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Out of ten, how would you rate your ability to empathize with people with opposing viewpoints? (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 6 days ago by StarvingMartist@sh.itjust.works to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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Let's say zero is straight up shutting your ears, going lalala and storming out of the room, let's say 10 is sitting down with a Nazi, genuinely making an effort to see things from their point of view just to see if you could.

Sure this may sound ridiculous but it's basic knowledge that studying your opponents viewpoints is the best way to counter them and get new insight yourself.

Me? Id like to think I'm a 6, I don't cut family ties over their political opinions but I'm very likely to shut that down with a "I don't want to speak politics with you"

Lemmy can be an echo chamber sometimes, but that doesn't mean everyone here is a mindless zombie, how do you all deal with others who believe differently? Can you back it up?

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[–] aReallyCrunchyLeaf@lemmy.ml 3 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

This is exactly where anyone who has an interest in actually changing someone's mind wants to be.

90% of these conversations, which are often shared between friends or at least acquaintances, can be "won" by listening to the other person and meeting them on their own terms. People are way more receptive to hear what you have to say when they feel like what you're actually saying is relevant to the points that they are making, etc. For example, if someone complains about immigration, it's likely that they want Americans to have those jobs instead and see immigration as a threat to their way of life. The way to handle something like this is always to address the problem radically, i.e. from the root, and say something like: "I hear what you're saying, but what if the countries that most immigrants are coming from didn't have so many issues that they feel like they need to risk their lives/livelihoods to come all the way here? Why is it that these countries in central/south America have so many economic problems relative to the US?" Now the conversation has been re-framed so that it's actually addressing a root cause, and this person will walk away at least having a thought provoked about US imperialism and it's consequences, which is an important concept to understand.

If you simply resort to shutting down topics like this, because you feel a person who holds this worldview is a racist, xenophobe, etc, and therefore morally inferior, you never allow yourself the opportunity to win. You've already given up the ghost if you follow your instinct and resort to ad hominem attacks, scolding and finger wagging, and you prove that you lack the rhetorical ability to actually SELL your project, something that is an absolute necessity if you have a genuine interest in the electoral gains of any kind of socialist/populist/proletarian project. My political platform is already popular. People don't need to be convinced that it's desirable, only that it is possible, so I am happy to debate and share my opinions with anyone who will listen.