Is changing your mind a sign of intellectual honesty—or betrayal? These days, it can feel like most people think it’s the latter. We live in an age where rethinking a position becomes a gotcha moment—a chance for someone to pull up your old social media posts to prove you’re a hypocrite or a fraud. The pressure to not admit to changing your mind—to stick to your guns—has never been greater.

But the ability to change your mind is a sign that you think for yourself. It takes curiosity, honesty, courage, and humility. And so it is worth understanding how it happens.

That’s why we’re launching a new video interview series called Confessions.

In each episode, I sit down with someone who has abandoned a belief that was once central to who they were: a former climate activist who now thinks the movement has lost the plot; an anti-Israel protester turned Zionist; a body-positivity activist turned Ozempic evangelist. Whatever the subject, the goal every time will be the same: to understand why someone changed their mind—and what it took to walk away from a set of beliefs they once lived by.

We’re kicking off the series with Richard Hanania. Once upon a time, Hanania was an alt-right extremist posting hateful diatribes online. Those pseudonymous posts came back to haunt Hanania years later, after he had found mainstream success as a political commentator, thanks to an exposé by HuffPost. Hanania reckoned with his past in an essay titled “Why I Used to Suck, and (Hopefully) No Longer Do.”

In my interview with Hanania, he describes his journey from the fringe to the mainstream. Watch it here:

To mark the launch of the series, we’re also publishing an essay by Hanania about why you shouldn’t be afraid to change your mind. Hanania writes about a more recent change of heart, this time about Donald Trump. Hanania voted for the president but now thinks that was a mistake. He regrets his vote, but not admitting he was wrong. Read Richard on why the path of intellectual honesty is the only one worth taking:

Richard Hanania: Why I Changed My Mind. And Why You Should Too. Richard Hanania Read full story

To make sure you don’t miss the next installment of Confessions, subscribe to our YouTube channel. And if you are a socialist turned capitalist, a capitalist turned socialist, a former Scientologist, a former Groyper, a former vegan, or—you get the picture—write to us at confessions@thefp.com.