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You don't usually disagree with people or confront them with a different set of beliefs. If you do that then even if you're gentle you'll find a lot of vitriol

You don't usually disagree with people or confront them with a different set of beliefs. If you do that then even if you're gentle you'll find a lot of vitriol being thrown at you. Just look at political discourse online. Go to a left wing subreddit and try making some (reasonable) right wing points. You'll probably get a lot of undue flak.

CydeWeys 8y ago
I'm talking about real life, not arguing on the Internet. Of course if you seek out arguments on the Internet, then you will find them. Also, I'm sure our definition of reasonable differs.
owenversteeg 8y ago
Ah, come on. Making generalizations about the entire world (population: 7,600,000,000) based on some subreddits? Or even a subset of online political arguments? Look, if you get out there, and talk politics with people in person, in real life, you'll find that people are pretty reasonable. Their beliefs may be strange, but those are shaped by a massive amount of powerful outside factors. Yes, you have to go into it with an open mind, and find how to phrase your ideas in a way that they don't sound like an attack on the other person, but it's not too hard. I have strong as well as unusual political beliefs, which you would imagine to be a problem. But of hundreds of political discussions, I've managed to have a reasonable discussion perhaps 98% of the time. I've talked with people who have political beliefs as radical as you can imagine: not simply hardcore Trump and Hillary supporters, but also people who: - want to kill anyone who owns a business - think <insert group here> is subhuman - are strong anarcho-capitalists - want to kill anyone who is <thing I am> - support political executions - think the world is controlled by an elite cabal of actors Admittedly, most of these conversations are over hours or days, not years - if I was, say, roommates with them then I imagine things would be a bit trickier. But still, I've had long friendships with people who have very, very radical political beliefs in the opposite direction from mine.

CydeWeys 8y ago

I'm talking about real life, not arguing on the Internet. Of course if you seek out arguments on the Internet, then you will find them. Also, I'm sure our definition of reasonable differs.

owenversteeg 8y ago

Ah, come on. Making generalizations about the entire world (population: 7,600,000,000) based on some subreddits? Or even a subset of online political arguments? Look, if you get out there, and talk politics with people in person, in real life, you'll find that people are pretty reasonable. Their beliefs may be strange, but those are shaped by a massive amount of powerful outside factors. Yes, you have to go into it with an open mind, and find how to phrase your ideas in a way that they don't sound like an attack on the other person, but it's not too hard. I have strong as well as unusual political beliefs, which you would imagine to be a problem. But of hundreds of political discussions, I've managed to have a reasonable discussion perhaps 98% of the time. I've talked with people who have political beliefs as radical as you can imagine: not simply hardcore Trump and Hillary supporters, but also people who: - want to kill anyone who owns a business - think <insert group here> is subhuman - are strong anarcho-capitalists - want to kill anyone who is <thing I am> - support political executions - think the world is controlled by an elite cabal of actors Admittedly, most of these conversations are over hours or days, not years - if I was, say, roommates with them then I imagine things would be a bit trickier. But still, I've had long friendships with people who have very, very radical political beliefs in the opposite direction from mine.