Persuasiveness of Political/Economic Arguments

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It's a well known phenomenon that if you attack someone's economic/political views the more they defend them, the stronger they believe them. This is known as the "backfire" effect.

When has a political/economic argument actually changed your mind? I used to subscribe to the belief that people would be evenly represented in certain fields. I found the arguments of Thomas Sowell compelling on why we shouldn't expect that:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ul0q35mrHh8

Truth be told it was hard to find something I changed my mind on. When has it happened to you?

Less these days...
When I was younger I was an Olympic fence sitter...

There is a tendency for those on the spectrum to have a more open mind, compared to neurotypicals...
"Give me a better argument and I will listen" has been an identified motto we tend to embrace due to our having a greater affinity with rationality...
Well, more often than not...
I think Tony Attridge "alerted" me to this about 25 years ago...

I've changed my mind on many things. On day to day to things it's a matter of accepting that some people know more than me about a given problem, so I have to go against my gut and listen to them. It's not easy, but gets me through the day.

As far as politics and the big issues go...No one person convinced me to change my mind on such issues. I just kind of found my own path to different beliefs.

I've never been able to convince anyone of anything ever, but this guy over here http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/film ... -courtesy/
has had some luck doing it, so it's not impossible.

A socialist would argue to me, WE NEED SOCIALISM BECAUSE MOST PEOPLE ARE STUPID.

His arguments
-We need free health care, and social retirement programs, because people don't save and invest, rather, they stupidly blow it on consumer goods (likely, charge up their credit cards too).

-Taxes are good, because, they take money away from stupid people (who would blow it on stupid stuff) and put it to better use.

-We need "big government" to manage all these stupid people.

Even though I despise these ideas, I always thought this was a good argument.

My mind has been changed by debating political issues quite a few times. The trick is you have to be open to have your mind changed, if you set in to religiously believe anything you tend to deny anything that could change your mind. I try to debate with points using logic, if someone can show me another aspect that I have not thought out or realized, my opinion is subject to change.

LoveNotHate, we do need an equal wealth system, maybe not quite yet, it most certainly would benefit humanity as a whole much better than the current system of greed where one can never have enough, they must obtain so much that they could never even use it all, and still aim to gain more.

I like to think of myself as having an open mind, and I like debating and hearing opposing arguments. I've "refined" my views on quite a few issues, but have rarely changed them completely.

An example of a refined view is my view on abortion. I used to be 100% pro-choice. I am still pro-choice but am no longer opposed to late-term abortion bans with the notable exception of if the mother's life was in danger. I can appreciate pro-life arguments even if I don't agree with them.

Lately when I find myself debating an idea I find myself more convinced of my original position. I don't know if this is because my positions are better researched and reasoned than when I was younger or if I've fallen victim to this "backfire" effect.

I don't know, you make some good points. I will admit that people usually find comfort in their beliefs, the tendency to think that they are more correct because they see things clearly and don't understand why one would see it otherwise. I don't think anyone can truly 100% escape that, they may be able to practice and lower their guard, they will never eliminate that drive to feel as if they are correct and there opinion is solid unless one just has no opinions at all, which I'm not sure is even possible.

I used to think all life is valuable and must be protected, though it was myself that convinced me otherwise. Life is all around us, it comes in many forms, in my current view, my life is no more important than your life, and our lives are no more important than the ants lives which we spray with poison to prevent them from making lines to our trashcan. To me, I life holds value yet at the same time holds no value, hard to describe and not sound like a psychopath. I'm still against suffering, but we can not end suffering, it's not within our capabilities. We can end 'some' suffering, never will we eradicate the ability to suffer.

But anyway, it is a challenge to open one's self up to another view and can be very difficult, not impossible, but still very difficult. It will take a lot of dialog though, to find that one angle that the person hasn't thought about to change another mind. That's why I'm pro 'civil' discussion. I know I can be guilty sometimes of using forms to 'put one down' or insist their view is less valid, it's hard to fight that, but I try my best to not do that, when people get into a pissing match of who's idea is more valid or correct, the conversation becomes pointless because each person will increase their guard, closing themselves to the possibility of being wrong or seeing it from another angle.

It's a challenge for sure, but I believe opinions have more possibility when people are discussing things in a civil manner and show no forms of disrespect, just stick to examples and arguments to keep it at the level of friendly discussion.

Same here, and I prefer it that way...

"Hey, it was nice when we stole it..."
The guy should be a comedian...

Yeah, duck big business...
Agreed, they don't want a country of critical thinkers...
Yeap, they don't give a smeg about us...

Many people have a degree of insecurity which invokes a defensive emotional state of mind...
It is a well-established observation that humanity generally fears change...
And when emotion lumbers into the debating arena, reason has met its match...
Emotionalism, emotionalism, rah! rah! rah!...