I thought 3 was an interesting example because my first thought would be to do something he’d consider out of character. If my brother thought I was selfish, do something altruistic. If my brother thought I was lazy, do something that requires great effort. I wouldn’t even think about merely debating him. In the other examples I would have tried to think of an argument, but maybe 1, 2 and 4 should all be approached the same way as 3? For example, maybe I’d take 1 to a natural history museum or fossil hunting. Maybe I’d take 2 to a rationalist meeting or convention so he could meet other rationalists and discover how much he had in common with them. This makes me wonder if, generally, this kind of intervention would be better for changing minds than debate.
Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as that. My sister (yes, I was talking about her all this time) is so prejudiced against me, she even thinks I’m physically weak (despite that I’m not just average, I’m well above the average and I even receive compliments for that; also, my lifts are significantly above the average, according to some papers I saw).
I’ve contradicted her so many times, she didn’t bother to change her opinion. Not only that, but I’ve met a few of her friends who reacted like “wow, you’re either an entirely different person, or your sister outright lied me about you”, but I haven’t done it recently and they might have not expressed this opinion loud enough.
I thought 3 was an interesting example because my first thought would be to do something he’d consider out of character. If my brother thought I was selfish, do something altruistic. If my brother thought I was lazy, do something that requires great effort. I wouldn’t even think about merely debating him. In the other examples I would have tried to think of an argument, but maybe 1, 2 and 4 should all be approached the same way as 3? For example, maybe I’d take 1 to a natural history museum or fossil hunting. Maybe I’d take 2 to a rationalist meeting or convention so he could meet other rationalists and discover how much he had in common with them. This makes me wonder if, generally, this kind of intervention would be better for changing minds than debate.
Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as that. My sister (yes, I was talking about her all this time) is so prejudiced against me, she even thinks I’m physically weak (despite that I’m not just average, I’m well above the average and I even receive compliments for that; also, my lifts are significantly above the average, according to some papers I saw).
I’ve contradicted her so many times, she didn’t bother to change her opinion. Not only that, but I’ve met a few of her friends who reacted like “wow, you’re either an entirely different person, or your sister outright lied me about you”, but I haven’t done it recently and they might have not expressed this opinion loud enough.
Does she think this or does she just say it to put you down to your and others?