Last night I went to the bar to watch basketball. Instead, I got the full litany of RWTPs.
Place was packed, only one seat left at the bar and I made the mistake of turning to the person next to me and commenting that the game seems to be starting a bit late. There must be a Seinfeld/Curb Your Enthusiasm type descriptive term for what happened next when the fellow next to me saw the opening - gave him a centimeter, and he took over my evening.
I guess it is good practice every now and then to end up sitting next to someone that is your polar opposite in terms of ideology. Among the wonderful lines I had thrown at me (and gleefully rebutted)...
"this global warming stuff is just another case of politics and big government trying to brainwash people. I remember a few years ago when the weather around here was really cold...The government is telling the scientists what to say"
"I believe in evolution - and that we will evolve into where sperm count lowers and we have fewer babies - so carbon emissions will be reduced, and we will evolve to be able to deal with it"
"My wife and I are in therapy because she just doesn't get me.... I really think money is the most important thing and I also think that man should be the hunter/gatherer/wage earner, and my wife should be the one staying home with the kids"
"the only things that should be government-led are our country's defense - everything else should be privatized"
and that is just a small selection of where the chat went over the 2.5 hours I was there.
Oh the fun I had.....the poor beleaguered fellow didn't know what hit him as I whacked away every talking point he had and he ended up saying "hey man, you really made me think about some of these things"
But - and I guess this is the learning - when you are face to face with someone, you actually engage with facts - the internet is so different when you can just toss any old insult or throw away comment at someone. Just reinforced how important it is for people to actually talk. I really think I may have put a pinprick into his right-wing bubble that he clearly lived in his whole life.
= new reply since forum marked as read
by the end of the night I was using his talking points to refute his new talking points. He clearly was just regurgitating stuff he heard, with no actual thought process happening.
And have to make sure the Nanday does not get any ideas...
all really come closer together (well, most of us, anyway) and work toward common goals. We're as bad as they are at times -- totally discrediting everything they say just because of the source, not taking time to understand why they may have been vulnerable to the fear mongering, how we can ease those fears and mend fences.
We are becoming so divided and exclusionary - I don't think it can go on like this indefinitely.
You did a good job, and I've no doubt you explained your (our) side respectfully and patiently. That's what it's gonna take.
Guess I'd better hit a bar tonight. 
but I decided to really engage, try to reason, have a dialog - we actually got rid of Dem/Repub labels and kept it to issues and impacts. Although I did get rough in spots when needed!
It is a bit like exercizing - my wife, daughters, friends and I are pretty aligned, and of course here at DU as well. It does one good to go out and reaffirm beliefs and be challenged and be able to defend what we believe, and why, directly, face to face.
insightful and deep and meaningful stuff at DU really helps (though probably not in Meta! 
)
and thanks for the account of your foray into the lair of Fuxed up thinking...
and the roads are not icy if we get the chat going now it could happen
an entitlement they and only they have earned, doncha know? 
to resupply his depleated talking points.
Good job! 
where soundbites can be stored. An arsenal of rebutts. One-liners. Never drone on or work hard to expand the thought--just execute the appropriate kabosh.
When confronted by some choice morsel of Teabag Truthiness that you haven't pre-rebutted, you just look em in the eye and say...
"Nah, I don't think so."
(Kiss ma rebutt). Channelling Eric Cartman.
God when will we let Reagan's big government bullshit rot in the ground with him? 
and we have an agreement that we never EVER talk politics or religion. there was some discussion on gun control (a term that I never use, opting instead for "common-sense gun laws" shortly after Sandy Hook, and I was quite frankly surprised to find that most of my right-wing friends agreed with me on regulating magazine capacity, universal background checks, and a database of gun owners. other than that, it's all talk about sports, the desert, racing, and motorcycles, which i'm perfectly content to discuss.
P.S. I hope you're a Tarheel fan and not a dookie! Aztecs FIGHT!
Soon chasing fire engines and cal fire?
I know exactly what you mean.
Of course your neck of the woods is used rather loosely.
