How To Change Another's Mind
Posted: Sun Nov 05, 2023 6:23 pm
The short answer is, "You can't."
What's MUCH more interesting is why you would want to change another person's mind in the first place. But back to the original proposition...
Let's assume that you could actually understand how and why another person thinks the way they do. IOW, you could have access to the infinite number of thoughts that have taken place in this person's life [which have slowly morphed over time and given rise to ever-changing mindsets]. Then factor in the infinite number of influences this person has had from...parents, siblings, teachers, friends, business associates, books, lectures, songs and movies, etc.].
Now let's say you are involved in a debate with this person over subject X and you have conveyed your opinion. What do you believe is the chance that your written opinion [as rough and inaccurate as it is] is going to overcome a lifetime's worth of influence from all kinds of people and sources, many who are most likely a great deal more knowledgeable than you AND actually know this person? Exactly.
I've been participating in these online forums since the beginning of the internet's proliferation and have NEVER seen anybody who had a considered opinion change their mind, yet look at the effort people seem to make attempting to do so. So what's going on here?
In my opinion, it simply comes down to affirmation. People could care less about anything other than getting others to agree with them so they can feel better about themselves. Deep down, people intuit that they are full of sh*t [can't really understand anything], but to admit this overtly would force them into dealing with their reality on an entirely different level [something few are willing to do], so just as they put up with their own BS, so do they put up with the everybody's BS [particularly institutional BS, e.g., government, Academia, the business world, and especially marketing, the whole nine yards].
This is not to say that there aren't great things going on...only to comment on the underlying stuff that everybody pretends to ignore.
What's MUCH more interesting is why you would want to change another person's mind in the first place. But back to the original proposition...
Let's assume that you could actually understand how and why another person thinks the way they do. IOW, you could have access to the infinite number of thoughts that have taken place in this person's life [which have slowly morphed over time and given rise to ever-changing mindsets]. Then factor in the infinite number of influences this person has had from...parents, siblings, teachers, friends, business associates, books, lectures, songs and movies, etc.].
Now let's say you are involved in a debate with this person over subject X and you have conveyed your opinion. What do you believe is the chance that your written opinion [as rough and inaccurate as it is] is going to overcome a lifetime's worth of influence from all kinds of people and sources, many who are most likely a great deal more knowledgeable than you AND actually know this person? Exactly.
I've been participating in these online forums since the beginning of the internet's proliferation and have NEVER seen anybody who had a considered opinion change their mind, yet look at the effort people seem to make attempting to do so. So what's going on here?
In my opinion, it simply comes down to affirmation. People could care less about anything other than getting others to agree with them so they can feel better about themselves. Deep down, people intuit that they are full of sh*t [can't really understand anything], but to admit this overtly would force them into dealing with their reality on an entirely different level [something few are willing to do], so just as they put up with their own BS, so do they put up with the everybody's BS [particularly institutional BS, e.g., government, Academia, the business world, and especially marketing, the whole nine yards].
This is not to say that there aren't great things going on...only to comment on the underlying stuff that everybody pretends to ignore.