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When was the last or most important time you tried proving someone wrong?
At what lengths did you go to prove this person wrong? Did proving this person wrong cause a major transition in your life?
Side bar: The question comes from watching Dancer Boy.
Normally this would be hard for me to answer because I just don't put much effort into changing peoples' minds, but in March my sibling and I campaigned hard for my parents to take COVID-19 seriously.
At the time, the way people thought you avoided being sick was by washing your hands, so my parents thought that hygiene alone would save them. They were going about their normal lives, just with a lot more hand sanitizer. My sibling and I wanted them to be much more cautious since they're older. We coordinated our campaign and came up with talking points. They were convinced and I'm glad for it, since it turns out (now) that good hygiene alone is not enough to stop the spread.
In the end, though, I don't think any of our specific arguments were what mattered. It was more the tone, the obviousness about how much we cared, that swayed them towards caution.
I really try to avoid putting myself in that position. Persuasion is rarely effective. The people in my life are usually very reasonable so I don’t have a need to change their minds on basic important stuff such as healthcare.
I did convince a guy that the death penalty was bad. I merely stated that...
He was instantly convinced and changed his mind for life. It was pretty cool.