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JCanete

(5,272 posts)
3. No. Keep listening to them and having conversations with them, if you have the bandwidth. Ignorance
Wed Sep 28, 2016, 05:59 PM
Sep 2016

isn't the kind of choice you make it out to be, nor all of the harmful things that come out of it, like bigotry. Attempting to shame or isolate isn't a good tactic. If their thoughts are unpopular, it might drive them into a kind of hiding, until the day comes when those ideas are popular again, since hey, nobody did the hard work of dismantling them with these people. If they have support, they will just retreat into the welcoming arms of other people sharing in that ignorance or capitalizing on it, and they will feel vindicated by their experience with "liberals" in the process.

You want to encourage thoughtfulness? Then figure out how to treat people who demonize others like people, not monsters, regardless of how hard that is. Give their intentions if not their wisdom the benefit of the doubt. Find out what they think they care about and chip away at their logic kindly.

I have plenty of republican friends, and it is slow and arduous work making them take a look at their assumptions, but there's no opportunity to do that at all if nobody is listening. To be fair, none of my friends are Trump supporters, but if they were, I'd still give them the time of day. It's not just for their sakes.

 

randome

(34,845 posts)
4. No. Some of us have to work with Clinton-Haters and Trump-Lovers.
Wed Sep 28, 2016, 06:09 PM
Sep 2016

You needn't go out of your way to be kind to them, imo, but you should have the quiet confidence that says that Democrats have more going for them than 24/7 disgruntlement.

Revenge is a dish quietly enjoyed, not flagrantly devoured.
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