this post was submitted on 20 Mar 2024
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I wonder which kind of arguments made him change his mind; the evidence based ones or the ones calling him an idiot.
My guess is neither of those. People don't really base their world view on facts. Maybe his life situation improved, he found a healthier community or a hobby
It sure as hell wasn't strangers with evidence-based arguments that did it. I've seen plenty of cultists on reddit before I left. They are like brick walls and each fact is a rubber ball.
Actually in his case OP mentioned that might actually be the case.
Probably personal connection paired with facts and persistence.
It's not easy changing someone's mind. You need a lot of dedication, especially if they're in a community that reinforces their belief.
likely the former because calling someone an idiot isn't going to change their mind
Unfortunately arguments also don't work very well. People only change their mind when their mind changes. They basically have to figure it out themselves. No amount of external arguments can ever do that.
The way to encourage people to change their minds is simply to question them until they start thinking about the topic, and then give them access to information.
My favourite 'thought trigger' point is from Bill Burr, it goes something like: "lets for a second say that the earth is flat, then what possible reason could there be for governments, scientists, airlines, internet warriors, etc have for convincing you that it is a sphere. What do they have to gain by you believing this?".
I'd probably start much simpler. "Why do you think the earth is flat?"
I like that. Keep it short & simple.
This is also how people discover is some religious thing, so what a famous dude in my country did to convince flat earthers was pointing out that the bible talks about the moon. It can't be a satanist conspiracy now.
IIRC another YouTuber did a response video to his, disproving everything he said. And it opened his eyes.