I love that you have a list of references! But of course they are all ignored because engaging with them might change someone’s beliefs and, no disrespect intended, changing a deeply held belief is difficult, scary, and can lead to a sort of cascade of changes as ones world view crumbles. Which in and of itself can feel devastating.
This is all true, but even if the person being exposed to the reality of the situation wholly rejects it at the time of exposure, it still often plants seeds that can later and over time germinate into actual doubt about those deeply-held but demonstrably false beliefs. It may seem like a fool’s errand in the moment to try to use evidence to correct a person who believes a thing for emotional reasons and often it is, but it also can be the first, second, or third cracks in what is actually a shaky foundation that looks sturdy to an outside observer. And even if it has absolutely no effect on the person being corrected, in places like this, there are other people reading, and among them could easily be those who are open to having their minds changed though we’d never know it.
I love that you have a list of references! But of course they are all ignored because engaging with them might change someone’s beliefs and, no disrespect intended, changing a deeply held belief is difficult, scary, and can lead to a sort of cascade of changes as ones world view crumbles. Which in and of itself can feel devastating.
This is all true, but even if the person being exposed to the reality of the situation wholly rejects it at the time of exposure, it still often plants seeds that can later and over time germinate into actual doubt about those deeply-held but demonstrably false beliefs. It may seem like a fool’s errand in the moment to try to use evidence to correct a person who believes a thing for emotional reasons and often it is, but it also can be the first, second, or third cracks in what is actually a shaky foundation that looks sturdy to an outside observer. And even if it has absolutely no effect on the person being corrected, in places like this, there are other people reading, and among them could easily be those who are open to having their minds changed though we’d never know it.