Do you have a story of changing someone's mind from a conservative/Republican position ?

[steve2470]

Please share your anecdotes. Thank you for your time.

[Warpy]

1. People who can talk without screaming and who never resort

to the mindless repetition of bumper stickers are occasionally reachable. I've had quite a few people tell me, "I've never thought about _____ like that." Whether I've created a permanent change is unclear, but I have made the thoughtful think about things from a different perspective.

There is nothing you can do about a bumper sticker ranter. The only thing that changes them are derisive laughter that shuts them up in public and being buried in enough adversity to realize the bromides just aren't working for them and the latter is a long shot.

[T Wolf]

2. Don't think it is possbile - at least in numbers significant enough to change election results.

For 99.9% of them, on 99.9% of issues, there is no real chance for moving them from their faith-based philosophies to a rational position.

It is a waste of time and it "annoys the pig."

[RandomThoughts]

3. I often wonder if someone says something with some intent.

Then it is seen as something else by someone using it for their own means, what would happen.


I think that is all about intent. I find many great things in many places, but they are not always the same as the original was about.

it is assumed some might do the same with my comments. And why nobody has corrected issues they should have. So what is anything? What people think it is about.



However if someone takes a good thought and uses it for bad, they get smashed to oblivion, if someone takes a good thought and uses it for good, they support my view on things.

[Rage for Order]

4. Here is my preferred method for changing their minds:

Tell them that they are backwards, uneducated simpletons. Degrade them, tell them they are stupid, insist they are bigots, respond to them with snide remarks and scathing sarcasm that can't quite conceal my utter contempt for them and their opinions. Tell them I know what is best for them, and when they object I walk away while dismissing anything they say out of hand.

Then I thank them for their time, and I tell them to be sure and vote.

[pipi_k]

5. Yes...one issue involved gay marriage

a bit before it became legal here in Mass.

A person I know didn't believe in it.

I asked the person if he wouldn't want his kids to have the same benefits he has by virtue of legal marriage. If they were gay, I mean. He gave it some thought and decided that, yes...nobody really gets hurt by gay marriage, and people deserve to have the same benefits and privileges afforded to heterosexual people.


All without yelling or screaming or arguing...imagine that...

:7

[tridim]

6. Only myself.

And it's not really a story, I just realized (during the 92 election, my first) that my parents' political views were majorly screwed up.

[Mz Pip]

7. Small steps

I have a die hard Republican cousin. He started sending me those chain emails a few years ago and I would reply by debunking them with links. The one thing that happened that I consider a good thing is that he no longer takes as gospel ever right wing screed that is forwarded to him by his friends. He forwards them to me and asks me if they are true.

At least he has become a bit skeptical of the talking points, particularly the birther crap.

[foxfeet]

8. Yeah, but it involved garlic and a wooden stake. nt

[KamaAina]

9. I once shared cubicle space with a staunch R (devoutly religious variety).

Eighteen months later, he owned a copy of one of Obama's books. He remains anti-choice, but otherwise has come into the light, even storming out of his church because they were all but endorsing McCain/Palin from the pulpit!

DU itself gets much of the credit. He'd frequently see it on my screen and ask me about it. He even tried to register a couple fo times, but was still enogh of an R that we had granite pizza in the lunchroom both days. :-)

[socialist_n_TN]

10. Well I do have a 2nd hand anecdote...............

My brother (who also posts here and turned me on to this site) apparently had a rather heated argument with a 2nd cousin back before the '08 election. I was visiting that part of the family last Spring and he told me to tell my brother that he HAD voted for Obama after all.

I don't know if it was a permanent change of heart or not, but it was something.

Personally, I don't have a story and I'm skeptical that those minds CAN be changed. I'll argue to give an ALTERNATIVE viewpoint to anyone who might be listening and be undecided.

[Scuba]

11. Yes, through calm reasoning and the use of facts...

... I was able to convince an old service buddy to change his mind. Mostly this was related to how Bush was cutting benefits for military families.

[butterfly77]

12. I have stopped several people...

from voting republicon in elections when they were being fooled by republicons who failed constantly to inform which party they were from on their literature and they talked in nuance,I call it(political bullshit talk) answering with non answers and generalities.

[MisterP]

13. I think con, lib, left, are worldviews, that one must shift between

it's not even "more/less" informed, since the smarter cons may have a lot of information, but it's usually without context or any appraisal of relevance (sure, Pop Pot and 9-11 were bad, but they're almost flukes: Nicaragua or Cuba didn't slaughter 1/3 their population when they went pink, and 9-11 may be Islamist terrorism's LAST, not FIRST blow)