In my own similar situation, I have come to the conclusion that it’s bigger than any single issue. You can’t reason any of these folks out of it, because a major factor is their belief that they are always, always right regardless of what the truth may be.
You can show them the math. You can cite paper after paper. You can try whatever you want and none of it will stick. Even if they claim otherwise, they think they’re right and you’re wrong. The closest you’ll get is appeasement.
Agree, the best thing to do is to say something like “I have a life beyond politics, and I don’t want to sit here talking about politics all day”. Then if they insist on talking politics, leave.
The sad thing is that most of these people don’t have a personality anymore, it’s been completely lost to the dopamine drip that is facebook feeds. Engaging them on politics only does the same thing as on their feeds, and that gives them excitement and dopamine. If you get them to disengage they start to feel agitated, because they suddenly realize they’re bored.
it’s been completely lost to the dopamine drip that is facebook feeds.
Yup. Social media is also a common thread. (Pun intended)
The same people who told their children not to believe everything they read on the internet are now the ones constantly believing it, to catastrophic effect. Regardless of what they feel about themselves, it really does look like many or most of these “conservatives” are basically addicted to that dopamine kick. Such addictions have just never been so impactful on the world at large before.
I agree, based on my own experiences,.that no logic or reason can reach these people. I think we can move the conversation forward by admitting that there is a strong human instinct toward fascism. It’s in our DNA to salute the tallest thing in the room because ancestors that didn’t were purged. Those of us who can reason and maintain values are the exception to this flaw.
But is there another way to reach them on an emotional or instinctive level? Hope springs eternal in me, and I can’t help but feel the solution involves denying them their group identity and making a mockery and shaming them as pariahs for their bad behavior.
These days, the fact is that no MAGA scum is a conservative. They are radical revolutionaries, more naive than the most extreme patchouli scented hippies of the 1960s, who have abandoned their Christianity to worship a man who said the constitution should be dissolved simply because he lost a court case. I think this is the key, but I must admit, I’ve never been able to turn one of them. Sagan was right about the deep seated human instinct to ignore shameful evidence when one is tricked.
There is no solution here.
In my own similar situation, I have come to the conclusion that it’s bigger than any single issue. You can’t reason any of these folks out of it, because a major factor is their belief that they are always, always right regardless of what the truth may be.
You can show them the math. You can cite paper after paper. You can try whatever you want and none of it will stick. Even if they claim otherwise, they think they’re right and you’re wrong. The closest you’ll get is appeasement.
Agree, the best thing to do is to say something like “I have a life beyond politics, and I don’t want to sit here talking about politics all day”. Then if they insist on talking politics, leave.
The sad thing is that most of these people don’t have a personality anymore, it’s been completely lost to the dopamine drip that is facebook feeds. Engaging them on politics only does the same thing as on their feeds, and that gives them excitement and dopamine. If you get them to disengage they start to feel agitated, because they suddenly realize they’re bored.
Yup. Social media is also a common thread. (Pun intended)
The same people who told their children not to believe everything they read on the internet are now the ones constantly believing it, to catastrophic effect. Regardless of what they feel about themselves, it really does look like many or most of these “conservatives” are basically addicted to that dopamine kick. Such addictions have just never been so impactful on the world at large before.
I agree, based on my own experiences,.that no logic or reason can reach these people. I think we can move the conversation forward by admitting that there is a strong human instinct toward fascism. It’s in our DNA to salute the tallest thing in the room because ancestors that didn’t were purged. Those of us who can reason and maintain values are the exception to this flaw.
But is there another way to reach them on an emotional or instinctive level? Hope springs eternal in me, and I can’t help but feel the solution involves denying them their group identity and making a mockery and shaming them as pariahs for their bad behavior.
These days, the fact is that no MAGA scum is a conservative. They are radical revolutionaries, more naive than the most extreme patchouli scented hippies of the 1960s, who have abandoned their Christianity to worship a man who said the constitution should be dissolved simply because he lost a court case. I think this is the key, but I must admit, I’ve never been able to turn one of them. Sagan was right about the deep seated human instinct to ignore shameful evidence when one is tricked.