[todeen]

Originally Posted by raulus

I think I’m less focused on the stereotype of liberal v conservative, racist or nonracist, and more focused on the fact that a university professor will expose their kids to different experiences, intellectual theories, and ideas as opposed to say your average coal miner. Nothing against coal miners!

Whether that has an impact on one’s racist bent is, of course, subject to debate.

I see what trail you were trying to take us down. Like how Indiana Jones father tried to influence him. I think if the evidence shows that Cobb's father took an active role in his life, than this could certainly be true.

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.

However, how someone interacts with experiences is very personal. My wife is the only sibling (she is one of five) who votes Democrat. Her father was an aluminum worker and proud steel workers union member. He had a two year long lockout when my wife was 10-12 yo. She experienced the lockout very differently than her three older siblings, and her younger brother who can hardly remember it. She told me she votes Democrat because of how the lockout shaped her views on capitalism.

Did Cobb leave any memoires or journals that historians use when writing his biographies?