How do you approach others?

[EricStPierre]

Have any of you ever had any success in speaking about your values and ideas to those that would normally take great offense? Have any of you ever spoken with a religious person or a person that supports the current political establishment about your ideas of how the world should be and actually convinced them or at least made them question the status quo? If so, how do you go about doing this? I find it easy to "preach to the quire" but find myself too aggressive when speaking to those that aren't already in the know. I tend to push people away from the ideas.

[JJM 777]

On discussion forums of various kinds this naturally happens a lot, as they are places where people are expected to express their opinions.

My experience is that many people first react very strongly when they realize that somebody is presenting Socialist ideas in the discussion, but soon they get used to it that not everyone supports Capitalism, so they calm down and stop acting shocked or hostile.

[Pirate turtle the 11th]

Its the words you use for instance in america I got on fine as long as I refrained from using any traditionally political words (libertaranism , communism , working class etc).

Also with the religious the aim is to offend them as much as you can.

[EricStPierre]

Thank you for your response. I was more so referring to face to face communication. How do you approach people about your world view without pushing them away from the ideas??

[EricStPierre]

Also with the religious the aim is to offend them as much as you can.

That's very funny. But on a more serious note, how do you do it? If we offend them then it only makes them hold on to their fixed world view when the ultimate goal is to persuade others to live what we believe to be a better life that is free of dogma and superstition.

[Lyev]

I've found in past experience that it's almost impossible to 'approach' people about your views without 'pushing them away'. In such an upfront way I think people see it as if you're almost telling them what to think. I'm passionate about my views and I relish the moment to chat with people when the moment arises but it does my views no justify to 'approach' people with them. At least, that's my two cents.

[Durruti's Ghost]

Its the words you use for instance in america I got on fine as long as I refrained from using any traditionally political words (libertaranism , communism , working class etc).


This is the key, really. Don't bother with trying to convince them to redefine the words "communism", "socialism", or "anarchy" until they already know where you stand. Once you've explained your ideology to them and once they accept it (not necessarily agree with it, but accept it), then you can start attaching labels to it. Otherwise, you'll just get tuned out.

[Rjevan]

^ True. If you talk to people about your beliefs without using phrases like "communism", "proletarian revolution", "bourgeoise ruling class" and "stateless society" most of the time they have absolutely no objections, agree a lot with you and admit that they have never seen some things this way but that you're absolutely right. Slowly you can get a bit more direct and after they realised many things which you said are true and that you don't want to send everybody to the Gulag, they won't panic or get aggressive when they finally realise what you really stand for.

With foaming at the mouth fanatically preaching at the very first meeting with this person about overthrowing the current system, totally destroying it and smashing the capitalist bourgeoise pigs in a world wide proletarian revolution, which will lead to a dictatorship of the proletariat and finally to the abolishment of private property and the state is a dead sure way to scare everybody off and make them react pretty shocked or angry.

For religious persons... it's much more difficult to convince them, I never had any success with them, most of them are totally irrational and teach you about God's plans which can't be understood by mortals and that it is a sin to indulge violence and embrace envy, that the capitalists deserve their wealth, that I should be happy for them and that the poor will all get rewarded in heaven... but it's easy as hell (no pun intended) to freak them out, debunk their ridiculous stuff and present some of the (various!) contradicting aspects about their faith! ;)

[bailey_187]

just relate it to things that actually effect them. If they have no grievances you can relate theory to, they wont be fighting any revolution any time soon.

[joe not signed in]

That's very funny. But on a more serious note, how do you do it? If we offend them then it only makes them hold on to their fixed world view when the ultimate goal is to persuade others to live what we believe to be a better life that is free of dogma and superstition.

I tend to find it far more efficent if you make them embarassed by here delusions.

[Axle]

When I talk to people about socialism, especially if I'm unsure of their position, I usually do not tell them I'm talking about socialism until they begin to agree with it.

I know it sounds deceptive, but it helps to disarm their preconcieved notions.

[mykittyhasaboner]

How do you approach others (presumably workers) with your ideas and actions which espouse socialism? Well by relating to them. You have to make it clear that as a communist you support the interests of the working classes, as you yourself are a part of this class, and would like to see your class take political power in order to better our situation.

If people are hasty to your words and ideas, or outright reject them; it then becomes about finding a common ground. Obviously you will never be able to convince everyone you talk to that socialism is what we should be fighting for, but those failures will pave the way for your more successful talks with fellow workers. Keep that in mind.

[FreeFocus]

People usually piss me off. It's difficult for me to discuss politics with other people (that I'm around at the moment), they're either uninformed or hold such reprehensible positions (to me, at least. For example, I don't even want to be bothered with people who identify as Democrat, because they're all imperialists to me, they buy into American exceptionalism and the like) that I don't want to be bothered with them beyond what I have to.

Yeah, you can try these methods to "trick" people into warming up to leftist ideas, but the fact that has to be done in itself is pretty sad. I'm personally more of a direct type, I like to debate people into a corner and if they're still that passionate about their reactionary ideas, I tend to just avoid political discussion with them.

I'm a bigger fan of organizing with other like-minded people and allowing people to learn about leftism and discover it on their own after having some exposure to a rally, demo, etc.

[Qayin]

I live in Arizona, every run I run into thinks obama is a marxist lol.

There is a few people who ive introduced socialism to, but they fail to grasp the concept and fall back onto social democrats