While you may be right that future generations will condemn us for them, none of those things are remotely controversial enough. You can say any of them in almost any setting and people will mostly yawn. Many people think prisons should be banished, or at least severely limited (especially US prisons); there are plenty of popular vegetarians out there; assisted suicided is just your average polarizing subject.
This is what pg wrote five years ago, referencing this essay:
Just as well I've avoided saying most of the "things you can't say," or 90% of the people who read that essay and think "hear, hear" would hate me instead.... (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=255492)
Actually, I'm surprised by the upvotes. I don't think people are imagining this hypothetical future very concretely, because it's rather disturbing if you think about it. Future people would view prison as barbaric, but have no qualms forcibly drugging criminals and/or subjecting them to brain surgery. Anyone who ate mammals (or anything with a complex nervous system) would be rehabilitated in such a manner.
And as I said, I left out the things I really can't say.
If TV news has taught me anything it is that the number of people who vehemently (even violently) disagree with my (probably only moderately) progressive opinions is not small. My guess is most of us just tend to associate with people who have a similar spectrum of opinions and biases.
Yes, that's the point of the old "I don't know how Richard Nixon could have won. I don't know anybody who voted for him" quote ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pauline_Kael#Alleged_Nixon_quo... ). It's hard to remember, but Nixon won a larger share of the vote in 1972 than any previous president, which left McGovern fans somewhat shellshocked.
The quote is often used a proof that Pauline Kael was clueless, but, IIRC, she began by saying "many of my liberal friends have told me ...," i.e., she wasn't truly perplexed by Nixon's victory. Instead, she was pointing out that there are downsides to being insular about politics.
The difference between you and the vast majority of the population is that you recognize there are dissenting viewpoints held by people you've never met.
It's pretty interesting to think that most people who like someone might hate them if only they knew what their true thoughts were, and that someone can be acutely aware of what most people would hate them for.
This is what pg wrote five years ago, referencing this essay:
Just as well I've avoided saying most of the "things you can't say," or 90% of the people who read that essay and think "hear, hear" would hate me instead.... (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=255492)