Dana Bash (August
29).  She was asked about all of her "flip-flops"-changes regarding a
dozen-plus positions.  In response, she said "my values have not changed."
Interesting!  But now we have a problem.  Namely, that statement does not
explain how she came about to hold new and different positions (which
actually is what 'change' refers to) that she did in 2019 when she ran for
president against Biden in the Democratic Primary.  

 

Further, since the interview, and also in the debate, no additional
information has been given about her changes.  In the 2019 primary she
promoted a whole set of objectives that were considered "progressive
values."  She was for open borders, big government spending, government
give-aways, raising taxes, abortion, and she was against fracking, new oil
development, tax cuts, etc.  

 

About a month before the interview, seeing how the progressive values put
Binden at a disadvantage to Trump, she began reversing her positions.
Suddenly, she shifted and now she is for closed borders, building the wall,
fracking, tax cuts, etc.  Now she is for what are regarded as "conservative
values."  Now as a psychologist, trainer, and modeler committed to
understanding change and developing models of the change processes and
mechanisms, etc., this is fascinating. 

 

Here's the problem in a nutshell.  When you are now for something like
building the wall or fracking (as two examples) and previously you were not
and these are "conservative values," you can't say that your "values" have
not changed.  They certainly have.  That's because when you are for
something, that means that you value it.  It means it is important to you.
That's why you speak up for it and urge others to take it on as theirs. All
of that describes what we mean by a "value."

                                           

So here's what we have-Kamala says she has changed her positions, but she
says her values have not changed.  How does that work?  Why would you hold a
position that you did not value or think important?  And if you changed your
position to "conservative values," doesn't that mean that your values have
changed?

 

For argument sake, let's say that her "values have not changed."  If that is
true, then her new proposed "conservative values" now become only an
election ploy designed to get votes.  That seems to be what Bernie Sanders
said about her changes.  Yet it is hypocritical and deceptive.

 

On the other hand, if it is not true and her values have indeed changed,
then she would be sincerely promoting "conservative values."  So which is
it?  If it is the latter, and she changed her values-then two things follow.
1) She lied to the progressive side of her party.  That means she wants to
keep them as voters even though she has changed, she just does not want to
tell them that.  2) Something amazing happened to her after the Democratic
Convention, something she has not revealed which led to this tremendous
change.  But what?  What could have convinced her to change her mind that
much?

 

After-Thought

Values can and do change-although for most of us they change slowly and
generally over years.  Yes, there are times when a person has a radical
life-changing experience and all of a sudden, the heavens opens up, light
shines down on our fallible head, and suddenly we have a whole new way of
seeing things.  It happens.  But it doesn't happen very often.  I wonder
what Harris' light-from-heaven moment was that led to her coming over to the
"conservative values" that she's now proposing?

 

Neuro-Semantic News

.       You can now find all of the back issues of Neurons on the website.

.       Neurons Volumes (neurosemantics.com)
<https://www.neurosemantics.com/neurons-meta-reflections/> 


 

L. Michael Hall, Ph.D.

Executive Director, ISNS

738 Beaver Lodge

Grand Jct., CO. 81505 USA

meta at acsol.net

 

 



 

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