Political Persuasion 201: Stop Trying to Win.

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We suck at arguing about politics. This is partly because we always have this dream of how we want the argument to end. We’re going to make some amazing point and all of a sudden our opponent is going to see the light and realize...

Edited from original at xkcd.com.

The idea that we can really “win” a political argument, and force our opponents to wallow in their own wrongness is seductive. But it’s something we need to give up, because it’s NEVER going to happen.

Think about it – have you have you ever seen someone arguing about politics suddenly change their mind and admit they were wrong? It’s pretty rare.

This doesn’t mean political arguments are worthless though. Arguments can change minds. But only if we stop trying to win them.

How to Learn About Science Like a Scientist

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Politics these days can feel like a war between those who believe in science and those that don’t. Many conservatives are ignoring the scientific consensus on climate change, while President Trump lives in a word of "alternative facts," yelling "fake news!" at any scientific results he doesn't like. But conservatives aren't the only ones who have trouble with science. No matter what side they're coming from, media reports about science almost never the whole story, and sometimes they get it totally wrong.

 As a scientist, this has been a pet peeve of mine for a while, so I was thrilled to find¹ this excellent piece on Last Week Tonight, where John Oliver breaks down this issue:

Breaking News: 0.00003% of Trump supporters said something dumb on Twitter

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Did you see this? NPR Tweeted Declaration Of Independence, And Trump Supporters Flipped Out.

I can't get enough of people getting mad online because @NPR tweeted the Declaration of Independence pic.twitter.com/D7MpparS5g

— Josh Billinson (@jbillinson) July 5, 2017

The MAGAs saw this and were outraged that @NPR was tweeting shade at Trump. It wasn't. It was tweeting the Declaration of Independence. https://t.co/xBjlQserwE

— shauna (@goldengateblond) July 5, 2017

 I have to admit, I got a rush of Shadenfreude when I heard about this – it confirms everything thing I believe about how dumb Trump supporters really are.

But then I took a step back, and remembered that I hate stories that treat the internet comments of a few dozen people as “news,” and then use it to make claims about how millions of Americans think and act.

I know it's just meant to be fun, but I think that these sorts of articles are actually harming our ability to be talk intelligently and persuasively about politics, by feeding our most powerful biases and making us worse at constructing good arguments.