How to Talk to a Far-Right-Winger [View all]

[Katashi_itto]

First a word of explanation.

Please note that the title of this essay does not refer to a “conservative,” but to a “far-right-winger.” As I’ve said many times (most recently with a certain virality), the two terms are in no way equivalent. Far-right-wingers are anything but conservative; they profess some of the most radical and ideologically driven agendas of any on the political landscape.

Got it? Okay. So now onto the question under review. How DO you talk to a far-right-winger?

Answer: You don’t.

I'm serious. Just stop. Don’t bother. You’re wasting your breath.

Michael Shermer, in his fantastic book The Believing Brain, reminds us that despite the scientific age in which we live, the brain is fundamentally a “belief engine.” And on top of that,

Once beliefs are formed, the brain begins to look for and find confirmatory evidence in support of those beliefs, which adds an emotional boost of further confidence in the beliefs and thereby accelerates the process of reinforcing them, and round and round the process goes….

In fact, you may be doing even worse than wasting your breath. Every argument you have only makes their beliefs stronger. Don’t believe me? Take a look:

http://www.chasingglennbeck.com/homeblog/2015/3/29/how-to-talk-to-a-far-right-winger.html