Comic Strips

I also believe that a lot of conspiracy theories were started as jokes, with a core group of reasonably smart people LARPing a ridiculous position. What I wonder about is how many of those people LARPed so long and hard that they came to believe their own BS.

I'm pretty sure he's making a joke about the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

X, the porn website

X the character as used in math problems.

I've absolutely, definitely met people IRL that have argued in exactly the way I outline. ...Although "argue" is charitable, since they're just haranguing their ~~victim~~ subject. I've also known plenty of people that claim that they know they aren't going to change the mind of the person they're verbally assaulting--because people can't change, I guess?--but that they want to win the hearts of the people observing. ...Which they also aren't doing, since they're appearing to be mean-spirited to observers. (And yes, there's nuance here, and I still firmly believe in punching Nazis.)

David McRaney has been talking for a while about what actually works for changing the way people think and believe (and he just recently published, "How Minds Change"), and Anthony Magnabosco has been posting street epistemology videos on YouTube for years. Both of them have found--to be really reductive--that you need to emotionally connect with the person you're talking to, and you need to ask open-ended questions that allow them to consider the foundations for their beliefs.

And to your point, yes, that's hard to do online. I get it. I often fall into the trap of arguing instead of being empathetic. So I need to take my own advice.

FWIW, I am very much a leftist. I'm mostly an anarchist, although I also recognize that having a large, diverse, functioning society is extremely difficult--bordering on impossible--without some degree of authoritarian control. (And I've also seen just how paralyzed radically democratic groups can get, when they have to vote on everything.) I want the people on the left, the people that want a more equal society, to do better, because I think we can be better.

Being kind to people--not fake kindness, not kindness with an agenda, but just kind--can go a long ways for leftists. For women, well, I'm not a woman. But having women as friends and them being open with me about what they experienced as women went a long way towards opening my eyes.

And, FWIW, I started from a position of being deeply conservative, very religious, and having absolutist views on gender identity and gender roles, and the godly nature of capitalism.

I only became vegan once I moved to a city where that was more socially accepted. 8 years later, my family is still warming up to the idea. Having vegan friends definitely helps in the transition.

In the meantime, make better choices whenever you can.

You would think that they would be overly helpful when all they do is say it's the moral way to eat. Looking down on everyone who eats meat and then give you shit for trying to be on their side....weird.

Yeah that’s the thing. Difficult changes are difficult. Sometimes that’s not an excuse for pushing labor on strangers. Walking away from bigotry is hard but vulnerable people shouldn’t have to constantly justify their existence. But a lot of the time you need to answer the stupid questions you may not have asked. I went pescatarian quickly, and it was less hard than expected, but it took several people I know doing it before I felt comfortable.

Newbs are how you get people in your group. Nobody wants to join groups that were mean to them even if they want to do the thing the group does.

I looked at your post briefly, and it seemed like asides from one or two down voted responses, you got a majority of fairly informative answers, no?

I know when I've had a conversation that I've felt was overly negative, sometimes I'll go and review it again after a time so I can be a bit more objective and consider if negativity bias wasn't playing a part in my initial assessment.

If you've got any more questions, I hope you'll still ask. I think the majority of us would be happy to answer!

Don't let assholes sway your convictions, regardless of what they are. Convictions are personal. Sure, it is really great to have a community that shares in some of the ways that you think about the world and your behaviors, but that isn't the end all be all, right? Furthermore, people are going to be more negative than they are positive (Especially on the internet) so I bet if you keep looking, online and in person, you'll find a group that you mesh with. People who gatekeep are just insecure about their own positions because they aren't being authentic and like others have said.. they're probably just wanting to be part of a club.