To worry about ending up on the wrong side of history?

[forceofhabitandnotneed]

I've always considered myself to be fairly 'woke' in terms of issues around gender, sexuality and ethnicity since my late teens. However, I find the speed and complexity of many of the currently evolving debates about these matters a bit dizzying, and as much as I try to keep up, I often feeling like I'm struggling by comparison to younger people, and even some of my more politically active peers.

So, how do I avoid ending up looking like an entitled, middle-aged centrist dad who's only ripe for humiliation and opprobrium?

Listen to others, be conscious of others' feelings, and don't be afraid to ask questions or admit you're wrong. :)

Honestly the call of wrong side of history is bollocks just to shut you up
Nobody can decide now how we will be judged in the future

I wouldn't worry about it....you'll be old or long gone before history judges if you were on the right or wrong side. At the moment it seems to me that those who support the current issues are a bit like the new puritans, no dissent allowed, which as history has shown, is not healthy.

I feel exactly the same. I’m 52 and on the one hand have always thought the young are our future, if they didn’t strive to change society we’d still be living by in caves. However recently, especially with the transgender stuff, I just feel it’s all too much for me.

Just hold your own actual opinions, safe in the knowledge that you will always be out of step with both younger people in your own lifetime and future generations.

We will all be ‘on the wrong side of history’ because future generations will get all chronocentric (in the same way that we do) a d determine that we were all fools for thinking/doing just about everything.

Anyone claiming that their position is ‘right’ and all others ‘the wrong side of history’ are pretty much guaranteed to be top of the list for ridicule by future generations of schoolkids studying history.

Maybe instead of trying to be politically fashionable you might want to try to have some actual principles? Being a genuine person is actually a good thing you know.

I think if you are kind then you're always on the right side.

Just keep being polite.
If someone would rather be called a different name/gender then refer to them as they've requested.
If someone feels unsafe, listen to them and take steps to make them safe.
Ask questions with an open mind.

People have been transgender for a long time and the increase in acceptance and opened is a bit strange for some people who haven't had to think about it, but being polite is the easy way to navigate through it all.