Is it worth it to argue down right wing myths?

It’s true. There’s piles of research that show that people don’t change their minds just because they lose arguments or are presented with overwhelming evidence. So, is there value in arguing with conservatives? I say yes, depending of course on the situation. Here are some examples of how you can get value out of arguing with conservatives:

1) Doing so for an audience of undecided people. As I noted in the comments, this can take many forms, and how you win the argument should depend on the form. For instance, if you’re forwarded an urban myth, it’s probably unwise to get into a values argument that involves hitting “Reply All”, because then people will just think you’re an asshole. However, you can hit “Reply All” and put in a link that explains the facts. If someone on the list isn’t really a fan or doesn’t know what to think of these forwards, this might actually push them into your camp. Other places were arguments for undecideds happen: Group situations, Twitter, Facebook, comment threads at blogs, etc. You don’t often know who’s listening. I’ve seen many people who were in a questioning mode learn from this.

2) Planting a seed. You may not change a mind right away by winning an argument, but if you can introduce enough cognitive dissonance, you can often get them to think a little more in the future. I’ve definitely seen complete about-faces on an issue months after someone lost the argument, and had to really think about it. I’ve also seen people moderate their views after losing an argument. Both are valuable. Cognitive dissonance is painful, but it fades over time, and in that time, coming around can and often does happen. Why do you think the polling has changed so much over the years on gay rights? Because people who were homophobic came around, bit by bit, a little at a time.

3) Getting someone off your back. This is not nothing. I know a lot of really incorrigible right wingers, and they get pleasure out of pushing the buttons of liberals. And they exploit the fact that liberals don’t want to argue with them, because liberals fall into this trap of thinking that it’s not worth it if you don’t get to a mind-changing event. But I have managed to get plenty of conservatives to back the fuck off me because I figured out that as much as I don’t like having my buttons pushed with bigoted or ignorant comments, they like even less being shown up in an argument. Reducing someone to sputtering is not fun for them, and will dramatically reduce the chances they’ll provoke you again.

A word of warning about this one: You have to be willing to see it to the bitter end. You can’t back out halfway, because they take that as a “win” and will come back for more. Either you go scorched earth and leave them with no arguments, or you don’t play. Upsetting liberals is something conservatives think is fun, and so unless they’re the one who is upset at the end of it, you will have lost even if your arguments were better. But if you really want someone off your back, this can be extremely effective.

4) Minimizing their influence on others. You may not have undecided people listening now, but there are potential undecideds in the future that your wingnut could influence with misinformation. And while you may not be able to change someone’s mind about underlying values, you can often be very effective in scaring them away from saying things that you demonstrated were not true. People repeat urban legends because it feels good to do so. If a particular urban legend, however, mostly reminds them of the time you made them look foolish, they’ll probably not repeat it. This reduces the chances they can, for lack of a better word, recruit with that particular story. You’re taking tools out of the toolbox.

You saw this happen with Mike Huckabee, a glib liar who is nonetheless interested in preserving his reputation that he enjoys as the Not So Bad Wingnut. Huckabee went into a conservative space, and let his hair down and indulged in a little birtherism, claiming that Obama was raised in Kenya. This got called out, and now he’s scrambling. Yes, he’s lying as he scrambles, but here’s what’s important: He is very unlikely to go there again. He got really burned on this one. You can replicate this effect on all sorts of wingnuts.

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