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You definitely don't have to engage with anyone on anything, but if you want to see a change in the world, you have an opportunity to influence the bystanders w

You definitely don't have to engage with anyone on anything, but if you want to see a change in the world, you have an opportunity to influence the bystanders with your knowledge. I remember being at a party where two people got into an argument about abortion. It was exactly what you would imagine, a completely pointless exchange of rehashed ideas that the 10 people watching the conversation have heard a million times. Then someone chimed in - not to argue but just to drop a fact they possessed that nobody else in the room knew. It didn't change the arguers' minds but it took the other ten people aback like "how come we heard this debate a 1000 times but this very important fact never gets mentioned?" So that random quip influenced 10 people on a very polarizing issue. That's powerful.

roym6 4y ago
What was the fact?
- xyzelement 4y ago
  It had to do with the number of abortions that take place in the US every year - over 600,000 per year. This number shocked us because everyone in the room thought we had heard everything about this issue, but tacitly assumed a much smaller scale. In my head Bill Clinton's quote about it being "safe, legal and rare" still ring out. It kind of smacked us in the face to realize we were talking about an issue for years without even realizing how often it happens. Maybe you had to be there but it really adjusted a lot of people's views. Maybe it was especially powerful because the fact was dropped on us by someone who wasn't part of the debate, they weren't a prolifer but someone who "could see both sides"