How would you approach persuading a far extreme conservative toward center? What would you set as a realistic goal for a productive discourse? Would it be better attempt to do so in person rather than online?
How would you approach persuading a far extreme conservative toward center? What would you set as a realistic goal for a productive discourse? Would it be better attempt to do so in person rather than online?
Dad: I had a really neat experience at work today!
Me: Yeah?
Dad: S (Indian) came into work with food from home and he brought me some!
Me: Did you like it?
Dad: Yeah it was good, he was really great. Why can’t they all be like that?
Me: Who’s they?
Dad: All those people from other countries!
Me: Do you meet a lot of people from other countries?
Dad: Well, no, but you hear a lot about them
Me: From where?
Dad: You now, places, other people, tv.
Me: They’re not really any different than we are, there are open and friendly people and closed and private people. Some want to make friends and be nice, some just want to get along and work.
Dad: That’s not what I hear.
Me: Maybe what you hear is wrong. You know, stories told my people who stand to profit from keeps us angry at each other?
Dad: Bah, you can’t make money from that.
Me: …
Haha it’s true though, most people are just, you know… People. I haven’t been everywhere, but I’ve been to a few countries other than my own and all the differences are negligible except maybe not understanding the language. You see just as many differences in culture traveling to other states within the US; but a lot of these ignorant people haven’t even done that.
It’s also kinda true that food brings different cultures together like no other. How can you hate people who make hella good food?!
There was a black blues singer years ago that lived in Klan country.
He made friends with klansman and got them slowly over the years to denounce and hand in their robes. One of the people he convinced was actually a grand wizard IIRC.
There are a lot of people out there that will listen to a radio show where someone is saying that minorities in a given town are eating everyone’s pets and they’ll take that as gospel.
If you lead them by the hand introduce them to a family that’s willing to help change their mind have them watch the food be cooked and break bread their initial response is going to be this is a good family, But it’s not going to make them immediately go maybe most families are good. The programming’s very hard to overcome. Generally, prejudice does not survive repeated positive contacts with the targets.
The brother of a long-term friend of mine got fired from a Union State job by being racist. Almost the entire staff was minority. His view was that the entire race was lazy because his staff of Union minority workers for a state job or putting in the minimum effort required. Meanwhile the state is paying the minimum amount they can offering workers near immunity for their actions. Even before you account for the union, You’re not going to end up with a wonder team providing free overtime.
It’s likely with his experience he will never be deprogrammed. Of course his entire life has been a series of very bad decisions, most of which he blames on everyone else.
And exposure is not always enough. There are plenty of 100% racist inner city police officers that are exposed to minorities all the time. It’s like you almost have to drag a racist kicking and screaming to challenge their own propaganda worldview.
Just traveling between the different megaregions in the US often feels like traveling internationally, but without the hassle of passports and borders. They speak the same language and literally inhabit the same country, but everything just feels different. I can’t quite place it.
Uh no, sorry. America is the same. I’ve lived in the midwest, I’ve lived on the coasts, I’ve gone to 45 of the states. I’ve traveled to multiple continents now too. America is America, long live the stripmall, the large trucks, and the fast food. There are minor differences area to area, but if you have not traveled actually internationally yourself, you are missing out on actual massive culture differences. Even just the UK or France, which are fairly similar will show you how vastly different places can be.
There are so many other ways to live that I don’t even know how to describe to you if you haven’t gone yourself. Honestly I don’t know how. Go see how other people live, it will quite literally open your eyes. America definitely has a culture from sea to shining sea, and it’s very different from the rest of the world.
I understand what you’re trying to say, that different regions are different, and I’ll give you that there are minor differences, but once you go out and actually experience truly different cultures you’ll realize how similar we all are here.