• Dandroid
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    fedilink
    151 year ago

    This probably isn’t the exact answer you are looking for, but it’s related, and I find it interesting nonetheless.

    When my wife and I first started dating 12 years ago, we both had very different views than we have now. We both came from conservative families and we didn’t have the life experiences yet than made us realize that we didn’t blindly agree with our parents. Over time, as we both achieved higher education and gained more life experiences, we slowly started challenging each other in our beliefs. For example, I grew up in a very religious house and was always taught that being gay is a sin. But many (most) of our close friends were gay, and they were all such amazing people. Slowly we started challenging the idea that being gay would condemn someone to eternal suffering. Why would god make someone gay just to condemn them to hell? Another example is that we grew up always being told that if all the laws benefit the businesses, they create jobs and it helps the economy and the poor as well. Eventually we ran through a thought experiment together of where the excess money goes. Sure, some of it gets re-invested in expanding the business and creating jobs. But it seems that the majority of it goes to the people who are already rich, and to the politicians that make the laws that benefit the businesses.

    It took years of us challenging each other on our beliefs to get to where we are now. We would bring up a topic and parrot the talking points our parents would say, and the other would give counter points. And we would always respect each other’s views. It would never get personal. And we would always keep an open mind. We wanted to learn when having these debates, not win. And I think that was key. If you engage in a debate with someone who only cares about winning, there is no winner. They will be so stubborn that they won’t even listen to what you have to say.