Like, I have had a weird year and was having a weird one even before COVID, bc of working a night security job, and I think one reason people have noticed me engaging in video game argumentation (which I admit is also not often effective) so disproportionately is this:
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I realized I will never win a political argument. I probably never have. People don't win political arguments, or I suppose whoever doesn't initiate wins as long as they keep their initial position, which they nearly always do.
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It doesn't matter if you're a far leftist debating a Nazi, a centrist debating a hard leftist,a conservative debating a Nazi, any combination of these: no one will learn anything and definitely no one will change their view.
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In rare exceptions where people are persuaded, there's almost always something going on under the surface, they weren't really committed. Political campaigns know this by the way.
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It's been a long time since I worked on a campaign - 12 years to be precise - but when I did (Obama, first against Hillary and then in the general) we had very clear guidelines for how much time to spend on voters who weren't already for us, and let me tell you, it wasn't much
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The campaigns know they benefit far, far more from getting people already on their side and people who have no opinion but can be convinced to have one to register to vote and show up at the polls, than fighting with even reluctant members of their coalition
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I've recently decided to apply this to conversations about politics on here. I have spent so long sharing my frustrations with what I see as ineffective policies, unwillingness to compromise, etc. on the left, but I will never change anyone's mind. And I have a rhetoric PhD.
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I'm no longer engaging with my friends who want to sit the election out, or whatever, on that issue. I wish they felt differently, but I no longer delude myself into thinking I can full on debate them into changing their minds, and trying will make us both miserable.
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So to go back to the OP, if people are unwilling to share their views versus if they are comfortable sharing them - doesn't matter if we're talking about persuasion. They won't change either way.
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The reason to make certain views unacceptable is not related to persuasion: first, if the view is hurtful to some people, silencing it protects those people; and second, it shifts the very long term Overton Window as to what is acceptable to believe.
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But no, stopping bigots from saying bigotry, or imposing consequences when they do, as these free speech warriors claim is happening, won't make those people change their opinions. I would say it'd make them more rigid, but again, they were never persuasible.
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People do change their opinions, but it's usually life experiences, MAYBE persuasion from someone they care deeply about, maybe even sometimes from learning new facts in a neutral context, but debate doesn't do anything but function as a literal game that makes people mad. /Fin
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