06/13/07
Sheldon Richman concludes a good review with a not-so-good aphorism from Swift: It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into.
Except, of course, that it is quite possible to reason people out of views they adopted as children, when they didn't know better. One effective method is to shame them, to make them feel shame for holding goofy opinions. It will radicalize some, but basically erode the beliefs of others.
For instance, I changed my opinions on several matters as I grew through my teenage years, matters on which I'd settled opinion in part through inertia. Neither of my parents was a libertarian. But I adopted the ideology.
Why did I change my mind on politics? Well, a number of reasons:
- I saw that some of my factual beliefs were just plain wrong.
- I saw that liberty better fit with my other moral beliefs.
- I saw that some previously held norms and commitments were embarrassingly perverse in their effects.
No one person argued these points with me. But over time these and other concerns weighed heavy enough on me to make me change my mind.
Simple enough, really. If a person is really interested in helping the poor, learning something about the causes of economic growth changes one's mind about quite a few policies. But, as Sheldon Richman relates, having just read the new Bryan Caplan book, it's not in most people's interest to seek out anomalies and others challenges to their notions.
Which is why in-your-face challenges are important.
Also: declarations of alternate commitments might work. When others can see your passions, and those passions don't seem nuts, then they are more apt to be sympathetic.
So it's important to show passion as well as reason.
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