"I would rather have questions that can't be answered than answers that can't be questioned." ― Richard P. Feynman (physicist)
Think about that.
Pay a visit to Leonard Bernstein's great fifth leacture. Listen for Charles Ives.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Bernstein
❓ 🎵 👂
This is at the root of the question I asked awhile back that I got some pushback for.
"Do you believe a person should have to earn their right to exist?"
Like, yeah, don't debate people's right to exist. But that's not what this is. This is getting someone to confront their own conflicting values outside the boxes of distracting political abstraction that most people (including me, including you!) have been conditioned to put things in.
For a full fascist, an LGBT or Black person's right to exist is not up for debate. They have no conflicting values here. A debate about whether a trans person has a right to be trans in public is only going to give space for the fascists to sway those who aren't paying attention to the underlying question, or their role in it.
This question is very different, because it is asking a generic, fundamental values question that will cause difficult-to-escape dissonance in anyone who isn't, at core, a fascist, and if they say no, becomes a jumping point for directions like, "Then why do people in our society have to 'earn' a ' living'?"
Another question that gets to the core of this is,
"Do you believe your freedom should come at the cost of somebody else's freedom?"
#AskQuestions #AbuseCulture #resist https://mastodon.social/@AnarchistArt/115673798258449992
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#Thanksgiving #AbuseCulture #AskQuestions #deconditioning #cults
My last and most important tip:
This process will very, very quickly out people who are abusers and bullies at heart. Who love the hating part of being fash. They deep-down consider themselves superior, and wet their pantaloons over imagining the horrors that are happening and will continue to happen. You will have few, if any, values in common with such a person. And they cannot be changed.
My guess is (and some studies show) that about 1 in 10 people fall somewhere in this category. Asking questions is the best way to discover who they are.
And when they tell you who they are, listen.
Aside from your own scientific curiosity about what makes such people tick, there is absolutely no productive discussion that can come from continuing to speak with a person like this. You will only hurt yourself and whoever is in earshot.
So if you get to this point? Stop. Eat more stuffing and talk about sportsball.
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#Thanksgiving #AbuseCulture
#AskQuestions
#deconditioning
#cults
Remember, you can't reason someone out of a position they didn't reason themselves into. These are not academic debates among people who have agreed on certain epistemological rules. This is the realm of rhetoric and persuasion, an area we on the scientific left have neglected because it's "irrational," and thus ceded entire territories because we're not willing to be humble and meet people on their own turf. This is some western white colonizer shite that I'm in the process of unpacking myself.
You're not committing a logical fallacy by talking about feelings. We are feeling creatures.
You're not being unreasonable by trying to understand what feels to you an unreasonable position. You are connecting to another human for the purpose of communication.
You aren't winning points on a scoreboard! Congratulations! In the contest of being the most correct and in alignment with reality, you won years ago! Now stop waving your prize in front of everyone and learn to humanize – not just them, but yourself and every marginalized person you are trying to protect.
But neither is this process about excusing fash behavior or prioritizing fragile privileged feelings above the realities of those marginalized! You're not letting anyone off the hook. In fact, you're putting the person on the hook in a way that allows them to confront their own internal world.
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#Thanksgiving #AbuseCulture
#AskQuestions
#deconditioning
#cults
Example Questions Part 3:
Could there be a good reason for that?
Do you know the context of why it was decided that way?
How does that work exactly? Walk me through it.
What would happen if....
How many [queer, PoC, those affected by a certain policy, etc] people do you know / have you talked to / have you heard out about this topic that affects them?
What do you really know about that worldview from the perspective of people who hold it?
Can you explain to me what you think that worldview is?
Can you explain to me the reasons people might believe that?
Why are you afraid of [n]?
Do you think [n] should be illegal?
What’s the difference between ____?
How do you reconcile [stated value] with [stated position that is apparently in conflict]?
Do you believe that everyone should have to earn or prove their right to exist? (If no, then explore how various practices and normal realities of this society require earning or proving a right to exist.)
Can all people be said to be free if some are not free?
Do you think your freedom should come at the cost of someone else's freedom?
Do you think your comfort should come at the cost of someone else's comfort?
Why do you think some people think that's racist?
Do you think that's fair?
Why do you think that's far?
What do you mean by that?
Can you expound?
What are your reasons for believing that?
What would you like to know about my worldview? (If they don't want to know anything, ask them, why not?)
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#Thanksgiving #AbuseCulture
#AskQuestions
#deconditioning
#cults
Example Questions Part 2:
What is truth?
How do you know what is true?
Why do you trust [n] information source?
Why do you distrust opposing information sources?
[Questions that get at the root of trust are great at destabilizing trust in bad actors. P.S. It is morally ok to mistrust someone!]
Do you think your sources might be keeping information away from you that would change your mind?
Why do you need that to be true?
How would you know if you are wrong?
What would happen if you are wrong? How would that feel? How would you cope with that?
What evidence would convince you that your conclusions are incorrect?
What do you think might convince me of your position?
If you were being manipulated, how would you know?
What makes you different from people who are being manipulated? Why would you know and they wouldn’t?
How do you define "manipulation"? How does it work?
Do you feel like you've worked hard and did everything right and now you're not getting what you were promised?
Where is the line for deciding [n – who deserves a safety net, what the optimal rate of taxation is, punishment for a specific crime, who gets to immigrate, what someone's gender is, etc]?
Who should decide [n] and why?
...for who? (Safe for who? Good for who? Profitable for who? Efficient for who?)
Who benefits the most from that?
How do you benefit from this situation/policy/value/talking point?
What's in it for them?
Who do you think is incentivized to be behind [n]?
What does that rule incentivize?
What outcome would you like to see?
By what standards will you measure the outcome?
When [historical law passed or action taken] happened, what did you think the outcome would be? Did that come to pass?
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#Thanksgiving #AbuseCulture
#AskQuestions
#deconditioning
#cults
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Mx. Luna Corbden 🐸