I had a rather useless and unproductive attempt at a conversation with some conservative/trump
supporters. It wasn't even trying to make any sort of politicalized statement. I'd say it was even more of an academic discussion attempt. We were talking about the shooting in FL and terrorism came into the conversation. All I said was that terrorism is difficult for me to define and I was curious how they define it. Basically bringing up the Dylan Roof thing and how he was obviously mentally ill, but he also was influenced by racist ideologies and all that stuff. Then asking how that compares to say a self-radicalized jihadist with a history of mental illness read material from jihadist sources and posed with an ISIS flag etc, and then went out and commit some sort of acts of violence. That really seemed to have set them off and they just start babbling about nonsense totally unrelated to the conversation (saying how I always have to argue, mostly) They weren't too fond of me saying it's a bit early to make some assumptions about it being Islamic terrorist, and there is nothing to support that all yet.
I don't even know how to deal with these sort of people. I also see this on the left at times too, but not to the same extent. I'd also say when it comes from the left I might find it annoying, but I'm never 'fearful' of what is being said. If that makes any sense.
Why is it so difficult for a good portion of this country to have calm and rational discussions about difficult topics? People ignore the nuances and use broad brush strokes of black & white paint. Forget breaking things down and attempting to understand or think for ourselves. Let others tell us how to think and what we should preach to others. It's not like we actually have to be able to understand and defend our positions, because we don't listen to other's criticism anyway. We just talk AT people until they shut up.
*I suppose it's always possible I'm the difficult one and I just don't realize it.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Especially the last one. 
Here is the full size version
Thanks again! 
God wants Trump to be President??? Are you kidding me???
In what universe does that make any sense?
If Trump was living in Biblical times he'd be one of the hucksters in the Temple market and Jesus would be tipping over his tables.
BTW, good name. xor is my favorite logic gate and computer programming instruction.
Don't ask me why, it's like having a favorite number.
to talk to today's conservatives. The only technique I remember, though, is to explain briefly to them why you yourself feel a certain way about an issue ("because we can extend healthcare to everyone, to me it is a moral duty, and a sensible practical one as well"
, without asking them to explain their positions. If they try, smile and nod and accept.
Of course they're sensitive to being in this position, though. Most simply cannot explain themselves. Their gut conservative feelings are very real, but, surprisingly to me it turns out that before the 1950s there was NO SUCH THING as a conservative political ideology. (Very unlike liberalism's intellectual foundation which formed generally speaking during the Enlightenment and formed the basis for the establishment of our nation.) Intellectuals like Bill Buckley tried to give the right more than just a gut resistance to change and/or "other" to rally around, but around the 1970s cynical extremist manipulators out to change America went to work destroying the brief culture of traditional conservativism that had formed and started turning conservatives into attack dogs against the left.
No surprise researchers are finding most trumpsters have no coherent or consistent ideology. One decade they're superpatriots, another they're working for Russia against the U.S.--whatever their leaders call for. Therefore, any situation that requires them to consider why they are defending a certain position today is likely to upset them. And it's incredibly bad now, no matter how much excited enthusiasm they display. In order to support Trump, they had to abandon intellect, their lifelong moral codes and standards of appropriate behavior, and even the precepts of their religion.
So, until you find more complex techniques to copy, maybe next time just slip a little important information the Daily Caller is hiding from them into the discussion and a brief, cheery explanation the basis of your own position and help them move on to something more comfortable for them before they harden up their resistance.
There need to be many next times. We have a big job to do.
