> And how well does it work when we're nice to them?
Very. But people who call them idiots don't want to convince them, they want to ridicule them to signal their own superiority to other people who also know the earth isn't flat. It's like teenagers bullying younger kids to show off. They don't want to teach those younger kids how to do $whatever, they just want to laugh because they're so great in comparison.
If you approach them with empathy instead of insults, you'll usually find them to have specific reasons for their beliefs (a general and deep seated mistrust for "the system" is what I've encountered the most), but aren't actually attached to them that much. It's more of a "fuck you" to everybody who is part of the system that they feel mistreated by, like a rebellious teenager. What might also happen if you approach them with empathy of course, is that people like the person that wrote this article, will make fun of you and call you an idiot for engaging with idiots instead of calling them idiots like you should in his mind.
Very. But people who call them idiots don't want to convince them, they want to ridicule them to signal their own superiority to other people who also know the earth isn't flat. It's like teenagers bullying younger kids to show off. They don't want to teach those younger kids how to do $whatever, they just want to laugh because they're so great in comparison.
If you approach them with empathy instead of insults, you'll usually find them to have specific reasons for their beliefs (a general and deep seated mistrust for "the system" is what I've encountered the most), but aren't actually attached to them that much. It's more of a "fuck you" to everybody who is part of the system that they feel mistreated by, like a rebellious teenager. What might also happen if you approach them with empathy of course, is that people like the person that wrote this article, will make fun of you and call you an idiot for engaging with idiots instead of calling them idiots like you should in his mind.