Reply #25: That's how Conservatism works [View All]

Lies, Rage, Terror. The screaming was the demon Rage working its charm over you two.

Let her talk. When she relaxes and stops for a second, ask her how she knows it. How you can test the idea for yourself.

"You've said it was caused by one liberal thing or another -- what is the source of this? Is there a centralized liberal power structure that makes it happen?"

There are times when it doesn't work, but once a right-winger hears him/herself say that everything is the fault of the liberals, if they don't have a very strong conspiracy theory to explain it, they will experience enough cognitive dissonance to drive a preacher to drink. The effect on them is that they usually start to question what they believe. A couple such episodes, and they won't be able to stop asking questions.

Soon thereafter, sanity returns.

It's an easy strategy to learn but a difficult one to follow. It requires self-discipline, patience, and attention to the message without going ballistic yourself. But the payback can be very high.

--bkl