How to teach low information Americans?

[nolabear]

16. Start by asking questions and trying to understand.

Before anyone goes ballistic on me, let me say I hate the racism, the rage, the rancor, the desire to only hear what people want to hear, the way we liberals are talked about and threatened and dismissed.

But here’s something I know from being a therapist and just a person raised by extreme conservatives who were steeped in a culture, a sense of failure and a pride whose abandonment felt like death to them.

Shaming, taunting, dismissing, etc. makes the calcification of those things far worse. Asking respectful questions and not letting them evoke that shame and fear in you does, eventually, make you a person and not just whatever they’ve been told you are. You might not change minds but you do open the door just a touch.

Now, those profiting from the fear mongering will do all they can to slam it shut again. So the effort needs to be ongoing and to have one main message. “I am curious about you. I won’t attack you if you’ll talk honestly to me. I’ll learn from you and if you want to I’ll let you know about me too.”

The idea someone will see the light, have an epiphany, come to Jesus, it doesn’t work that way. The dedication has to be extraordinary. And the capacity to care for those who ring every “unlovable” bell we’ve got.

I don’t know very many who say they’re willing to be that open and patient, to accept, not an excuse, but a reason, and to be curious about what is in fact a reason. But I am sure it’s necessary. And it’s just a first step.