Had a chat to a lovely lady who validated me on my newsletters and it got me thinking further on how to reach the not yet reached on the subject of getting them to realise they are operating on false data. Not to mention subjects like the existence of viruses, global warming, vaccines, masks, social distancing, isolating etc.
Remember you are involving in selling the truth and most of what they hear is lies. A good salesman qualifies his prospects so he does not waste time talking to unqualified prospects, ’non-buyers’, if you will.
Just as a salesman tries to ascertain a prospect’s ability to afford his product or service so he is not wasting his and his prospect’s time, so a truth warrior needs to quickly assess if a person is capable of receiving their message so as to not waste time talking to people unable to reason. After all, only 13% of people think, 87% of people make decisions on feelings. https://www.tomgrimshaw.com/tomsblog/?p=39776
In order that you do not waste your time talking to a circuit (something that just parrots lines back to you) rather than a rational, thinking human being, you could ask the following question. “When presented with evidence that contradicts a belief you have, are you capable of changing your mind?”
If they say, “No.” then that conversation is over. Completely change tack. Apply the ’Aunt Mabel’ remedy. Talk about Aunt Mabel’s new dress, the weather or the hole in the Webb telescope mirror. Anything but about what you were discussing. They are unable to be reached conversationally to change their fixed viewpoint. Many people need a lot of counselling to accomplish a change in their awareness level and confront to be able to face evil. Confront of evil is, after all, man’s worst ability.
Now a caveat here. There is no guarantee they are being forthright with you if they say, “Yes.” So you need to follow up with a quick test to see if what they say/believe they are capable of is what they are actually they are capable of.
So pick an easy target for a test, like ’honest/lying politicians’, ’Covid vaccines stop transmission’ or ’Covid vaccines prevent infection’, ’Iraq had weapons of mass destruction’. Something for which you already have a readily available source of evidence.
You could use something a little removed from your main topic, something like, “Do you believe all politicians tell the truth and can be relied on regarding important issues?”
If they believe what you know to be false, provide your evidence and gauge their reaction. If they hold to their erroneous belief, proceed as above, do the ’Aunt Mabel’ thing.
If they do change their mind, congratulations, you are talking to a live human being and are not wasting your time.
But be careful to have a sequence of questions by which you can gradually increase their gradient level of understanding on the subject you are addressing. No good salesman ever goes in to a sales presentation without thorough preparation.
Here is a source of some question from which you are welcome to pick what you feel most applicable: https://www.tomgrimshaw.com/Covid_Education.html
