Quote:
Originally Posted by todeen
And I do agree with you on this point. Lots of data shows that being introduced to more ideas can have a moderating effect. For instance, 70% of this nation's Mormons vote Republican. But polls have shown that their international missionary experiences tend to swing them to moderate Republicans. Are there still deep red Republicans in the Mormon faith? Yes. But when polls question them on their views on immigration it's much more moderate/liberal than compared to others who haven't traveled internationally.
|
Interesting data point there!
As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and having served a mission in Taiwan, I suspect those observations aren't far off. At the same time, I have some close acquaintances who are also of my faith, who are even married to immigrants, and yet are pretty strongly against immigration. Go figure!
But now we're getting a long ways away from Cobb.
I do think that there is room to question how much of an influence his father had considering his untimely death when Cobb was ~19 years old.
I'm not deep enough into the weeds to attempt to draw any conclusions here. But the author from the book that I read on Cobb did assert that it was meaningful in this context (and my subconscious generally concurred), which is why I mentioned it in the first place.