How facts backfire

[Linus]

Originally Posted by Gemme

People's opionions are a fragment of their self as they know it. The more you try to change their view, the more it feels as if someone is trying to change *them*.

This doesn't surprise me in the least.

If that is true, how do we evolve beyond where we are? I used to play a game called Pyroto (it was the web version of the BBS game Pyroto Mountain). The game itself was a social experiment based on these facts and the hypothesis that people only change their opinion/view if something major happens.

I can attest to this being a true statement in my own experience. Prior to my mom's death I was a card carrying conservative (was a member of the Progressive Conservatives). Today, I'm on the farther left and would be classified (in Canadian terms) as either Liberal or NDP, perhaps Socialist.

So while I do agree that it's not surprising in many ways, knowing this info, how do we get those that refuse to see the facts (for whatever reason) to see them?

[Ursy]

Thanks for posting the article Linus. It rings true to me. I read it last night.
I just found it so depressing that I just didn't know what to say.

Then my daughter came home from my ex's place this afternoon, all emotional because her father's family were loudly saying things against us knowing she was within earshot (anti-trans*, anti-queer, etc) and I was reminded of this thread.

Originally Posted by Linus

So while I do agree that it's not surprising in many ways, knowing this info, how do we get those that refuse to see the facts (for whatever reason) to see them?

I guess the answer is - veeeerrrry slooooowly. Look at what we've achieved so far. Look at how attitudes to racism and women's rights in have changed just a few decades... I think it's something we just keep chipping away at, bit by bit.

Which does give me hope, you know? But right now I'm still pretty upset at my ex in-laws and their hateful ignorant behaviour (not my ex, his brother and sister in law).