it's so great you changed idea and you became both more realistic and more emphatic.

I'd like to think the empathy was present.

The first-hand and theoretic knowledge was not.

Much of the theory I'd been supplied (mainstream economics, an unbeknownst to me at the time hardline Libertarian professor in my intro course: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22133958), was false.

Undoing the damage of false priors and models, especially under ongoing objection and denial based on those, is difficult and expensive in time, effort, and willpower.