If you extend this idea past political and policy issues I still have the general impression that people are looked down upon for changing their mind. I think

If you extend this idea past political and policy issues I still have the general impression that people are looked down upon for changing their mind. I think we can widen the definition to include any surprising new ideas a person holds that seems to contradict their previously professed ideas / identity. Look at when a public culture figure changes their ideas about something in a way that breaks our image of their identity- Jim Carey starting to make paintings or Lewis Hamilton designing clothes. If someone is well known for something then it seems like there’s a general aversion to that person expressing their thoughts and opinions in a different domain. I think this might have to do with the fact that our ideas of someone’s identity is just never that accurate- it’s difficult to understand the nuances of why someone would believe something, so it’s surprising when they express an idea that might seem contradictory to something they expressed before. This still can hold true for a personal acquaintance too- “my uncle is learning to speak German??”. If we’re talking about politicians then our system is also not setup for them to express a lot of nuanced opinions. If they change their mind I feel like a lot of the time the nuanced justifications for that change of kind get washed away in the mainstream media.