Discussing politics and other contentious sunjects online feels to me like it’s counterproductive these days and even though I try not to get suckered in, I often can’t help myself. Usually though I just end up feeling frustrated and sometimes angry at the other person either missing my points or refusing to accept them.
Thinking back to conversations I’ve had here and previously on Reddit, not only can I not remember an example of me “winning” the discussion and the other person changing their mind or conceding the point, I also cannot think of a time where my mind was changed either.
So have you ever begun a discussion online with someone with a different view point to yours and either you, or they, changed the others mind?
As person who use to be anti gay and racist I was changed.
Now I’m bi and have admitted to having it bad for women of color.
Which has led me to a happier life overall. Loving people is a lot easier than hate I can tell you that.
May I ask what changed your mind?
Do you remember Gmod? There used to be, I don’t know if it is still going, a forum that Gary (the creator of gmod) made called Facepunch.
I went on there to download models for gmod, dived deeper and found different subsections like news and stuff.
I am the type of person to tell you my beliefs. Well I talked about how being gay was against God and blah blah blah.
I got chewed out and banned for like a month. For some reason it kept going over n my head. Over n over n over. I went back and lurked. Read what people thought and felt.
Ended up losing both my faith in religion and my bigotry. I started seeing how black folks were and are treated. How the LGBT folks are treated.
Then I asked myself do I want to make people feel small? Is that me? I have been made to feel small. To feel powerless. I hated it. I wouldn’t want anyone else to feel how I have felt.
I will always hold Facepunch and its members in high regard for knocking sense into me.
That’s awesome! Thanks for sharing!