I feel that in many ways, there is a take-a-side mentality bred into all of us via social cues from a young age. Your football team, the city/country you are fr

I feel that in many ways, there is a take-a-side mentality bred into all of us via social cues from a young age. Your football team, the city/country you are from, the education provider you attended. And as I've gotten older, I've become more and more convinced that in many instances, people view position switching as some sort of deadly sin. So they stay locked into their opinion. I have a mate who is pretty smart, but a lot of his ideas and beliefs come from his Dad, and as a result, you are no longer just breaking down his opinion, you are attacking the Father figure's. And over the course of our friendship, we have always had running debates on various things, and I was struck recently by his comment of "Well, you didn't always think that". The comment was made in a pretty smug way, like I had somehow lost the debate because at some point, realised that I was probably incorrect. I think this is the most damaging thing, like there is a certain level of pride taken in just taking A position. Not necessarily arriving at one through debate or critical thinking.