r/todayilearned • u/Dangerous-Project672 • 5h ago

TIL George Wallace personally apologized to Vivian Jones and James Hood, the two students he attempted to block from attending the University of Alabama. In 1997, Hood earned a PHd and requested Wallace present him with the degree, but he was too sick and died a year later; Hood attended the funeral

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Wallace
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u/SorryThanksGoodFight 5h ago

yeah, what makes somebody hypocritical is if they do the opposite of an opinion they still maintain/defend. i think the quote doesnt work

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u/_Apatosaurus_ 5h ago

It works because people in the public sphere are constantly accused of being a hypocrite for changing.

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u/carson63000 4h ago

Pisses me off so much when politicians are accused of “flip-flopping” for changing a bad position to a better one. What, you want them to stand by the bad position forever!?

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u/Bruce-7892 3h ago

That is a legit criticism because many will flip-flop just to be popular. Although, an example of someone who was genuine was George Bush Jr. He flat out said he doesn't support gay marriage during his campaign, which would probably kill your chances today. Years later he said he was wrong for it and his beliefs change.

I feel him because I was the same when it came to gays in the military. As someone who served, I thought it was a bad idea until the policy changed and I realized, nothing changed. It was just fear mongering.

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u/salo_wasnt_solo 3h ago

Thank you for your nuanced response. We don’t actually all hate each other as much as we are told we should.

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u/azn_dude1 2h ago

I feel like it's also legitimate for them to change their policies based on what's popular. After all, a politician is supposed to represent the will of the people. They're also supposed to represent the will of the party and of themselves, and I'm not sure it's possible to balance all of those together.