In one episode of Veronica Mars, Veronica "infiltrates" an animal rights group where this guy gives a speech, ending witht the words, "people wearing fur coats

In one episode of Veronica Mars, Veronica "infiltrates" an animal rights group where this guy gives a speech, ending witht the words, "people wearing fur coats are the target, not the enemy." [Wikipedia says it's episode 3x10, "Follow the monkey"] It just makes sense. If you want to convince people, you don't want to antagonize them. There are limits, of course. Some people are just so completely racist, homophobe, antisemitic, whatever, one can't reach them, certainly not charm them into becoming more decent. But for most other people, the friendly approach is far more promising than the confrontational one. This goes for smaller issues, as well, and is well worth keeping in mind in day-to-day interactions with others.