💯! I saw someone quite left-wing on a panel, and they said something to the effect of these people aren't your enemy, they are how you win an election. Calling people you disagree with idiots is not how you win them over.

[–] minimumchips@aussie.zone 4 points 6 hours ago

I think that's very insightful. I've always been a been a left wing person. But as I've gotten older, I've realised that the only way you can change a person's political perspective is to first make them feel heard. Establish a personal relationship, establish common ground, listen to them. Once you've done that, you can start to challenge their beliefs, from a place of understanding. Then they don't feel attacked. I think online discourse mostly can't do that. For example, my grand father was a racist for most of his life, until he joined the local rotary club, and started doing community programs with the local indigenous people. It's much easier to empathise with people when you're face to face and those mirror neurons are firing. Too much leftist politics are based online. It doesn't work.