I was buying something at a small shop and for some reason the shop owner decided to talk about how much the government ruins business through taxes, how the government shouldn’t be in business, and how there is too much socialism in government. Maybe I look like a libertarian lol.
I did my best to ask him what he meant to try and get him thinking and it seemed to help a bit. I even pulled a “any socialist I’ve talked to doesn’t believe in any of that”.
I seem to have a lot of these conversations, even when I’m minding my own business. Have any of you had luck with breaking down preconceived notions others may have? I’d just like to be better prepared since apparently this is just something that happens to me.
I’ve had conversations about socialism with people in my life who are well meaning. The thing I have found to work is to avoid using surface level words like “proletariat, socialism, etc.” This is to avoid the thought terminating reaction they have to hearing red scare words.
Most people have hardships and struggles caused by capitalism, but they’ve been led to believe it’s their fault or that the right flavor of capitalism isn’t being used. My method is to talk about why those hardships may be happening due to capitalism, without saying the words “capitalism or ruling class”. This allows them to listen and think over the concept that capitalism is destroying their livelihood, without recoiling and entrenching their position further.
Yeah I find yelling with regular people about the rich usually works. Shop owners are more difficult for me