Posted by RobertSobel on 09 Jul 2012 /
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It was only four years ago that 13-year-old, Jonathan Krohn, spoke at CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) and wowed the conservative crowd with his articulate speech on conservative values. Fast forward to 2012 and Jonathan Krohn has grown up and has a change of heart.
You can watch part of Krohn’s speech from CPAC HERE.
In a new op-ed released on Salon.com, Krohn tells his story of how he was once a conservative prodigy, but has since walked back from his former political stance.
You can read Jonathan Krohn’s op-ed HERE.
“I always enjoyed writing (I had gotten my first paid writing gig when I was 9), I enjoyed politics (or at least the theory of politics), and I grew up in Georgia, where conservative ideologues dominated the radio and the populace.”
Earlier this month in an article from Politico, which you can read HERE, the story of Krohn was told and within minutes of its release, the backlash begun.
“I have been treated by the political right with all the maturity of schoolyard bullies. The Daily Caller, for instance, wrote three articles about my shift, topping it off with an opinion piece in which they stated that I deserved criticism because I wear “thick-rimmed glasses” and I like Ludwig Wittgenstein. Why don’t they just call me “four-eyes”? These are not adults leveling serious criticism; these are scorned right-wingers showing all the maturity of a little boy. No wonder I fit in so well when I was 13.”
Krohn’s story is a typical one. With the media, especially radio and print, in the many southern and mid America states being overwhelmed by the conservative agenda, it’s not a surprise that Krohn formed the views he had when he was so young. As Krohn got older, he was able to breakaway from the conservative stranglehold that suffocated him and he was able to form his own opinions. Though Krohn is not a Democrat, he does describes his views as a ‘center-left position of independent mindedness.” While Krohn was able to escape from his former conservative mindset, not enough have been able to do so.
