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Interesting article. For my two cents, I would say that the key to challenging closed-minded thinking is to not engage it rationally but rather through building rapport and trust with the individual in question. Humanities' tribal nature that helped us band together as hunters and gatherers is what now holds us back as we stubbornly pick Right/Left, Republican/Democrat, etc. Any direct confrontation with the closed-minded will be viewed as an antagonistic action regardless of intent because they will view such interactions as being from an "Other". By engaging the social parts of a person's mind first, you are taking a backdoor past their mental defenses and moving from being seen as "Other" to being seen as "One of the Tribe". It is at that point that open and honest discussion can be had with the close-minded. Daryl Davis is one of my personal heroes on this matter. The absolute balls it took to be a black man risking an interview with KKK leadership coupled with a godlike amount of compassion and tolerance to engage the members without hostility just blows my mind. And you can't argue with the results. The man has a closet full of KKK robes from former members who quit after he befriended them. Also, as much as I hate to admit it, I was also once part of the Religious Right. I grew up deep in the Bible Belt born to a ultra-conservative fundamentalist family and homeschooled to boot. So to say I was entrenched in that ideology is an understatement. I have specific memories from that time of trying to explore opposing points of view and unfortunately the (as I percieved it) abrasive manner in which I first experienced things like feminism and socialism drove me away from exploring them fully. At that point I mistakenly regarded my limited knowledge of those concepts as being indicative of the whole and I went back to the comfortable echo chambers of my church groups and talk radio. It wasn't until my early twenties during a major existential crisis that I bothered to challenge my ideas again. That time around, helped in part by this forum and the maturation of the internet in general, I was able to get a much clearer picture of many topics regarding religion, gender issues, and politics. But who knows? If I hadn't read level-headed discussions on the flaws of conservative politics, would I have changed my political beliefs? If I hadn't read a critical analysis of the movie Aliens, would I have taken the road toward third-wave feminism? I'd like to think that I am smart enough that I would have done so eventually. But who knows? Sophian fucked around with this message at 22:00 on Mar 17, 2015 |
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Mar 17, 2015 21:55
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Quidam Viator posted:I guess I'm a loving relic from the old days when people would post whole articles in DnD, along with commentary, and debate and discussion would ensue. The snarky responses I'm getting seem to indicate that not only is the article that I found utter poo poo, but my writing is poo poo too. I mean, out of the responses, how many are one-liners? I don't know why everyone is being as harsh as they are toward you but then again I wasn't following that thread you referenced in your OP so maybe I don't have the context. But if I could give some constructive criticism, that article was a bit long to quote fully in the OP. Maybe a link and then some highlights would've gone over better? Also, as one poster mentioned, some clarity over the exact topic of the thread would've been nice. Talking about "intellectual vices" and conspiracy theories is one topic. Your own beliefs on Accelerationism and how you have been challenging these beliefs is an entirely different conversation and probably should have been in a separate thread. See guys, it's not hard to present one's opinion in a manner that isn't completely toxic
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Mar 17, 2015 22:20
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