Give the facts a fighting chance

Whichever way we might take it, this article in "Been Thinking About" by Mart De Haan might be relevant to the current election. Here's the link.

Pulling some highlights:

The point of Chris Mooney, the author, was to provide scientific evidence showing how our human capacity for self-deception works. It began quoting the Stanford researcher who said, “A man with a conviction is a hard man to change. Tell him you disagree and he turns away. Show him facts or figures and he questions your sources. Appeal to logic and he fails to see your point of view.”
The article goes on to cover a lot of highly debated political issues. But it ended saying, “Paradoxically, you don’t lead with the facts in order to convince. You lead with the values (i.e. of the person you want to persuade)– so as to give the facts a fighting chance.”

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Since we are so inclined to hear only what we want to hear when it comes to our deeply held convictions, the only answer is for an atmosphere of reciprocal criticism. In other words, our critics can sometimes help us more than our friends. Yet, according to the second article, criticism is most likely to be heard when the conversation is civil rather than marked by threatening accusations and characterizations.

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Leaving Timothy in the city of Ephesus to confront false teachers, Paul told him, “The servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will” (2Tim 2:24-26a).