I had a reactionary period of my life as a young teen and I value it. It gave me a window into their mindset that I use to understand it and better my criticism of it. I grew up a pretty devout catholic, for example, and that enables me to not have boilerplate reddit atheist criticism of it. I go for the soft spots. The real juicy morsels.

When gamergate dropped I was dating and living with a "not like other girls" woman but luckily neither of us got invested into it despite being a little "primed" so to speak. If I had been some doomer incel maybe I'd have gotten into it but the bullet was dodged. I still had some reactionary views and lots of room to grow and still do but that's life. It is a process and anyone who has 100% "correct opinions" is regurgitating something they were told without really thinking aboutit, a liar, or they've never been tested.

It's okay to look back and go "yeesh those were dark days" but don't be too hard on your younger self. You wouldn't be here without them and think about how much weirder it would be to have those growing pains now. Think about other dumb shit we do as kids like climbing a tree only to fall and break an arm. I'd rather use youthful bone growth at 14 than 45.