Comment by hollywood_court

The trick is finding enough self-respect for yourself to break that conditioning.

I was conditioned to smoke tobacco, waste money on crappy food, vote against my own self interests every two years at the ballot box, buy a new car every five years, hate people who looked or behaved differently than me, say 'yes sir' and 'yes ma'am' and do as I'm told, etc.

I still find myself trying to break away from the stuff I learned as a child and as a young man. It takes life long effort.