More and more often, when I am attempting to respond to someone in a forum, I write a few sentences, and then delete them. I do this several times, then give up. The reason is not that I believe my opinion is invalid, rather, I find myself trying to poke holes in other people's understanding.
The way to change minds is not to try and destabilize their system of thought from the top though. That is like chopping down a dead tree by pulling on the branches.
What I really need to do is uproot that system of thought, and the way to do that is by asking questions that reveal the origins of their reasoning. Then they will see the roots were shallow, and topple it themselves.
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