I grew up evangelical so I was just kinda raised to be that way. I fell into the Peterson self-help stuff as a 19 year old with no direction and some of his misogynistic stuff just echoed what I was raised with so I took it at face value. His vitriol towards trans people was what turned me off to him and the whole alt-right as a whole.
I had a trans coworker/friend in high school and the way he was treated in our town was horrific. I was a “I disagree with your lifestyle but I defend your right to do it”-type teenage boy. My politics could be summed up as “leave me alone” like a lot of young men and no one would just leave him alone. That was probably the catalyst for me not being a chud. It was all just too mean for no reason. I ran into him a couple years back and he is married and very happy.
I was raised to treat people with love and empathy and I really internalized all of that. So when I came of age and had to deal with the disconnect I chose my values of love and empathy over dogma. From there it was very easy to shift left. Solidarity with all marginalized people goes hand in hand with love and empathy.
Certainly could have been. I was a bit of a selfish little shithead so I don’t wanna give my teenaged self too much credit.